Derby Book Festival announces Flash Fiction competition winners

Derby Book Festival has announced the winners of its 2026 Flash Fiction Writing Competition, sponsored by Derventio Education. 

This year’s theme was ‘Hope’. The challenge was to write a story of up to 50 words and 501 entries were submitted across five categories. 

The winning stories will be printed on Festival bookmarks with illustrations by a University of Derby Illustration and Graphic Design student.

The winners: Tracy Johnson (18 and over), Leon Twijo (12 – 17 years) and Leyton Cummings (11s and under) each receive a £50 Waterstones token and a framed copy of their illustrated story. There was also a category for HMP Foston Hall and HMP Sudbury. The winner at Foston Hall was Tracey and at Sudbury, Peter and they also receive the same prizes. 

The judges also chose Highly Commended stories in each category.

The winning stories are illustrated by Jessica Critchlow, who won a separate competition for University of Derby second-year Illustration and Graphic Design courses students. The illustrated stories will be printed onto a set of Festival bookmarks, which will be available at the Festival.

The Festival, which is funded by the University of Derby and Arts Council England with sponsorship from local businesses, will be held in venues across the city from 22 - 31 May 2026. The Festival programme will be available at all venues, libraries and local cafes. 

The winning stories were chosen by a panel of three: Stuart Reece, Managing Director of the competition sponsor, Derventio Education, Simon Burch, Director of Penguin PR and Micky Borelli, graduate from the MA course in Creative Writing at the University of Derby.

The competition, a key community activity since the Festival’s inception in 2015, attracts hundreds of entries each year. In previous years, writers have been invited to tackle a variety of themes: ‘Love’, ‘Secrets’, ‘Journeys’, ‘If Only’, ‘Our World’, ‘Home’, ‘Space’, ‘Spring’ and ‘Voices’. The theme can be interpreted as widely as the author wishes, so long as the story is no more than fifty words.

Managing director Stuart Reece said: “Derventio Education is proud to support an initiative that encourages people of all ages and backgrounds to express themselves through writing. The theme of ‘Hope’ clearly resonated this year, and the winning entries are both powerful and inspiring. 

“The quality and creativity of entries was outstanding and I was surprised to see how much emotion, imagination and storytelling can be captured in just 50 words. 

“Competitions like this play an important role in nurturing creativity and giving people a platform to share their voices, and we’re delighted to be part of that.”

Professor Keith McLay, Festival Chair and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Derby, said: “It is great to see such a strong response to the Flash Fiction Writing Competition, and to see students from the University of Derby – as well as our alumni – involved.

“The growth in entries for this year’s competition shows how the initiative continues to reach and inspire a range of people across our community.”

The full list of winning stories and the runners-up stories in each category are available on the Festival website.