The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction is an annual prize awarded by the
University of Georgia Press
The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is the university press of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. It is the oldest and la ...
named in honor of the American short story writer and novelist
Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries.
She was a Southern literature, Southe ...
.
Established in 1983 to encourage young writers by bringing their work to the attention of readers and reviewers, it has since become a significant proving ground for newcomers.
It is awarded annually to two winners for a collection of
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
or
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
s. Authors of winning manuscripts receive a cash award of $1,000, and their collections are subsequently published under a standard contract. The Press occasionally selects more than two winners.
Starting in 2016, there was only one winner per competition cycle.
Winners
* 1983
David Walton for ''Evening Out''
* 1983
Leigh Allison Wilson for ''From the Bottom Up''
* 1984
Mary Hood
Mary Hood (born September 16, 1946 in Brunswick, Georgia) is a fiction writer of predominantly Southern literature, who has authored three short story collections – ''How Far She Went,'' ''And Venus is Blue'' and ''A Clear View of the South ...
for ''How Far She Went''
* 1984
Sandra Thompson for ''Close-Ups''
* 1984
Susan Neville
Susan Neville (born January 4, 1951 Indianapolis, Indiana) is a short story writer, essayist and professor, known for her work exploring Indiana and the Midwest.
Life
She graduated from DePauw University in 1973.
In 1976, she graduated from ...
for ''The Invention of Flight''
* 1985
Daniel Curley ''Living with Snakes''
* 1985
François Camoin for ''Why Men are Afraid of Women''
* 1985
Molly Giles for ''Rough Translations''
* 1986
Peter Meinke
Peter Meinke (born 1932 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American poet and author. He has published 18 books of poems and short stories. ''The Piano Tuner'', won the 1986 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. His poetry has received many awards, ...
for ''The Piano Tuner''
* 1986
Tony Ardizzone for ''
The Evening News''
* 1987
Melissa Pritchard for ''Spirit Seizures''
* 1987
Salvatore La Puma for ''The Boys of Bensonhurst''
* 1988
Gail Galloway Adams for ''The Purchase of Order''
* 1988
Philip F. Deaver
Philip F. Deaver (1946–2018) was an American writer and poet from Tuscola, Illinois. His work appeared in literary magazines, including The New England Review, the Kenyon Review, Frostproof Review, the Florida Review, Poetry Miscellany and ...
for ''Silent Retreats''
* 1989
Carol L. Glickfeld for ''Useful Gifts''
* 1990
Antonya Nelson for ''The Expendables''
* 1990
Debra Monroe for ''The Source of Trouble''
* 1990
Nancy Zafris for ''The People I Know''
* 1991
Robert H. Abel for ''Ghost Traps''
* 1991
T. M. McNally for ''Low flying Aircraft''
* 1992
Alfred DePew for ''The Melancholy of Departure''
* 1992
Dennis Hathaway for ''The Consequences of Desire''
* 1993
Alyce Miller
Alyce Miller is an American writer who currently lives in the DC Metro area.''Poets & Writers'' Directory of Writers > Alyce Miller
Biography
She was born in Zürich, Switzerland and lived "most of her life"Author Website > Bio in the San Fran ...
for ''The Nature of Longing''
* 1993
Dianne Nelson for ''A Brief History of Male Nudes in America''
* 1995
C. M. Mayo
C.M. Mayo is an American literary journalist, novelist, memoirist, short story writer, poet, podcaster and noted literary translator of contemporary Mexican fiction and poetry. For various literary magazines and anthologies, she has translated ...
for ''Sky Over El Nido''
* 1996
Ha Jin
Jin Xuefei (; born February 21, 1956) is a Chinese-American poet and novelist using the pen name Ha Jin (). ''Ha'' comes from his favorite city, Harbin. His poetry is associated with the Misty Poetry movement.
