In December 2025, we launched our annual Flash Fiction competitions, which closed at the end of March. The competitions were open to students in Years 7 to 13, who were tasked with writing a short story of no more than 100 words in French, German and/or Spanish.
We had an incredible response, with entries coming in from all areas across the country! In total, we received over 1100 submissions across the three languages!
We would like to thank everyone who entered the competitions and commend you all for your hard work and creativity in writing a piece of fiction in a different language. This is a challenging exercise, and a significant achievement – congratulations all!
We are delighted to be able to announce the winners, runners up, and highly commended entries for each language below. We will be publishing the stories here on the blog over the summer so you can read them for yourselves.
French
In the Years 7-9 category, the winner is Cindy Li. The runners-up are Esme Pritchard and Shanzeh Masood.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Ema Danileviciute; Mahek Amjad; Elisabetta Margherita Federici; Heritage Agbaje; Anah Imran; Iqra Zaheen; Veer Khanna; Eva Madan; Ayaan Banerjee; and Kimberley Woollard.
In the Years 10-11 category, the winner is Ranvir Sharma. The runners-up are Joseph Nebel and Honorée Wallis.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Nandana Dhanabal; Henry Bodal Hansen; Myrtle Mitchell; Yakshita Ramdhony; Victoria Wang; Chloe Shin; Djihane Ounissi; Aarush Lala; Aadi Jhawar; and Jack Bolton.
In the Years 12-13 category, the winner is Julia Lee. The runners-up are Salome Gvindadze and Francesca Bardou.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Isla Thurlow; Jude Shalaby; Ines Amraoui; Isabelle Lake; Erin Grimsey; Alexander Andrews; Caterina Ciniselli; Sherisa Johnson Rock; Henrietta Coningsby; and Sophie Agmen-Smith.
The French judging panel commented the following about all the entries:
We have been really impressed by the inventiveness, courage, and linguistic flair shown by this year’s Flash Fiction Competition entrants. The winners, runners up, and commended entries demonstrated imagination, advanced vocabulary, and precise grammar to craft engaging, moving, or suspenseful narratives, all within the limits of 100 words.
We encountered a crime-fighting guinea pig, a rebellious swarm of insects, time capsules, apocalypses, many Mona Lisas, croissants, Monet’s garden, sentient bacteria, Nemo’s adventures abroad, talking teddy bears, battlefields both metaphoric and real, acrobats, celebrity frogs, airport encounters, surprise birthday cakes, atmospheric descriptions of the moon, and divinely ordained bins.
Your entries were a pleasure to read, and we are delighted to commend each one of you for your hard work and creativity. Our warmest congratulations to everyone for taking part!
German
In the Years 7-9 category, the winner is Rynad Mohudeen. The runners-up are Heritage Agbaje and Sophia Pfrang.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Donald Kuhn; Eva Monica Buckingham; Eva Davies; Habibur Kazi; Kayden Jace Miraflor; Kenji Ronan; Lili May Kuhn; Muhammad Anwaar Ul Haq; Thomas Lawrance; and Vakish Indrajith.
In the Years 10-11 category, the winner is Mariia Slobodyanyuk. The runners-up are Amelia Sinclair and Anonymous.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Ananya Patrick; Ananya Subramonian; Ariel Xu; Eleanor Ziegler-Tan; Elsa Rauschenbach; Eva Howells; Evelyn Roberts; Flora Boney; India Davie-Thornhill; and Luca Goolamali.
In the Years 12-13 category, the winner is Leah Holmes. The runners-up are Edith Taussig and Uma Ahluwalia.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Alexander Howell; Alexandra Hampton; Ayaan Jilani; Charlotte Kenyon; Chloe Louet; Elisabeth Tillett; Ellis Underwood; Florence Datta; Isabella Young; and Tarannum Jayaswal.
The German judging panel commented the following about all the entries:
We were delighted to have received so many entries across a range of topics. Some stories led us into mystical realms and fairy-tale-like settings, while others offered new dimensions and dystopian glimpses at a future where robots and AI had taken over. At heart of all these often quite poetic stories was a deep emotional connection with the world, encompassing questions around the self and relationships with others, memories, hopes and dreams as well as the perspectives of animals. It was clear to see many entrants thinking carefully about the vocabulary and grammar structures they had been learning, and about how they could take risks with these to creative, poignant, or amusing effect. We found it heartening to see so many young Germanists engaging with fiction in such a palpably enthusiastic way, asking themselves how we narrate, how we connect with each other, and what we learn about German – and ourselves – in the process.
Spanish
In the Years 7-9 category, the winner is Alessia Jain. The runners-up are Rishaan Sharma and Lilac Eis.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Lucio Angeli Stella; Anonymous; Anonymous; Ashvy Sasikumar; Ekamjot Kaur; Denis Rodriguez Sanmartin; Anonymous; Tara Hayhoe; and Ruby Ayetigbo.
In the Years 10-11 category, the winner is Alfie Bailey. The runners-up are Amelie Rahman and Maya Maimaris.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Jemima Tapp; Clothilde Salord; Alexandros Pallett; Jasmin Leong; Malena Sievers Mayo; Maria Chowdhory; Sophie Blundell; Siena Gurjar; Anagha Abrol; and Aisha Balde.
In the Years 12-13 category, the winner is Lila Rock. The runners-up are Celia Guasch Bloomer and Nicole Kilby.
The judges also identified the following entrants as highly commended: Katerina Garcia; Olivia Slater; Paul Olusegun; Richard Hall; Sienna O’Keefe; Alexa Lewis-Banks; Ava Spillane; Anonymous; Bella Trafford-Barton; and Charles Romeu-Villalobos.
The Spanish judging panel commented the following about all the entries:
As in previous years, there were lots of very interestingly organized and thought-provoking entries. This year, we noticed quite a different at the level of theme – some were very funny, others, more sobering reflections on modern life. It was very difficult to decide the overall winners and runners up and there were a number of other stories that we would have liked to have commended too. The level of the Spanish seemed a little stronger than in previous years, which is testament to your hard work. ¡Seguid estudiando y escribiendo!
Huge congratulations everyone – you should be very proud of your achievement!
