The first Cambridge Fiction Award, a rolling monthly flash fiction competition, opened for submissions this month.

The competition is free and open to all with the aim of encouraging more writers to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard on a regular basis. Entries must be under 200 words which means you don’t need a huge amount of time to take part – perfect for your train commute or coffee break. Let your imagination run wild in a bite sized story.

If you have always fancied trying to write stories but don’t know where to start or if you love writing but need a bit of help finding inspiration each month, don’t worry, we’ll be providing a monthly writing prompt to get you started. Simply include the prompt word in your story and stick to the word limit – there are no other rules. The deadline for entries is the 25th of each month when the next prompt word will be announced.

This month’s prompt is our home town, the beautiful city of Cambridge. You could write about any time period, any genre, from any perspective, use the city as a setting or take inspiration from the amazing residents throughout the ages. It’s completely up to you.

Winning and runner up entries will be published on the Cambridge Fiction Award website.

This is a brand new competition and we’re really excited about the response so far – thank you Short Stops for telling your readers about us. In just a few days we’ve had some amazing entries from all over the world. Whether you’re an experienced writer or this is your first attempt we want to read your stories.

For more information and to enter this month’s competition visit CambridgeFictionAward.com and follow us on twitter @camfictionaward