Previous Competition Winners

IF Maitland Harry Hartog Short Story Prize 2020

Watery Grave

If only they were brighter. The first trickle of water reaches the pointed toe of my nude stilettoes, the droplets appearing to peel away from the shiny material. The sound of the running water soothes me as I stare at the pearlescent bathtub now rapidly overflowing, like a tiny ocean,...

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If Only

If only I had of swiped left, how could I ever expect to find my soulmate via tinder? What are the odds that someone would ever have the same first words that are as strange as mine? I can’t even begin to imagine the embarrassment I’m going to feel when...

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sELFish

The elf and the strange-looking water creature walked cautiously through the forest. Though the elf walked in front of the creature with long, slimy green kelp fur, if you could even call it that, it was the creature who was trailing and watching avidly from behind for any lurking dangers....

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Negative ifs

‘If’ is the beginning to all regrets. One would assume there would be nothing to rue about celebrating at a spacious, public pool, but Dakota, a teenage boy that begrudgingly accepted the invitation, swam in his own pool of pessimism. He saw the bad in everything, and he could only...

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