Abstract We analyzed the light curves of 1376 early-to-late, nearby M dwarfs to search for white-light flares using photometry from the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae. We identified 480 M dwarfs with at least one potential flare employing a simple statistical algorithm that searches for sudden increases in V -band flux. After more detailed evaluation, we identified 62 individual flares on 62 stars. The event amplitudes range from <?CDATA $0.12\lt {\rm{\Delta }}V\lt 2.04$?> mag. Using classical flare models, we place lower limits on the flare energies and obtain V -band energies spanning <?CDATA $2.0\times {10}^{30}\lesssim {E}_{V}\lesssim 6.9\times {10}^{35}$?> erg. The fraction of flaring stars increases with spectral type, and most flaring stars show moderate to strong H α emission. Additionally, we find that 14 of the 62 flaring stars are rotational variables, and they have shorter rotation periods and stronger H α emission than nonflaring rotational variable M dwarfs.