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.
| O. Henry Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Short story awards |
| Country | United States |
| First awarded | 1919 |
| Website | http://www.randomhouse.com/anchor/ohenry/  |
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
editThe award was first presented in 1919 and funded by the Society of Arts and Sciences.[2][3] As of 2021,[update] 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
editIn 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)
editJuror favorites (2003–2019)
editGuest editor (2021–present)
edit| Year | Editor | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | |
| 2022 | Valeria Luiselli | [13] |
| 2023 | Lauren Groff | |
| 2024 | Amor Towles |
See also
editReferences
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.
- ^ 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.