arthur flowers flash fiction prize

2022 Results

We are thrilled to announce that Mona Awad, the judge for the 2022 Arthur Flowers Flash Fiction Prize, has selected Para Vadhahong’s “Even Whales Go to Temple” as the winner of this year’s contest. Mona also selected Ashley Hajimirsadeghi’s “burning light” and hanta t. samsa’s “Love Poem Attempt #4444” as the two runners-up. Para will receive a prize of $500. Ashley and hanta will receive a prize of $50 each. The winner and runners-up will also receive publication in Salt Hill’s 50th issue, due out in fall 2023. 

It was a joy to continue running the Arthur Flowers Flash Fiction Prize for emerging writers of color this year. Nearly 200 writers submitted their work, so many of them about yearning, wanting more—reminding us of why we created this contest in the first place. Our contest editors compiled a shortlist of 12 finalists and passed them on to Mona for the final round of judging. Mona and the contest editors all read the stories blind.

Of the winning story, Para Vadhahong’s “Even Whales Go to Temple” Mona says:

A taut glimpse that gestures richly and evocatively towards a whole universe of story. Above all, I love how we’re plunged right into the very particular world of these two young girls and their visceral bond, its intimacy and rituals. With perfect, crystalline details, the author not only evokes the tensions and desires of coming of age, the heady dreaminess of friendship, but leaves us too with the mystery of all that is unsaid.

On runner-up Ashley Hajimirsadeghi’s “burning light”: 

I love how moody and evocative this piece is, the details sharply cut and eviscerating. The use of direct address feels dangerously intimate and transgressive. A melancholy, existential meditation on femininity and faded glory.

On runner-up hanta t. samsa’s “Love Poem Attempt #4444”: 

Raw, visceral and heartbreaking. This is a love language etched from brutal honesty, pain and desire. Yet there’s such dark humor and pathos here that sings too—its incantatory rhythms and imagery ring true and transcendent as a love poem attempt should.

We would also like to celebrate the following nine finalists:

• “Cassie and the River” - S. Erin Batiste

• “How to Navigate Momma’s Funeral” - Nia S. Dickens

• “Sesame” - Sara Elkamel

• “Pistachio Ice Cream” - Mohwanah Fetus

• “Blackberry” - Emani Lesane

• “Lifeway Christian” - Lauren Saxon

• “Birth Days” - sarah uheida

• “Enclosure” - Patrick J. Zhou

• “The Father” - Michelle Zhu

Read more about our guidelines here. For previous years’ results, click here.

Para Vadhahong is a Thai American poet and writer whose works are published or forthcoming in Hyacinth Review, Lover’s Eye Press, INKSOUNDS, and Koening Zine.

Ashley Hajimirsadeghi is an Iranian-American multimedia artist, writer, and journalist. Her writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Moon City Review, Hobart, DIALOGIST, RHINO, Salt Hill, and The Shore, among others. She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief at Mud Season Review and a contributing writer and critic at MovieWeb. Her work can be found at ashleyhajimirsadeghi.com.

hanta t. samsa is a genrequeer poet, writer and editor by way of Zhigagoong/Chicago. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Bennington College and an MFA in Poetry from Virginia Tech. His writing appears or is forthcoming in the Aster(ix) Journal, Boston Review, Kenyon Review, the minnesota review and elsewhere, mostly under his dead name. He is @hanta.tala.samsa on IG and @hantatalasamsa on Twitter.

2022 Judge