Argentine writer Jorge Accame has won first prize in the 11th Cardenal Mendoza International Microfiction Contest with a work titled “Jaque de coz.” For the jury, it is a text of Borgesian complexity, where the game of chess and the Trojan War merge through communicating vessels between time and memory, so that it is no longer clear what came first and what came later.
Jorge Accame was born in Buenos Aires in 1956 and is a renowned author of fiction, poetry, and plays.
The hilarious micro-story “Loba de mar” by Madrid-based Miguel Ángel Escudero Eble won second prize. The jury highlighted its frenetic sense of humor, expressed through an effective mastery of the techniques required to achieve brevity.
His bold dynamism, stemming from a sensual use of mathematics, has earned Miguel Barreras Alconchel third prize for “(Irrational) Declaration of Love and Wine in an Elevator.” Barreras was born in Zaragoza in 1960 and lives in Valderrobres (Teruel).
The Cardenal Mendoza Non Plus Ultra Special Mention, which recognizes the micro-story that best enhances the image of Jerez brandy, has been awarded to Jerez-based writer Agustín Celis Sánchez. His micro-story “Madera vieja” reinterprets the legendary disappearance of American writer Ambrose Bierce, which was in turn recreated by Carlos Fuentes in the novel *The Old Gringo*. The added ingredient of Sherry brandy serves to create an apocryphal entry in Bierce’s famous dictionary.
The jury, chaired by Mauricio Gil Cano, was composed of poets Josefa Parra Ramos, director of the Caballero Bonald Foundation, and Ana Sofía Pérez-Bustamante Mourier, professor at the UCA and deputy director of the Royal Hispanic-American Academy; as well as the storyteller, professor, and critic José López Romero and Evaristo Babé, president of the Regulatory Council of Brandy de Jerez.
The jury’s decision and the winning micro-stories can be read on the website www.cardenalmendoza.com. This year, 1,737 entries were submitted from 31 countries. The jury highlighted the quality of the winning entries and the finalists. The Cardenal Mendoza Contest has established itself as a benchmark in Spanish flash fiction with its unique pairing of literature and sherry brandy. The winning stories from the past ten years have been compiled in the book *Beber la brevedad*, which can also be downloaded from the Cardenal Mendoza website.
