Annual award for exceptional short stories
The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry .
The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories is an annual collection of the year's twenty best stories published in U.S. and Canadian magazines. Along with The Best American Short Stories , the O. Henry Prize Stories is one of the two "best-known annual anthologies of short fiction."[ 1]
Until 2002 there were first, second, and third prize winners and from 2003 to 2019 there were three jurors who each selected a short story of special interest or merit; the collection is called The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories , and the original collection was called Prize Stories 1919: The O. Henry Memorial Awards .
The award was first presented in 1919 and funded by the Society of Arts and Sciences .[ 2] [ 3] As of 2021, the guest editor chooses twenty short stories, each an O. Henry Prize story. All stories published in an American or Canadian periodical are eligible for consideration, including stories that have been translated into English.
The goal of The O. Henry Prize Stories remains to strengthen the art of the short story.
The current series editor for The O. Henry Prize Stories is Jenny Minton Quigley. Past series editors have been: Blanche Colton Williams (1919–32), Harry Hansen (1933–40), Herschel Brickell (1941–51), Paul Engle (1954–59), Mary Stegner (1960), Richard Poirier (1961–66, assisted by William Abrahams, 1964–66), William Abrahams (1967–96), Larry Dark (1997–2002) and Laura Furman (2003–2019). There were no volumes of the series in 1952 and 1953 (due to Herschel Brickell's death), 2004 and 2020.[ 2]
Partnership with PEN American Center [ edit ] In 2009 The O. Henry Prize Stories publisher, Anchor Books, renamed the series in partnership with the PEN American Center (today PEN America ), producing the first PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories collection. Proceeds from the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 would be directed to PEN's Readers & Writers Program, which sends well-known authors to under served inner-city schools.
The selection included stories by Graham Joyce , John Burnside , Roger Nash , Manuel Muñoz , Ha Jin , Paul Theroux , Judy Troy , Nadine Gordimer , Marisa Silver , Paul Yoon , Andrew Sean Greer , and Junot Díaz , with A. S. Byatt , Tim O'Brien and Anthony Doerr – all authors of past O. Henry Prize Stories – serving as the prize jury.[ 4]
In an interview for the Vintage Books and Anchor Books blog, editor Laura Furman called the collaboration with PEN a "natural partnership".[ 5]
First-prize winners (1919–2002)[ edit ]
O. Henry Award winners[ 6]
Year
Author
Title
Publication
Ref.
1919
Margaret Prescott Montague
England to America
The Atlantic Monthly , September 1918
1920
Maxwell Struthers Burt
Each in His Generation
Scribner's Magazine , July 1920
1921
Edison Marshall
The Heart of Little Shikara
Everybody's Magazine , January 1921
1922
Irvin S. Cobb
Snake Doctor
Cosmopolitan , November 1922
1923
Edgar Valentine Smith
Prelude
Harper's Magazine , May 1923
1924
Inez Haynes Irwin
The Spring Flight
McCall's , June 1924
1925
Julian Street
Mr. Bisbee's Princess
Redbook , May 1925
1926
Wilbur Daniel Steele
Bubbles
Harper's Magazine
1927
Roark Bradford
Child of God
Harper's Magazine , April 1927
1928
Walter Duranty
The Parrot
Redbook , March 1928
1929
Dorothy Parker
Big Blonde
Bookman Magazine , February 1929
1930
W. R. Burnett
Dressing-Up
Harper's Magazine , November 1929
[ 7]
William M. John
Neither Jew nor Greek
The Century Magazine , August 1929
[ 7]
1931
Wilbur Daniel Steele
Can't Cross Jordan by Myself
Pictorial Review
1932
Stephen Vincent Benét
An End to Dreams
Pictorial Review , February 1932
1933
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Gal Young Un
Harper's Magazine , June-July 1932
1934
Louis Paul
No More Trouble for Jedwick
Esquire
1935
Kay Boyle
The White Horses of Vienna
Harper's Magazine
1936
James Gould Cozzens
Total Stranger
The Saturday Evening Post , February 15, 1936
1937
Stephen Vincent Benét
The Devil and Daniel Webster
The Saturday Evening Post
1938
Albert Maltz
The Happiest Man on Earth
Harper's Magazine
1939
William Faulkner
Barn Burning
Harper's Magazine
