The Community Library in Cobleskill invited patrons of the fourteen member libraries in the Mohawk Valley Library System to submit short stories of no more than 1000 words to our February Flash Fiction competition. We were pleased to receive submissions from patrons representing seven libraries in our region.
Identifying information (e.g. authors’ names and home libraries) was removed from stories before they were given to our judging panel for review. The judges were library staff members affiliated with the writing programs hosted by three different libraries in our system:
- Jacob Trahan of Fort Plain Free Library
- Bailey Darling of Gloversville Public Library
- Jennie Mosher of Schoharie Free Library
Here are the winners and honorable mentions for our first February Flash:
- Winner: “The Mistake” by Gemma Skinner (Schoharie Free Library)
- Winner: “The Big Brother Robot” by Napoleon Read (Amsterdam Free Library)
- Third Place: “The Preacher Said” by Mitzi Dorton (The Community Library)
- Second Place: “Blind Date” by Nathan Davis (The Community Library)
- First Place: “Six Kittens” by Chris Keefer (The Community Library)
Honorable Mentions
- “Alice in Winter Wonderland” by Heather Skinner (Schoharie Free Library)
- “The Breakup” by Sarah Davis (The Community Library)
- “Man’s Dominion” by Iain Middleton (The Community Library)
- “Mrs. Tomkin’s Cats” by Steve Dukenski (Schenectady County Public Library)
- “The Summer Sam Spent With Carry” by Tessa Davis (The Community Library)
- “Writing Dangerously” by Pete Lindemann (The Community Library)
The Community Library wants to thank all the writers who submitted their works as well as the judges who generously donated their time to read and evaluate the stories.
