The Story Prize


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.
The Story Prize generally receives as entries 100 to 120 short story collections each year. The Director and Founder together choose the three finalists. Three independent judges choose the winner from among those books. The judging group has a different composition every year and consists of a mix of writers, booksellers, readers, critics, teachers, publishers, and editors. One judge is always a fiction writer, a second judge is either a bookseller or librarian in alternating years, and the third is generally a critic or editor or someone else associated with the short story.
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 to 2020 the event was at the New School in New York City. 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.

Recipients

YearAuthorTitleResult
2004The Dew BreakerWinner
2004The Circus in WinterFinalist
2004Ideas of HeavenFinalist
2005The Hill RoadWinner
2005The Summer He Didn't DieFinalist
2005Mothers and Other MonstersFinalist
2006The Stories of Mary GordonWinner
2006The Lives of RocksFinalist
2006In Persuasion NationFinalist
2007Like You'd Understand, AnywayWinner
2007Sunstroke and Other StoriesFinalist
2007Bloodletting & Miraculous CuresFinalist
2008Our Story BeginsWinner
2008Unaccustomed EarthFinalist
2008Demons in the SpringFinalist
2009In Other Rooms, Other WondersWinner
2009DriftFinalist
2009Everything Ravaged, Everything BurnedFinalist
2010Memory WallWinner
2010Gold Boy, Emerald GirlFinalist
2010Death Is Not an OptionFinalist
2011We OthersWinner
2011The Angel EsmeraldaFinalist
2011Binocular VisionFinalist
2012BattlebornWinner
2012Stay AwakeFinalist
2012This Is How You Lose HerFinalist
2013Tenth of DecemberWinner
2013ArchangelFinalist
2013BobcatFinalist
2014ThunderstruckWinner
2014The Other LanguageFinalist
2014BarkFinalist
2015Fortune SmilesWinner
2015There’s Something I Want You to DoFinalist
2015Thirteen Ways of LookingFinalist
2016For a Little WhileWinner
2016Goodnight, Beautiful WomenFinalist
2016They Were Like Family to Me Finalist
2017Anything Is PossibleWinner
2017The King Is Always Above the PeopleFinalist
2017Homesick for Another WorldFinalist
2018FloridaWinner
2018A Lucky ManFinalist
2018Your Duck Is My DuckFinalist
2019Everything InsideWinner
2019Sabrina & CorinaFinalist
2019Grand UnionFinalist
2020The Secret Lives of Church LadiesWinner
2020LikesFinalist
2020The Office of Historical CorrectionsFinalist
2021Filthy AnimalsWinner
2021Five Tuesdays in WinterFinalist
2021Let Me ThinkFinalist
2022Bliss MontageWinner
2022Natural HistoryFinalist
2022Night of the Living RezFinalist
2024The Hive and the HoneyWinner
2024Wednesday's ChildFinalist
2024Other Minds and Other StoriesFinalist
2025Highway 13Winner
2025There Is a Rio Grande in HeavenFinalist
2025Ghost PainsFinalist
2026Other WorldsFinalist
2026AtavistsFinalist
2026Long DistanceFinalist

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.
YearWinnerWorkRef.
2012Krys LeeDrifting House
2013Ben StroudByzantium
2014Kyle MinorPraying Drunk
2015Adrian TomineKilling and Dying
2016Randa JarrarHim, Me, Muhammad Ali
2017Lee ConellSubcortical
2018Akil KumarasamyHalf Gods
2019Ayşe Papatya BucakThe Trojan War Museum
2020Asako SerizawaInheritors
2021Adam ThompsonBorn into This
2022Arinze IfeakanduGod's Children Are Little Broken Things
2023SJ SinduThe Goth House Experiment
2024Ben ShattuckThe History of Sound