1940
Stephen Vincent Benét
Freedom's a Hard-Bought Thing
The Saturday Evening Post
1941
Kay Boyle
Defeat
The New Yorker
1942
Eudora Welty
The Wide Net
Harper's Magazine
1943
Eudora Welty
Livvie is Back
The Atlantic Monthly
1944
Irwin Shaw
Walking Wounded
The New Yorker
1945
Walter Van Tilburg Clark
The Wind and the Snow of Winter
The Yale Review
1946
John Mayo Goss
Bird Song
The Atlantic Monthly
1947
John Bell Clayton
The White Circle
Harper's Magazine
1948
Truman Capote
Shut a Final Door
The Atlantic Monthly
1949
William Faulkner
A Courtship
The Sewanee Review
1950
Wallace Stegner
The Blue-Winged Teal
Harper's Magazine
1951
Harris Downey
The Hunters
Epoch
1952
No edition
1953
No edition
1954
Thomas Mabry
The Indian Feather
The Sewanee Review
1955
Jean Stafford
In the Zoo
The New Yorker
1956
John Cheever
The Country Husband
The New Yorker
1957
Flannery O'Connor
Greenleaf
The Kenyon Review
1958
Martha Gellhorn
In Sickness as in Health
The Atlantic Monthly
1959
Peter Taylor
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time
The Kenyon Review
1960
Lawrence Sargent Hall
The Ledge
The Hudson Review , Winter 1958–59
1961
Tillie Olsen
Tell Me a Riddle
New World Writing
1962
Katherine Anne Porter
Holiday
The Atlantic Monthly , December 1960
1963
Flannery O'Connor
Everything That Rises Must Converge
New World Writing
1964
John Cheever
The Embarkment for Cythera
The New Yorker , November 3, 1962
1965
Flannery O'Connor
Revelation
The Sewanee Review , Spring 1964
1966
John Updike
The Bulgarian Poetess
The New Yorker , March 13, 1965
[ 8]
1967
Joyce Carol Oates
In the Region of Ice
The Atlantic Monthly , August 1966
1968
Eudora Welty
The Demonstrators
The New Yorker , November 26, 1966
1969
Bernard Malamud
Man in the Drawer
The Atlantic Monthly , April 1968
1970
Robert Hemenway
The Girl Who Sang with the Beatles
The New Yorker , January 11, 1969
1971
Florence M. Hecht
Twin Bed Bridge
The Atlantic Monthly , May 1970
1972
John Batki
Strange-Dreaming Charlie, Cow-Eyed Charlie
The New Yorker , March 20, 1971
1973
Joyce Carol Oates
The Dead
McCall's , July 1971
1974
Renata Adler
Brownstone
The New Yorker , January 27, 1973
1975
Harold Brodkey
A Story in an Almost Classical Mode
The New Yorker , September 17, 1973
Cynthia Ozick
Usurpation (Other People's Stories)
Esquire , May 1974
1976
Harold Brodkey
His Son in His Arms, in Light, Aloft
Esquire , August 1975
1977
Shirley Hazzard
A Long Story Short
The New Yorker , July 26, 1976
Ella Leffland
Last Courtesies
Harper's Magazine , July 1976
1978
Woody Allen
The Kugelmass Episode
The New Yorker , May 2, 1977
1979
Gordon Weaver
Getting Serious
The Sewanee Review , Fall 1977
1980
Saul Bellow
A Silver Dish
The New Yorker , September 25, 1978
1981
Cynthia Ozick
The Shawl
The New Yorker , May 26, 1980
1982
Susan Kenney
Facing Front
Epoch , Winter 1980
1983
Raymond Carver
A Small, Good Thing
Ploughshares
1984
Cynthia Ozick
Rosa
The New Yorker , March 21, 1983
1985
Stuart Dybek
Hot Ice
Antaeus
Jane Smiley
Lily
The Atlantic Monthly
1986
Alice Walker
Kindred Spirits
Esquire , August 1985
[ 9]
1987
Louise Erdrich
Fleur
Esquire , August 1986
Joyce Johnson
The Children's Wing
Harper's Magazine , July 1986
1988
Raymond Carver
Errand
The New Yorker , June 1, 1987
1989
Ernest J. Finney
Peacocks
The Sewanee Review , Winter 1988
1990
Leo E. Litwak
The Eleventh Edition
TriQuarterly , Winter 1989
1991
John Updike
A Sandstone Farmhouse
The New Yorker , June 11, 1990
1992
Cynthia Ozick
Puttermesser Paired
The New Yorker , October 8, 1990
1993
Thom Jones
The Pugilist at Rest
The New Yorker , December 2, 1991
1994
Alison Baker
Better Be Ready 'Bout Half Past Eight
The Atlantic Monthly , January 1993
1995
Cornelia Nixon
The Women Come and Go
New England Review , Spring 1994
1996
Stephen King
The Man in the Black Suit
The New Yorker , October 31, 1994
1997
Mary Gordon
City Life
Ploughshares
1998
Lorrie Moore
People Like That Are the Only People Here
The New Yorker , January 27, 1997
1999
Peter Baida
A Nurse's Story
The Gettysburg Review
2000
John Edgar Wideman
Weight
The Callaloo Journal
2001
Mary Swan
The Deep
The Malahat Review
2002
Kevin Brockmeier
The Ceiling
McSweeney's
Juror favorites (2003–2019)[ edit ]
O. Henry Award Juror Favorites[ 6]
Year
Author
Title
Publication
Ref.
