Enjoy some exquisite, dramatic and highly praised writing in the top stories from the 2025 Edinburgh Writing Awards. The Scapegoat by Jacob Ashton, winner of the 2025 Edinburgh Short Story Award, is a meticulously well-crafted story that subverts expectations, sending us down an unforeseen path. The prose is of an exceptionally high quality, with some eminently quotable turns of phrase. Short story judges Christopher Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman Wild Horses by Cecilia Maddison is a flash that I couldn’t unstick from my heart. The author teaches us how the use of blended metaphor can add a magical element to an otherwise realistic scenario. … The galloping rhythm of the prose creates an audible emotional heartbeat. Edinburgh Flash Fiction Award judge, Meg Pokrass CONTENTS EDINBURGH SHORT STORY AWARDS 2025 The Scapegoat by Jacob Ashton The Winter Visitor at Garve Station by Duncan MacInnes Cloth Man by Julie-May Noteman Heartsick by Rachael Cameron Medusa Goes to the Hairdresser by Angela Drinnan Nincompoop Cures Cancer by Racheal Jones Square Lives by Sarah Rigby Bhutto is Dead by Saira Arian All Not Breathing by Ralph Bolland God Bless the Fried Chicken at Clucker’s Sunday Lunch Buffet by Holly Brandon Fermenting by Kája Kubičková Locusts and Dragons by Genevieve Flintham Chicken Bones by Katy Walker In a Nutshell by Andrew Burnet Trinity Park by Sherry Cassells Gunnerson’s Wardrobe by Peter Court 1 The Bread Servers’ Tale by J N Ian Dickson Orchard and Fog by Priyanka Kumra Eclipse by Coral McCormack Jiggers by Don J Taylor Old Penny Peat by Abby Walker Footprints by Cara Watson EDINBURGH AWARD FOR FLASH FICTION 2025 Wild Horses by Cecilia Maddison The Great Ivories by Alexandra Lane War Bride by Judith Allnatt Homesickly by Margaret McMillan Swansong by Katy Hughes Press ‘2’ to Save by Sahara De Ville Wear your Pink Coat by Katherine Powlett Postal Child by Titash Sen Miniature Love Story by Alexis Somerville One Horse Town by Robert Tateson Monster by Michael Callaghan The Farce of Mr and Mrs Curtin by Joe Evans Three Drops of Spite by Ellen Forkin The missing half of me was last seen at an Exxon Mobil on Highway 48 by Katy Hughes The Soil Falling Over My Head by Marianne MacRae The Coal Thieves by Frankie McMillan Don’t think of the wentletraps and scallops by Jill Munro Home by Maria Saba The Punishment by Laurie Swinarton Undignified Dignity by Ruth Thomason All that it entails by Jody Timmerman EDINBURGH TRUE FLASH AWARDS 2025 All that time by Sophie Olszowski On The Road by Beverley Casebow Mermaid by Stephanie Taylor A Curious Incident by Peter Stewart Human, Probably by James Aitcheson Almost by Bridget Goldschmidt Morning on Merrion Square by Liz Houchin It’s been raining all morning and the playground is treacherous by Heather Norton Leftovers by Mandy Wheeler