The Blue Frog

What is The Blue Frog?

Born out of celebration for our first birthday, The Blue Frog is Flash Frog’s annual flash fiction prize. Each year the contest will feature a theme based on what type of stories we wish had seen more of in the queue in the past year. The Blue Frog awards a total of $700 in prize money as well as signed books and original art!

When?

Contest submissions are open from January 1st – 31st.

Finalists are announced in mid February. Winners are announced in early March.

Prizes

1st Place: $500, publication in Flash Frog, signed copy of the Guest Judge’s book, and the original painting that accompanies your story.

2nd Place: $150, publication in Flash Frog, signed copy of the Guest Judge’s book, and the original painting that accompanies your story.

3rd Place: $50, publication in Flash Frog, signed copy of the Guest Judge’s book, and the original painting that accompanies your story.

Rules

  • This contest is for fiction only (no CNF or poetry)
  • 1,000 words max. This is a hard limit. No exceptions.
  • All entries must follow the contest theme (found below) although we are open to your interpretation of it.
  • All submissions should be the author’s original work and not previously published elsewhere (this includes blogs, social media, etc.)
  • Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please email to withdraw your piece as soon as it has been accepted elsewhere. There are no refunds for withdrawn pieces. Please note our quick turn around time. We will not hold your story up for months.
  • Multiple submissions are okay. But please submit each story as a new, separate entry. There is no limit to the amount of times you can enter.
  • Publication rights: If your story is selected for publication, we ask for the right to display the work for the duration of the journal. Copyright remains with the writer in all cases. If your work is subsequently reprinted elsewhere, please acknowledge Flash Frog as the site of first publication.
  • All previous Flash Frog contributors are eligible to enter.

Entry Fee

$5 per story.

How To Submit

Please read the rules above and then follow the simple 2-step process:

1. Please email your story as an attachment to flashfroglitmag@gmail.com (use .doc, .docx, .rtf only).

— Use “CONTEST SUBMISSION: Your Story Title” as the subject.

— Include a 3rd person bio in the email but do not explain or set up your story.

— If the name on your payment might show up as a different name than your submission, please note that in the email.

2. Please pay $5 using the button below.

** We will send a confirmation email upon receipt of both submission and payment.

Contest Submission

$5.00

Misc.

  • All submissions will receive a response before finalists and winners are announced.
  • Money transparency: Aside from a small amount allocated to the Guest Judge and Guest Artist, all entry funds will go to Flash Frog writers and artists. Beyond the prizes, all remaining money will go to the writers and artists that publish in Flash Frog during the coming year. We are committed to being a paying market with free general submissions.
  • All identifying information will be removed from the finalists’ stories as the Guest Judge will read blind.
  • Payments to winners are made via PayPal on the day of publication.
  • All submissions are eligible for publication in Flash Frog.

2022 Theme

“Around the World”

We want to take our readers on a trip around the world! We want to see stories that take place in countries other than the United States and/or stories that incorporate cultures (food, music, traditions, etc.) other than what is typically experienced in the U.S. regardless of where they take place. Like many themed contests, we are open to and welcome your interpretation. We want this to be inspiring, not limiting.

2022 Guest Judge

Tara Isabel Zambrano

Tara Isabel Zambrano is a writer of color and the author of Death, Desire And Other Destinations, a full-length flash collection by Okay Donkey Press. Her work has won the first prize in The Southampton Review Short Short Fiction Contest 2019, a second prize in Bath Flash Award 2020, been a Finalist in Bat City Review 2018 Short Prose Contest and Mid-American Review Fineline 2018 Contest. Her flash fiction has been published in The Best Small Fictions 2019, The Best Micro Fiction 2019, 2020 Anthology. During the day, Tara designs semiconductor circuits. She lives in Texas and is the Fiction Editor for Waxwing Literary Journal.

2022 Guest Artist

Rob Kaniuk

Rob Kaniuk is a union carpenter in the city of Philadelphia. He started painting in 2020 as a way to pass time during lockdown. His art has been in Hobart, Let’s Stab Ceasar, Flash Frog, and shown here and there at Deep Space Gallery in Jersey City, NJ. You can find some his work at https://etsy.me/3nXQekl.