The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first published in the United States during a calendar year. The founder of the prize is Julie Lindsey, and the director is Larry Dark. He was previously series editor for the annual short story anthology Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards from 1997 to 2002.

Publishers, authors, or agents may enter a short story collection written in English by a living author and published in the U.S. during a calendar year. Three finalists are announced in January. These authors participate in an award event, typically in March, at which they read from their work and have an on-stage discussion with Dark. At the end of the event, Julie Lindsey announces the winner, who, in addition to the prize money, receives an engraved silver bowl. From 2006-2020 the event was at the New School in New York City (co-sponsored with the Creative Writing Department). In 2021, the event was recorded via Zoom, and it has since been held at The Lotos Club.

In March 2019, Catapult published The Story Prize: 15 Years of Great Short Fiction, an anthology celebrating the award's fifteenth anniversary.[1]

Recipients

Story Prize winners and finalists
Year Author Title Result
2004 Edwidge Danticat The Dew Breaker Winner
Cathy Day The Circus in Winter Finalist [2]
Joan Silber Ideas of Heaven
2005 Patrick O'Keeffe The Hill Road Winner [3]
Jim Harrison The Summer He Didn't Die Finalist [3]
Maureen F. McHugh Mothers and Other Monsters
2006 Mary Gordon The Stories of Mary Gordon Winner
Rick Bass The Lives of Rocks Finalist
George Saunders In Persuasion Nation
2007 Jim Shepard Like You'd Understand, Anyway Winner [4]
Tessa Hadley Sunstroke and Other Stories Finalist [4]
Vincent Lam Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
2008 Tobias Wolff Our Story Begins Winner [5]
Jhumpa Lahiri Unaccustomed Earth Finalist [5]
Joe Meno Demons in the Spring
2009 Daniyal Mueenuddin In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Winner [6][7]
Victoria Patterson Drift Finalist [6][7]
Wells Tower Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
2010 Anthony Doerr Memory Wall Winner [8][9]
Yiyun Li Gold Boy, Emerald Girl Finalist [8]
Suzanne Rivecca Death Is Not an Option
2011 Steven Millhauser We Others Winner [10]
Don DeLillo The Angel Esmeralda Finalist
Edith Pearlman Binocular Vision
2012 Claire Vaye Watkins Battleborn Winner
Dan Chaon Stay Awake Finalist [11]
Junot Díaz This Is How You Lose Her
2013 George Saunders Tenth of December Winner [12][13]
Andrea Barrett Archangel Finalist [13]
Rebecca Lee Bobcat
2014 Elizabeth McCracken Thunderstruck Winner [14][15]
Francesca Marciano The Other Language Finalist [15]
Lorrie Moore Bark
2015 Adam Johnson Fortune Smiles Winner [16]
Charles Baxter There’s Something I Want You to Do Finalist [16]
Colum McCann Thirteen Ways of Looking
2016 Rick Bass For a Little While Winner [17]
Anna Noyes Goodnight, Beautiful Women Finalist [17]
Helen Maryles Shankman They Were Like Family to Me (published in hardcover as In the Land of Armadillos)
2017 Elizabeth Strout Anything Is Possible Winner [18]
Daniel Alarcón The King Is Always Above the People Finalist [18][19]
Ottessa Moshfegh Homesick for Another World
2018 Lauren Groff Florida Winner
Jamel Brinkley A Lucky Man Finalist
Deborah Eisenberg Your Duck Is My Duck
2019 Edwidge Danticat Everything Inside Winner [20]
Kali Fajardo-Anstine Sabrina & Corina Finalist [20]
Zadie Smith Grand Union
2020 Deesha Philyaw The Secret Lives of Church Ladies Winner [21]
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum Likes Finalist [21]
Danielle Evans The Office of Historical Corrections
2021 Brandon Taylor Filthy Animals Winner [22][23]
Lily King Five Tuesdays in Winter Finalist [23]
J. Robert Lennon Let Me Think
2022 Ling Ma Bliss Montage Winner [24]
Andrea Barrett Natural History Finalist [25]
Morgan Talty Night of the Living Rez
2023 Yiyun Li Wednesday's Child Finalist
Bennett Sims Other Minds and Other Stories Finalist [26]
Paul Yoon The Hive and the Honey

The Story Prize Spotlight Award

This $1,000 award is given to a short story collection of exceptional merit, as selected by the Director of the Story Prize, from among all entrants. Winners of The Story Prize Spotlight Award might be promising works by first-time authors, collections in alternative formats, or works that demonstrate an unusual perspective on the writers’ craft.

