We’re delighted to announce the return of our ever-popular French and Spanish flash fiction competitions for school students. If you are learning French and/or Spanish in Years 7-13, you are invited to send us a *very* short story to be in with a chance of winning up to £100. Read on to find out more…
What is Flash Fiction?
We’re looking for a complete story, written in French or Spanish, using NO MORE THAN 100 WORDS.
What are the judges looking for?
We’ll be looking for imagination and narrative flair, as well as your ability to write in French or Spanish. Your use of French or Spanish will be considered in the context of your age and year group: in other words, we will not expect younger pupils to compete against older pupils linguistically. For inspiration, you can read last year’s winning entries for French here, and for Spanish here.
What do I win?
There are two categories: Years 7-11 and Years 12-13. A first prize of £100 will be awarded to the winning entry in each category, with runner-up prizes of £25. The winning entries will be published on this blog, if you give us permission to do so.
How do I enter?
The deadline for submissions is noon on Thursday 31st March 2022. If you would like to submit a story in French please do so via our online submission portal here. If you would like to submit a story in Spanish please do so here.
You may only submit one story per language but you are welcome to submit one story in French AND one story in Spanish if you would like to. Your submission should be uploaded as a Word document or PDF.
Please note that, because of GDPR, teachers cannot enter on their students’ behalf: students must submit their entries themselves.
If you have any questions, please email us at schools.liaison@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.
Bonne chance à tous!
¡Buena suerte a todos!
We showed with our 100 books in french and spanish books and also my teacher gave me a lot of merits and told me that we having vocabulary in french to english and english to french and doing spelling correctly in french and mean in english so I love maths we showed like mode,median,mean and range.
How do I take part in the competition?
Hi Steph, thanks very much for getting in touch. The Competition asks pupils to write a creative story in French or Spanish in 100 words or fewer. You can submit your entry for French here or for Spanish here. I hope that helps! Best wishes, Nicola
Hi,
I work at an International School in Norway. Can my students participate?
Regards,
Hi Ophélie, thanks for getting in touch.
Absolutely, we welcome entries from students from all over the world. The only thing to bear in mind is that, should your students win, the prize money is paid by bank transfer in GBP and their bank may charge them to convert this to another currency.
I hope that helps!
Best wishes,
Nicola
Hi,
I was wondering with our story do we need to submit a direct translation into English or just the story in French/Spanish ?
Thanks.
Hi Grace,
Thanks very much for your query. No need to submit a translation of your story, just the French/Spanish original!
Best of luck!
Nicola
Hi, I am advertising this to my students in school. Might you have this information on a poster which I could print out and pin up on notice boards?
Merci et gracias,
Michelle
Hi Michelle, thanks very much for your message.
Unfortunately we don’t have a poster for this year’s competition, but I will look into that for next year – it would be a great way to spread the word as you say!
Best wishes,
Nicola
I work at The Regent Secondary School in Nigeria as a French Teacher. Could I encourage my students to take part in the French fiction writing. Is it an annual competition? What organisation is behind the contest? Could you please shed more info.
Hi Patrick, thanks for getting in touch.
Absolutely, your students are more than welcome to enter the competition. The only thing to bear in mind is that, should your students win, the prize money is paid by bank transfer in GBP and their bank may charge them to convert this to another currency.
Yes, the competition runs at the same time every year. It is organised by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford. The deadline for entries is noon (BST) on 31st March.
I hope that helps – good luck to your students!
Best wishes,
Nicola
Please could you let me know if these competitions are also open to bilingual students? Thank you!
Hi Ella, thanks for your query. Yes, bilingual students are very welcome to submit an entry!
Best wishes,
Nicola
Hi,
Is it possible t submit multiple entries by using different emails (i.e one entry per email)?
Many thanks
Hi Belatriz, thanks for your query. To be fair to everyone, students can only submit one entry per language – we collect some basic details about everyone who enters so we will notice if multiple entries come through from the same person, even if the email addresses are different.
Good luck in the competition!
Best wishes, Nicola
Hi,
Do you know when the winners of the competition will be announced and if there is a given time on 31st March when no more entries will be accepted?
Thank you
Hi Mara, thanks for your question.
The winners are usually announced in May and the deadline is midday on 31st March.
Best wishes and good luck!
Nicola
Hi,
Are translators completely prohibited from this competition even for beginners?
Thank you!
Hi Macey, thanks for getting in touch.
We do not accept any translations. All entries must be written in French or Spanish, even those submitted by beginners.
Best wishes and good luck!
Nicola
What happen if you win the competition, do your chances get higher to go to Oxford University?
Hi Alysha, our competitions are not linked to our admissions process in any way so winning this competition will have no bearing on any future applications you make to Oxford.
Best wishes and good luck!
Nicola
Hi,
Do I just post my story on here? I don’t really understand.
Hi Casey,
You can submit your entry via this webpage for French and/or this page for Spanish.
Good luck!
Nicola
Hi, do i just write about any type of story or is there any theme ?
Hi Basklona, thanks for getting in touch.
The topic is completely up to you – there is no set theme so you can be as creative as you like!
Good luck!
Best wishes,
Nicola
how do I take part?
Hi Ellesse,
To enter the competition, you are invited to submit a short story of 100 words or fewer on a topic of your choosing, in French/Spanish. There are two categories of entry: one for students in Years 7-11, and another for students in Years 12-13. Once you have written your story, you can submit it here for French and here for Spanish.
I hope that helps! Good luck!
Nicola
Hi,
I was wondering if you could use translators for specific phrases or vocabulary to translate them from other languages into Spanish?
Dear Macey, thank you for your question. We would prefer that submissions be your own work, with as little intervention from translation software as possible. Of course, do feel free to use a dictionary to help you with vocabulary or verb tables for grammar, but it’s worth noting that we would rather receive imaginative entries that are slightly flawed than linguistically perfect stories that lack more creative qualities.
I hope that helps – good luck with the competition!
Best wishes,
Nicola
Hi
Is the title included in the word count?
Thank you
Hi Hannah, thanks for your query. No, the title is not included in the word count.
Good luck with your submission!
Best wishes,
Nicola
Hi there,
Is there a complete word limit? i.e. obviously it is a 100-word story but is there a possibility to go over to say 110 words?
Hi Nat, thanks for your question. The word limit is strictly 100 words – unfortunately stories which exceed this limit will be ineligible.
Good luck with your entry!
Best wishes,
Nicola
Hi! When will the winners be announced? Thank you!
Hi AK, thanks for your question.
We are hoping to announce the winners in mid-May so keep an eye on the blog around that time!
Best wishes,
Nicola
When will the results of the competition be known? Will entrants who didn’t win be told the results? Thanks
Hi Jemima, thanks for your query. We are hoping to announce the results in mid-May and yes, all entrants will be emailed the results.
Good luck in the competition!
Best wishes,
Nicola
Will the winners and runner ups get an email to let them know if/when they have won? Thank you!
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for your question. Yes, all entrants will be emailed with the list of winners, runners up and highly commended entries so keep an eye on your inbox in mid-May!
Good luck 🙂
Best wishes,
Nicola