About Us
Farnham Audio Book competion builds on the success of the Farnham Flash Fiction 500 started as a local annual competition run alongside the summer Farnham Fringe Festival in 2017
Our Manifesto
We believe in the power of the spoken word — not just any word, but words shaped by land, history, and heritage. The Farnham Audiobook Competition exists to celebrate, elevate, and preserve the rich vocal traditions of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon cultures.
At a time when voices are often flattened into uniformity, we’re here to say: authenticity matters. The rolling cadences of Irish storytellers, the lyrical depth of Welsh, the rugged strength of Yorkshire and Northumbrian tones — these are not just accents. They are living histories, carried on the breath of every narrator who dares to speak them aloud.
We created this competition because we are passionate about voice — real voice. The kind that rings with centuries of myth, folklore, resilience, and rhythm. The kind that doesn't apologize for its difference, but thrives in it. We want to make space for those voices in the fast-growing world of audiobooks — not as novelties, but as cornerstones of great storytelling.
So, Why?
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To bring writers and narrators together in creative collaboration.
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To honour the oral roots of storytelling.
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To give a platform to voices often pushed to the margins.
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To reward performance that feels as alive as the story itself.
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To say — loud and clear — that regional dialects and ancient tongues belong in the future of fiction.
This is more than a competition.
It’s a celebration, a reclamation, and a call to all creators who carry the music of their ancestors in their voice.
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The Flash Fiction 500 started life as the Farnham Flash Fiction competition and from 2018 to 2022 it was run in conjunction with the Farnham Flash Festival. A festival of loacal arts, theatre, music and writing in Farnham, Surrey.
For those five years, the judge was local author and winner of the Bath Novel Award Joanna Barnard.
In 2023, the Farnham Fringe Festival finally closed down, yet the Flash Fiction competition continued. In 2023, the judge was Anne Rainbow, Expert Editor and Scrivenor guru.
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The competition is run by Mrs Sally Dickson, who is a local councillor on Farnham Town Council, and also an author writing under the pen name Sally Ann Melia.
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The competition is a chance for writers to pitch their skill one against the other, and the competition booklet that each year publishes a selection of the longlisted entries.
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In 2026, the Farnham Flash Fiction competition will be celbrating 10 years of flash fiction with a compilation of flash fiction stories.
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We are also launching a new competition for audio books, with a specific focus on celtic and anglo-saxon voices.
Call
+44 7957 440703
