| Awarded for | Short story awards |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
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.
History and format
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]
In 2022, the series opened to African magazines.[4]
Partnership with PEN American Center
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.[5]
In an interview for the Vintage Books and Anchor Books blog, editor Laura Furman called the collaboration with PEN a "natural partnership".[6]
First-prize winners (1919–2002)
| Year | Author | Title | Publication | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1919 | England to America | The Atlantic Monthly, September 1918 | ||
| 1920 | Each in His Generation | Scribner's Magazine, July 1920 | ||
| 1921 | The Heart of Little Shikara | Everybody's Magazine, January 1921 | ||
| 1922 | Snake Doctor | Cosmopolitan, November 1922 | ||
| 1923 | Prelude | Harper's Magazine, May 1923 | ||
| 1924 | The Spring Flight | McCall's, June 1924 | ||
| 1925 | Mr. Bisbee's Princess | Redbook, May 1925 | ||
| 1926 | Bubbles | Harper's Magazine | ||
| 1927 | Child of God | Harper's Magazine, April 1927 | ||
| 1928 | The Parrot | Redbook, March 1928 | ||
| 1929 | Big Blonde | Bookman Magazine, February 1929 | ||
| 1930 | Dressing-Up | Harper's Magazine, November 1929 | [8] | |
| Neither Jew nor Greek | The Century Magazine, August 1929 | [8] | ||
| 1931 | Can't Cross Jordan by Myself | Pictorial Review | ||
| 1932 | An End to Dreams | Pictorial Review, February 1932 | ||
| 1933 | Gal Young Un | Harper's Magazine, June-July 1932 | ||
| 1934 | No More Trouble for Jedwick | Esquire | ||
| 1935 | The White Horses of Vienna | Harper's Magazine | ||
| 1936 | Total Stranger | The Saturday Evening Post, February 15, 1936 | ||
| 1937 | The Devil and Daniel Webster | The Saturday Evening Post | ||
| 1938 | The Happiest Man on Earth | Harper's Magazine | ||
| 1939 | Barn Burning | Harper's Magazine | ||
| 1940 | Freedom's a Hard-Bought Thing | The Saturday Evening Post | ||
| 1941 | Defeat | The New Yorker | ||
| 1942 | The Wide Net | Harper's Magazine | ||
| 1943 | Livvie is Back | The Atlantic Monthly | ||
| 1944 | Walking Wounded | The New Yorker | ||
| 1945 | The Wind and the Snow of Winter | The Yale Review | ||
| 1946 | Bird Song | The Atlantic Monthly | ||
| 1947 | The White Circle | Harper's Magazine | ||
| 1948 | Shut a Final Door | The Atlantic Monthly | ||
| 1949 | A Courtship | The Sewanee Review | ||
| 1950 | The Blue-Winged Teal | Harper's Magazine | ||
| 1951 | The Hunters | Epoch | ||
| 1952 | No edition | |||
| 1953 | No edition | |||
| 1954 | The Indian Feather | The Sewanee Review | ||
| 1955 | In the Zoo | The New Yorker | ||
| 1956 | The Country Husband | The New Yorker | ||
| 1957 | Greenleaf | The Kenyon Review | ||
| 1958 | In Sickness as in Health | The Atlantic Monthly | ||
| 1959 | Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time | The Kenyon Review | ||
| 1960 | The Ledge | The Hudson Review, Winter 1958–59 | ||
| 1961 | Tell Me a Riddle | New World Writing | ||
| 1962 | Holiday | The Atlantic Monthly, December 1960 | ||
| 1963 | Everything That Rises Must Converge | New World Writing | ||
| 1964 | The Embarkment for Cythera | The New Yorker, November 3, 1962 | ||
| 1965 | Revelation | The Sewanee Review, Spring 1964 | ||
| 1966 | The Bulgarian Poetess | The New Yorker, March 13, 1965 | [9] | |
| 1967 | In the Region of Ice | The Atlantic Monthly, August 1966 | ||
| 1968 | The Demonstrators | The New Yorker, November 26, 1966 | ||
| 1969 | Man in the Drawer | The Atlantic Monthly, April 1968 | ||
| 1970 | The Girl Who Sang with the Beatles | The New Yorker, January 11, 1969 | ||
| 1971 | Twin Bed Bridge | The Atlantic Monthly, May 1970 | ||
| 1972 | Strange-Dreaming Charlie, Cow-Eyed Charlie | The New Yorker, March 20, 1971 | ||
| 1973 | The Dead | McCall's, July 1971 | ||
| 1974 | Brownstone | The New Yorker, January 27, 1973 | ||
| 1975 | A Story in an Almost Classical Mode | The New Yorker, September 17, 1973 | ||
| Usurpation (Other People's Stories) | Esquire, May 1974 | |||
| 1976 | His Son in His Arms, in Light, Aloft | Esquire, August 1975 | ||
| 1977 | A Long Story Short | The New Yorker, July 26, 1976 | ||
| Last Courtesies | Harper's Magazine, July 1976 | |||
| 1978 | The Kugelmass Episode | The New Yorker, May 2, 1977 | ||
| 1979 | Getting Serious | The Sewanee Review, Fall 1977 | ||
| 1980 | A Silver Dish | The New Yorker, September 25, 1978 | ||
| 1981 | The Shawl | The New Yorker, May 26, 1980 | ||
| 1982 | Facing Front | Epoch, Winter 1980 | ||
| 1983 | A Small, Good Thing | Ploughshares | ||
| 1984 | Rosa | The New Yorker, March 21, 1983 | ||
| 1985 | Hot Ice | Antaeus | ||
| Lily | The Atlantic Monthly | |||
| 1986 | Kindred Spirits | Esquire, August 1985 | [10] | |
| 1987 | Fleur | Esquire, August 1986 | ||
| The Children's Wing | Harper's Magazine, July 1986 | |||
