CrimeCalls™ Flash Fiction Contest

Official Rules

Version 1.0 · Effective November 10, 2026

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. THE CONTEST IS FREE TO ENTER. BUYING ANYTHING FROM CRIMECALLS™ WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.

This is a contest of skill. Winners are chosen by judges using the criteria below. Chance plays no part.

1. Sponsor

The CrimeCalls™ Flash Fiction Contest (the “Contest”) is sponsored and run by Continuing Education And Training, LLC, an Arizona limited liability company doing business as CrimeCalls™ (“Sponsor,” “CrimeCalls™,” “we,” “us”). Mailing address (for mail only): 500 Westover Drive, Suite 17707, Sanford, NC 27330. Questions go through the contest question form. The Contest is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, any social media platform.

2. Agreement to these rules

By submitting an entry you agree to these Official Rules (the “Rules”) and to the CrimeCalls™ Terms of Service, and you agree that the judges’ and Sponsor’s decisions are final and binding on all matters relating to the Contest. Checking the box marked “I agree to the Official Rules and the Terms of Service” and clicking submit is your electronic signature under the federal E-SIGN Act (15 U.S.C. § 7001 and following) and the Arizona Electronic Transactions Act (A.R.S. § 44-7001 and following), with the same effect as a handwritten signature. We keep a record of your acceptance, including the date and time, the version of these Rules, and a one-way scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address. If these Rules and the Terms of Service conflict, these Rules control for the Contest.

3. Who can enter

• You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where you live if that is older, when you enter.
• The Contest is open worldwide, except where it is prohibited or restricted by law. You are responsible for making sure that entering is lawful where you live.
• The Sponsor’s owners, members, managers, employees and contractors who help run or judge the Contest, and their immediate family and household members, may not enter.
• One entry per person. Each person may submit one story, using one email address. Using more than one name or email address, or entering through someone else, disqualifies every entry from that person.

4. Contest period

Entries open at 12:00 a.m. Arizona time (MST, UTC−7) on November 10, 2026 and close at 11:59 p.m. Arizona time on December 15, 2026 (the “Contest Period”). Arizona does not use daylight saving time. Entries received outside the Contest Period are not eligible. Our server clock is the official timekeeper. We may extend the Contest Period, for example if we receive too few eligible entries, by posting the new dates on this page.

5. How to enter

Fill in the online entry form with your name, your email address, your story title and the full text of your story, check the required boxes, and submit. There is no other way to enter. We do not accept entries by email, post or social media. Entries must be complete and submitted through the form; incomplete, late, garbled, automated or bulk entries are not eligible. We are not responsible for entries that are lost, delayed or not received for any reason, including technical failures. You will see a confirmation on screen when your entry is saved; please keep a copy of your story.

6. Story requirements

• Theme: “The Last Witness.” Your story must be crime, mystery, suspense or thriller fiction and must engage with the theme. How you interpret it is up to you.
• Length: 100 to 1,000 words, not counting the title. The entry form counts words by splitting the text at spaces and line breaks; that count is the official count.
• Original: the story must be entirely your own work, and you must own all rights in it. Stories written wholly or substantially by artificial intelligence tools are not eligible. Spell-checkers and grammar tools are fine.
• Unpublished: the story must not have been published anywhere, in print or online, including on a personal website, blog, newsletter, social media or story-sharing platform, or in a magazine, anthology or contest. Sharing it privately with a critique group is fine.
• Elsewhere: you may submit the same story to other markets while the Contest is running. If it is accepted or published elsewhere before the winners are announced, please withdraw it using the question form.
• Language and format: written in English, pasted as plain text into the form. Do not include your name in the story text.
• Content: stories must not be defamatory, must not invade anyone’s privacy or publicity rights, must not infringe anyone’s copyright or trademark, and must not contain sexual content involving minors, hate speech, or content that promotes real-world violence against real people. Dark themes are expected in crime fiction and are welcome.

We may disqualify, at our sole discretion, any entry that does not meet these Rules, and anyone who tampers with the entry process, uses bots or scripts, or acts in a disruptive, abusive or unsportsmanlike way.

7. Judging

Entries are read and judged by the CrimeCalls™ editorial team. Each eligible story is scored on three criteria:

The highest-scoring story wins, and up to 5 more stories may be named to a shortlist. If stories tie, the one with the higher Craft score ranks higher; if they are still tied, the judges decide by a second reading. The judges’ decisions are final and are not open to appeal, and we do not give individual feedback on entries. We may decline to name a shortlist if too few entries are eligible.

8. Prizes

There are no cash prizes. The prizes are recognition and exposure on CrimeCalls™:

• Winner (1): a magazine-style winner interview published on crimecalls.com; the winning story published on crimecalls.com; a featured spot on the CrimeCalls™ board for 30 days linking to the winner’s author website, book or newsletter, at no charge; and a mention in the CrimeCalls™ weekly email.
• Shortlist (up to 5): named on the results page on crimecalls.com, with the story eligible for publication on crimecalls.com, and a mention in the CrimeCalls™ weekly email.