2003
A. S. Byatt
The Thing in the Forest
The New Yorker , June 3, 2002
Denis Johnson
Train Dreams
The Paris Review , Summer 2002
2004
No award
2005
Sherman Alexie
What You Pawn I Will Redeem
The New Yorker , April 21, 2003
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Refuge in London
Zoetrope: All-Story , Winter 2003
Elizabeth Stuckey-French
Mudlavia
The Atlantic Monthly , September 2003
2006
Deborah Eisenberg
Window
Tin House , Spring 2004
Edward P. Jones
Old Boys, Old Girls
The New Yorker , May 3, 2004
Alice Munro
Passion
The New Yorker , March 22, 2004
[ 10]
2007
Eddie Chuculate
Galveston Bay, 1826
Manoa , Winter 2004
William Trevor
The Room
The New Yorker , May 16, 2005
2008
Alice Munro
What Do You Want To Know For?
The American Scholar
William Trevor
Folie a Deux
The New Yorker
Alexi Zentner
Touch
Tin House
2009
Junot Díaz
Wildwood
The New Yorker
Graham Joyce
An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen
The Paris Review
2010
James Lasdun
Oh, Death
The Paris Review , Spring 2009
Daniyal Mueenuddin
A Spoiled Man
The New Yorker , September 15, 2008
William Trevor
The Woman of the House
The New Yorker , December 15, 2008
2011
Lynn Freed
Sunshine
Narrative Magazine
Matthew Neill Null
Something You Can't Live Without
Oxford American
Jim Shepard
Your Fate Hurtles Down at You
Electric Literature
2012
Yiyun Li
Kindness
A Public Space
Alice Munro
Corrie
The New Yorker
[ 10]
2013
Andrea Barrett
The Particles
Tin House
Deborah Eisenberg
Your Duck Is My Duck
Fence
Kelly Link
The Summer People
Tin House
2014
Mark Haddon
The Gun
Granta
Kristen Iskandrian
The Inheritors
Tin House
Laura van den Berg
Opa-locka
The Southern Review
2015
Elizabeth McCracken
Birdsong from the Radio
Zoetrope: All-Story
Christopher Merkner
Cabins
Subtropics
Dina Nayeri
A Ride Out of Phrao
The Alaska Quarterly Review
2016
Elizabeth Genovise
Irises
The Cimarron Review
Asako Serizawa
Train to Harbin
The Hudson Review
Frederic Tuten
Winter, 1965
BOMB
2017
Michelle Huneven
Too Good to Be True
Harper's
Amit Majmudar
Secret Lives of the Detainees
The Kenyon Review
Fiona McFarlane
Buttony
The New Yorker
2018
Jo Ann Beard
The Tomb of Wrestling
Tin House
Marjorie Celona
Counterblast
The Southern Review
2019
Tessa Hadley
Funny Little Snake
The New Yorker
Rachel Kondo
Girl of Few Seasons
Ploughshares Solos
Weike Wang
Omakase
The New Yorker
[ 11]
Guest editor (2021–)[ edit ]
^ "Short and Sweet" by Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 11/05/99, issue 511, page 73.
^ a b "Penguin Random House" . PenguinRandomhouse.com . Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2017 .
^ Kunitz, Stanley J.; Howard Haycraft (1942). Twentieth Century Authors . New York: The H. W. Wilson Company.
^ Itzkoff, Dave. "O. Henry Prize, PEN Announce Partnership" Archived 2009-04-16 at the Wayback Machine , "The New York Times Arts Beat", 2009-04-07.
^ "Two Literary Lions Merge" , "Vintage Books ", 2009-04-10.
^ a b "The O. Henry Prize Past Winners" . Random House . Archived from the original on 2017-09-05. Retrieved 30 September 2017 .
^ a b "TWO WRITERS IN TIE FOR O. HENRY AWARD; W.R. Burnett and William M. John Share $500 Prize for Best Magazine Story in 1929" . The New York Times . 1930-11-07. ISSN 0362-4331 . Archived from the original on 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2023-02-26 .
^ "John Updike" . Britannica . Archived from the original on 2023-02-21. Retrieved 2023-02-26 .
^ "Alice Walker" . Britannica . Archived from the original on 2023-02-21. Retrieved 2023-02-26 .
^ a b "Alice Munro" . Britannica . Archived from the original on 2021-04-04. Retrieved 2023-02-26 .
^ " "Omakase" " . Literary Hub . 2019-05-16. Archived from the original on 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2023-02-26 .
^ "The O. Henry Prize Collection" . Penguin Randomhouse . Archived from the original on 2022-12-19. Retrieved 2023-02-26 .
^ "Announcing the Winners of the 2022 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction" . Literary Hub . 2022-04-04. Archived from the original on 2022-12-22. Retrieved 2023-02-26 .
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