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.

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 in early March at the New School in New York City (co-sponsored with the Creative Writing Department), 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.

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

Recipients

Story Prize winners and finalists
Year Author Title Result
2004 Edwidge Danticat The Dew Breaker Winner
Cathy Day The Circus in Winter Finalist
Joan Silber Ideas of Heaven
2005 Patrick O'Keeffe The Hill Road Winner
Jim Harrison The Summer He Didn't Die Finalist
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
Tessa Hadley Sunstroke and Other Stories Finalist
Vincent Lam Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
2008 Tobias Wolff Our Story Begins Winner
Jhumpa Lahiri Unaccustomed Earth Finalist
Joe Meno Demons in the Spring
2009 Daniyal Mueenuddin In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Winner
Victoria Patterson Drift Finalist
Wells Tower Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
2010 Anthony Doerr Memory Wall Winner
Yiyun Li Gold Boy, Emerald Girl Finalist
Suzanne Rivecca Death Is Not an Option
2011 Steven Millhauser We Others Winner
Don DeLillo The Angel Esmeralda Finalist
Edith Pearlman Binocular Vision
2012 Claire Vaye Watkins Battleborn Winner
Dan Chaon Stay Awake Finalist
Junot Díaz This Is How You Lose Her
2013 George Saunders Tenth of December Winner
Andrea Barrett Archangel Finalist
Rebecca Lee Bobcat
2014 Elizabeth McCracken Thunderstruck Winner
Francesca Marciano The Other Language Finalist
Lorrie Moore Bark
2015 Adam Johnson Fortune Smiles Winner
Charles Baxter There’s Something I Want You to Do Finalist
Colum McCann Thirteen Ways of Looking
2016 Rick Bass For a Little While Winner
Anna Noyes Goodnight, Beautiful Women Finalist
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
Daniel Alarcón The King Is Always Above the People Finalist
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
Kali Fajardo-Anstine Sabrina & Corina Finalist
Zadie Smith Grand Union
2020 Deesha Philyaw The Secret Lives of Church Ladies Winner
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum Likes Finalist
Danielle Evans The Office of Historical Corrections
2021 Brandon Taylor Filthy Animals Winner
Lily King Five Tuesdays in Winter Finalist
J. Robert Lennon Let Me Think
2022 Ling Ma Bliss Montage Winner
Andrea Barrett Natural History Finalist
Morgan Talty Night of the Living Rez


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.