| 1988 | Errand | The New Yorker, June 1, 1987 | ||
| 1989 | Peacocks | The Sewanee Review, Winter 1988 | ||
| 1990 | The Eleventh Edition | TriQuarterly, Winter 1989 | ||
| 1991 | A Sandstone Farmhouse | The New Yorker, June 11, 1990 | ||
| 1992 | Puttermesser Paired | The New Yorker, October 8, 1990 | ||
| 1993 | The Pugilist at Rest | The New Yorker, December 2, 1991 | ||
| 1994 | Better Be Ready 'Bout Half Past Eight | The Atlantic Monthly, January 1993 | ||
| 1995 | The Women Come and Go | New England Review, Spring 1994 | ||
| 1996 | The Man in the Black Suit | The New Yorker, October 31, 1994 | ||
| 1997 | City Life | Ploughshares | ||
| 1998 | People Like That Are the Only People Here | The New Yorker, January 27, 1997 | ||
| 1999 | A Nurse's Story | The Gettysburg Review | ||
| 2000 | Weight | The Callaloo Journal | ||
| 2001 | The Deep | The Malahat Review | ||
| 2002 | The Ceiling | McSweeney's | ||
Juror favorites (2003–2019)
| Year | Author | Title | Publication | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | The Thing in the Forest | The New Yorker, June 3, 2002 | ||
| Train Dreams | The Paris Review, Summer 2002 | |||
| 2004 | No award | |||
| 2005 | What You Pawn I Will Redeem | The New Yorker, April 21, 2003 | ||
| Refuge in London | Zoetrope: All-Story, Winter 2003 | |||
| Mudlavia | The Atlantic Monthly, September 2003 | |||
| 2006 | Window | Tin House, Spring 2004 | ||
| Old Boys, Old Girls | The New Yorker, May 3, 2004 | |||
| Passion | The New Yorker, March 22, 2004 | [11] | ||
| 2007 | Galveston Bay, 1826 | Manoa, Winter 2004 | ||
| The Room | The New Yorker, May 16, 2005 | |||
| 2008 | What Do You Want To Know For? | The American Scholar | ||
| Folie a Deux | The New Yorker | |||
| Touch | Tin House | |||
| 2009 | Wildwood | The New Yorker | ||
| An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen | The Paris Review | |||
| 2010 | Oh, Death | The Paris Review, Spring 2009 | ||
| A Spoiled Man | The New Yorker, September 15, 2008 | |||
| The Woman of the House | The New Yorker, December 15, 2008 | |||
| 2011 | Sunshine | Narrative Magazine | ||
| Something You Can't Live Without | Oxford American | |||
| Your Fate Hurtles Down at You | Electric Literature | |||
| 2012 | Kindness | A Public Space | ||
| Corrie | The New Yorker | [11] | ||
| 2013 | The Particles | Tin House | ||
| Your Duck Is My Duck | Fence | |||
| The Summer People | Tin House | |||
| 2014 | The Gun | Granta | ||
| The Inheritors | Tin House | |||
| Opa-locka | The Southern Review | |||
| 2015 | Birdsong from the Radio | Zoetrope: All-Story | ||
| Cabins | Subtropics | |||
| A Ride Out of Phrao | The Alaska Quarterly Review | |||
| 2016 | Irises | The Cimarron Review | ||
| Train to Harbin | The Hudson Review | |||
| Winter, 1965 | BOMB | |||
| 2017 | Too Good to Be True | Harper's | ||
| Secret Lives of the Detainees | The Kenyon Review | |||
| Buttony | The New Yorker | |||
| 2018 | The Tomb of Wrestling | Tin House | ||
| Counterblast | The Southern Review | |||
| 2019 | Funny Little Snake | The New Yorker | ||
| Girl of Few Seasons | Ploughshares Solos | |||
| Omakase | The New Yorker | [12] | ||
Guest editor (2021–present)
| Year | Editor | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | ||
| 2022 | [14] | |
| 2023 | ||
| 2024 | ||
| 2025 |
See also
References
- ^ "Short and Sweet" by Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 11/05/99, issue 511, page 73.
- ^ "Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Archived 3 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Kunitz, Stanley J. & Howard Haycraft (1942). Twentieth Century Authors. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company.
- ^ Otosirieze. "The O. Henry Prize Series Opens to African Magazines (Exclusive)". Open Country Mag. Retrieved 9 May 2026.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "The O. Henry Prize Past Winners". Random House. Archived from the original on 2017-09-05. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "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 2021-06-03 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
- ^ "John Updike". Britannica. Archived 2023-02-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
- ^ "Alice Walker". Britannica. Archived 2023-02-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
- ^ "Alice Munro". Britannica. Archived 2021-04-04 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
- ^ ""Omakase"". Literary Hub. 2019-05-16. Archived 2022-11-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
- ^ "The O. Henry Prize Collection". Penguin Randomhouse. Archived 2022-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
- ^ "Announcing the Winners of the 2022 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction". Literary Hub. 2022-04-04. Archived 2022-12-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-02-26.