References

  1. ^ "The Story Prize: 15 Years of Great Short Fiction ed. by Larry Dark (Pr – Catapult". books.catapult.co. Archived from the original on 2019-01-10.
  2. ^ Lauren Mechling (January 19, 2005). "He Tells the Story Of the Story Prize". New York Sun. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Sarah Crown (January 26, 2006). "O'Keeffe takes Hill Road to glory". The Guardian. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  4. ^ a b Jean Hartig (February 29, 2008). "Jim Shepard Wins Story Prize: Postcard From New York City". Poets & Writers. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Michaud (March 4, 2009). "Tobias Wolff wins Story Prize for short fiction". Reuters. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  6. ^ a b Thessaly La Force (March 4, 2010). "Daniyal Mueenuddin Wins the Story Prize". New Yorker. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Wins The Story Prize", Larry Dark, official TSP Blog, March 3, 2010
  8. ^ a b "TSP: Anthony Doerr's Memory Wall Wins The Story Prize". The Story Prize. 2011-03-03. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
  9. ^ "Anthony Doerr wins Short Story award". BBC. April 8, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  10. ^ Aparna Narayanan (March 26, 2012). "The Story Prize awards Steven Millhauser, honors Don DeLillo and Edith Pearlman". Capital New York. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  11. ^ Carolyn Kellogg (January 16, 2013). "Congrats to the Story Prize finalists". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  12. ^ "George Saunders Wins His First Book Award, The Story Prize, for Tenth of December", Larry Dark, official TSP Blog, March 5, 2014
  13. ^ a b "U.S. author George Saunders wins Story Prize for short fiction". Reuters. March 5, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  14. ^ "The Winner of The Story Prize Is Thunderstruck by Elizabeth McCracken", Larry Dark, official TSP Blog, March 4, 2015
  15. ^ a b "Elizabeth McCracken wins Story Prize for Thunderstruck". The Guardian. Reuters. March 4, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Adam Johnson wins $20,000 Story Prize for short fiction". Washington Post. Associated Press. March 2, 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  17. ^ a b McMurtrie, John (March 8, 2017). "Rick Bass wins Story Prize". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  18. ^ a b John McMurtrie (February 28, 2018). "Elizabeth Strout wins Story Prize for 'Anything Is Possible". San Francisco Chronicle.
  19. ^ "Announcing the 2018 Story Prize Finalists". Literary Hub. January 9, 2018.
  20. ^ a b "Author Edwidge Danticat wins $20,000 Story Prize". Associated Press. February 26, 2020.
  21. ^ a b "Winner of the Story Prize Is Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. March 10, 2021.
  22. ^ "Brandon Taylor's 'Filthy Animals' wins $20,000 Story Prize". ABC News. March 13, 2022.
  23. ^ a b "Here Are This Year's Finalists for the Story Prize". LitHub. February 8, 2022.
  24. ^ "Ling Ma's Bliss Montage wins $20,000 Story Prize". ABC News. January 10, 2023.
  25. ^ "Here Are This Year's Finalists for the Story Prize". LitHub. January 10, 2023.
  26. ^ "Here are this year's finalists for The Story Prize". LitHub. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  27. ^ "TSP: Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy is the Winner of the Story Prize Spotlight Award". 17 January 2019.
  28. ^ "TSP: The Trojan War Museum by Ayşe Papatya Bucak is the Winner of the Story Prize Spotlight Award". 21 January 2020.
  29. ^ "TSP: Born into This by Adam Thompson is the Winner of the Story Prize Spotlight Award". 22 February 2022.
  30. ^ "TSP: God's Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu is the Winner of the Story Prize Spotlight Award". 22 February 2022.

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