The Brooks Memorial Library and Oscar Heller are excited to announce the launch of the 1st Annual Brattleboro Miniature Masterpiece Flash Fiction Competition. Writers of all ages are invited to craft original works of fiction of 50 words or fewer.
Arts & Culture · 2025
1st Annual Brattleboro Miniature Fiction Competition
A community-wide celebration of literature, human creativity, and storytelling.
Winning Stories
Adult Winner
City Hall Wedding
by Shin Freedman — After working all day, she hurried to City Hall, holiday lights shimmering like promises waiting to be kept. Taxis rushed past, indifferent. Worry tightened her chest. A stranger leaned from a cab and said, gently, “Share this?” She accepted, grateful. Years later, she still remembers him as her first blessing.
Teen Winner
Ash Trees
by Casey Clark — “I missed this,” she says. “Just you and me and the trees.” The trees. She always includes the trees. If she knew how easily I’d trade every tree in this forest for one second of her wanting me the way I want her. But she doesn’t know. She can’t know.
Kids Winner
Farm Girl
by Seraphina Quarrier-Draper — She herds the sheep / She drives the cattle / She feeds the horses / And chases the geese / Ill, Ma sleeps / Father gone / She never thought / Ma would get better / But she was wrong / How lucky she feels / Ma’s proud of me / You’re strong says Ma / And I know I am
Kids Honorable Mention
Secrets of the Sea
by Annabel Horton — August planted her feet on the rocking surface of the boat; she clung onto the edge. Looking behind her, she could see the shrinking docks. She could feel the cold wind rush through her hair. This was the feeling she always loved. The seemingly endless ocean and the glowing horizon.
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