O. Henry Award

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 forShort story awards
CountryUnited States
First awarded1919 (1919)
Websitehttp://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.

Until 2002 there were first, second, and third prize winners and from 2003–2019 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.[1][2] 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.[1]

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, Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum, E. V. Slate, John Burnside, Mohan Sikka, L. E. Miller, Alistair Morgan, Roger Nash, Manuel Muñoz, Caitlin Horrocks, Ha Jin, Paul Theroux, Judy Troy, Nadine Gordimer, Viet Dinh, Karen Brown, 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.[3]

In an interview for the Vintage Books and Anchor Books blog, editor Laura Furman called the collaboration with PEN a "natural partnership."[4]

Guest editor (2021–), Juror favorites (2003–2019), First-prize winners (1919–2002)

Source: The O. Henry Prize Stories past winners.[5]

2022
2021
2020
  • No edition
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
  • No edition
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
  • Peter Baida: "A Nurse's Story" in The Gettysburg Review
1998
  • Lorrie Moore: "People Like That Are the Only People Here" in The New Yorker, January 27, 1997
1997
1996
  • Stephen King: "The Man in the Black Suit" in The New Yorker, October 31, 1994
1995
1994
1993
  • Thom Jones: "The Pugilist at Rest" in The New Yorker, December 2, 1991
1992
  • Cynthia Ozick: "Puttermesser Paired" in The New Yorker, October 8, 1990
1991
  • John Updike: "A Sandstone Farmhouse" in The New Yorker, June 11, 1990
1990
  • Leo E. Litwak: "The Eleventh Edition" in TriQuarterly, Winter 1989
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
  • Saul Bellow: "A Silver Dish" in The New Yorker, September 25, 1978
1979
  • Gordon Weaver: "Getting Serious" in The Sewanee Review, Fall 1977
1978
  • Woody Allen: "The Kugelmass Episode" in The New Yorker, May 2, 1977
1977
1976
  • Harold Brodkey: "His Son in His Arms, in Light, Aloft" in Esquire, August 1975
1975
  • Harold Brodkey: "A Story in an Almost Classical Mode" in The New Yorker, September 17, 1973
  • Cynthia Ozick: "Usurpation (Other People's Stories)" in Esquire, May 1974
1974
  • Renata Adler: "Brownstone" in The New Yorker, January 27, 1973
1973
1972
  • John Batki: "Strange-Dreaming Charlie, Cow-Eyed Charlie" in The New Yorker, March 20, 1971
1971
  • Florence M. Hecht: "Twin Bed Bridge" in The Atlantic Monthly, May 1970
1970
  • Robert Hemenway: "The Girl Who Sang with the Beatles" in The New Yorker, January 11, 1969
1969
1968
  • Eudora Welty: "The Demonstrators" in The New Yorker, November 26, 1966
1967
1966
  • John Updike: "The Bulgarian Poetess" in The New Yorker, March 13, 1965
1965
1964
  • John Cheever: "The Embarkment for Cythera" in The New Yorker, November 3, 1962
1963
1962
1961
1960
1959
1958
1957
1956
1955
1954
  • Thomas Mabry: "The Indian Feather" in The Sewanee Review
1953
  • No edition
1952
  • No edition
1951
1950
1949
1948
1947
1946
  • John Mayo Goss: "Bird Song" in The Atlantic Monthly
1945
1944
1943
1942
1941
1940
1939
1938
  • Albert Maltz: "The Happiest Man on Earth" in Harper's Magazine
1937
1936
1935
  • Kay Boyle: "The White Horses of Vienna" in Harper's Magazine
1934
  • Louis Paul: "No More Trouble for Jedwick" in Esquire
1933
1932
1931
1930
1929
1928
1927
1926
1925
1924
1923
  • Edgar Valentine Smith: "Prelude" in Harper's Magazine, May 1923
1922
1921
1920
1919

See also

References
  1. "Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  2. Kunitz, Stanley J.; Howard Haycraft (1942). Twentieth Century Authors. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company.
  3. Itzkoff, Dave. "O. Henry Prize, PEN Announce Partnership", "The New York Times Arts Beat", 2009-04-07.
  4. "Two Literary Lions Merge", "Vintage Books", 2009-04-10.
  5. "The O. Henry Prize Past Winners". Randomhouse.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  6. "New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
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