Prizes have no cash value and cannot be exchanged for cash, transferred or substituted, except that we may substitute a prize of similar kind if a prize becomes unavailable. The interview is optional; a winner who prefers not to be interviewed keeps the title and the other prizes. The featured spot must link to a lawful, working page and follow our Sponsor Terms content standards; it is labelled as a contest prize, not a paid placement. We do not promise any number of readers, sales, income, agents, publishing offers or other results from any prize. Any taxes on a prize are the winner’s responsibility.

9. Winners

We aim to tell the winner and shortlisted writers by email, at the address used to enter, by January 15, 2027, and then to post the results on crimecalls.com. A potential winner must reply within 14 days to confirm eligibility and accept, and may be asked to confirm in writing that the story is original, unpublished and theirs. If a potential winner does not reply in time, cannot be reached, is ineligible or declines, we may choose the next-highest-scoring eligible story. Names of winners will be shown on crimecalls.com.

10. Your rights in your story

• You keep your copyright. Entering does not transfer ownership of your story to us.
• Judging. By entering, you let us store, copy and read your story only to run and judge the Contest.
• If your story wins or is shortlisted, you grant the Sponsor a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to publish the full story on crimecalls.com and in the CrimeCalls™ weekly email, and to use the title, your name (or pen name), a short bio you provide, and excerpts of up to 150 words to promote the Contest and CrimeCalls™ in any media. This license is non-exclusive: you remain free to publish the story anywhere else. After 12 months you may ask us, through the question form, to remove the full story from crimecalls.com, and we will do so within 30 days; promotional excerpts already distributed may remain.
• Please note: once a story appears on crimecalls.com it counts as published, and some magazines and contests only take unpublished work. If that matters to you, you may tell us before the results are posted that you want your story named but not published in full; you keep your place in the results.
• We will not sell your story, and we will not use it to train AI models.
• Entries that do not win or make the shortlist are deleted within 90 days after the results are announced.

11. Your promises

By entering, you promise that: you meet the eligibility rules; the story is your own original work and has not been published; you own all rights needed to grant the license above; the story does not infringe, defame or violate anyone’s rights or any law; and everything you tell us is true. If you win, you agree that we may use your name (or pen name) and the fact that you won on crimecalls.com and in the weekly email, without further payment, where the law allows.

12. Your information

We collect your name, email address, story, word count, the date and time of your entry, your browser type and a hashed form of your IP address. We use them only to run and judge the Contest, prevent duplicate and automated entries, contact you about your entry, and publish results. We do not sell or share your information. We add you to the CrimeCalls™ weekly email only if you tick the optional newsletter box, and you can unsubscribe from any issue. See our Privacy page for more.

13. Release and no warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you release and hold harmless the Sponsor and its owners, members, managers, employees, contractors, agents and service providers (the “Released Parties”) from any claim, loss, injury or damage of any kind arising out of or relating to the Contest, your entry, or the acceptance, use or misuse of any prize. The Contest, the website, the entry form and all prizes are provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, express or implied, including any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. We do not promise that the entry form will be available at all times or error-free.

14. Limit of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE RELEASED PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOST PROFITS, INCOME, OPPORTUNITY OR DATA, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE CONTEST. BECAUSE THE CONTEST IS FREE TO ENTER, THE RELEASED PARTIES’ TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE CONTEST IS ZERO DOLLARS ($0), OR THE LOWEST AMOUNT THE LAW ALLOWS IF ZERO IS NOT ALLOWED. You agree to bring any claim only against the Sponsor, and not against its owners, members, managers or agents personally. Nothing in these Rules limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

15. Indemnity

To the maximum extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Released Parties from and against all claims, losses, damages, fines, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your entry, your story, your breach of these Rules or the Terms of Service, or your violation of any law or anyone’s rights, including any claim that your story is not original or infringes, defames or violates someone else’s rights.

16. Changes, cancellation and problems

We may change, suspend, extend or cancel the Contest, or change these Rules, if fraud, technical problems, too few eligible entries, or anything else beyond our reasonable control affects the fair running of the Contest, or for any other lawful reason, by posting the change on this page. Changes do not take away a prize already awarded. If the Contest is cancelled, we may judge the eligible entries received before cancellation, or choose not to award prizes. We are not responsible for printing, typographical or technical errors on the site or in any Contest materials.

17. Governing law, venue and disputes

These Rules and any dispute relating to the Contest are governed by the laws of the State of Arizona and applicable U.S. federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any lawsuit must be brought only in the state or federal courts located in Maricopa County, Arizona, and you and we consent to those courts’ jurisdiction. To the maximum extent permitted by law, any claim must be brought on an individual basis and not as part of a class or representative action, you and we each waive any right to a jury trial, and any claim must be filed within one (1) year after it arose or it is permanently barred. Before filing anything, please contact us through the question form and give us 30 days to try to resolve it informally.

18. General

If any part of these Rules is found unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent allowed and the rest stays in effect. Our failure to enforce any part of these Rules is not a waiver. These Rules, together with the Terms of Service and our Privacy page, are the entire agreement about the Contest. The English version controls.