Early life
Ha Jin was born in ...
for ''Under the Red Flag''
* 1996
Paul Rawlins for ''No Lie Like Love''
* 1996
Wendy Brenner for ''Large Animals in Everyday Life''
* 1998
Frank Soos
Frank Soos (1950 – August 18, 2021) was an American short story writer.
Life
Soos grew up in Pocahontas, Virginia.
He graduated from Davidson College in 1972 and the University of Arkansas.
He taught at University of Alaska Fairbanks.
His wor ...
for ''Unified Field Theory''
* 1999
Hester Kaplan
Hester Margaret Kaplan is an American short story writer, and novelist.
Life
Kaplan was born to a Jewish family, the daughter of novelist Anne (née Bernays) and author Justin Kaplan. Her maternal grandparents were Doris Fleischman and Edward ...
for ''The Edge of Marriage''
* 1999
Mary Clyde for ''Survival Rates''
* 2000 Robert Anderson for ''Ice Age''
* 2000
Darrell Spencer for ''Caution: Men in Trees''
* 2001
Bill Roorbach
Bill Roorbach (born August 8, 1953 Chicago, Illinois) is an American novelist, short story and nature writer, memoirist, journalist, blogger and critic.
Roorbach has authored fiction and nonfiction works including ''Big Bend,'' which won the F ...
for ''Big Bend''
* 2001
Dana Johnson for ''Break Any Woman Down''
* 2002
Kellie Wells for ''Compression Scars''
* 2002
Rita Ciresi for ''Mother Rocket''
* 2003
Catherine Brady for ''Curled in the Bed of Love''
* 2003
Ed Allen for ''Ate It Anyway''
* 2004 No award (award to
Brad Vice
Brad Vice (born November 14, 1973) is an English language and composition professor at the University of West Bohemia. He grew up in Alabama. His short story collection, ''The Bear Bryant Funeral Train'', won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Shor ...
rescinded due to a plagiarism scandal)
* 2005
David Crouse
David Crouse (born 1971 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a short story writer and teacher. Crouse's work explores issues of identity and alienation, and his stories are populated with characters living on the fringes of American society. The Flanne ...
for
''Copy Cats''
* 2006
Greg Downs
Gregory Downs (born 13 December 1958) is an English former professional footballer. Originally a centre-forward, he switched to left full-back early in his career.
Downs began his career with Norwich City where he was player of the year in 198 ...
for ''Spit Baths''
* 2007
Anne Panning for ''
Super America''
* 2007
Margot Singer for ''The Pale of Settlement''
* 2007
Peter LaSalle Peter LaSalle (born 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer, and travel essayist.
Life
He graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in 1969, and the University of Chicago with an M.A. in 1972.
His books include the novels ''Maripos ...
for ''Tell Borges If You See Him''
* 2008
Andrew J. Porter for ''The Theory of Light and Matter''
* 2008
Peter Selgin
Peter Selgin (; born 1957) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, editor, and illustrator. Selgin is Associate Professor of English at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia.
Biography
The son of ...
for ''Drowning Lessons''
* 2009
Geoffrey Becker for ''Black Elvis''
* 2009
Lori Ostlund ''The Bigness of the World''
* 2010
Jessica Treadway for ''Please Come Back to Me''
* 2010
Linda L. Grover for ''The Dance Boots''
* 2011
Amina Gautier for ''At-Risk''
* 2011
Melinda Moustakis for ''Bear Down, Bear North: Alaska Stories''
* 2012
E.J. Levy for ''Love, In Theory''
* 2012
Hugh Sheehy for ''The Invisibles''
* 2013
Jacqueline Gorman for ''The Viewing Room''
* 2013
Tom Kealey for ''Thieves I've Known''
* 2014
Karin Lin-Greenberg for ''Faulty Predictions''
* 2014
Monica McFawn for ''Bright Shards of Someplace Else''
* 2014
Toni Graham for ''The Suicide Club''
* 2015
Anne Raeff for ''The Jungle Around Us''
* 2015
Lisa Graley for ''The Current that Carries''
* 2016
Becky Mandelbaum for ''Bad Kansas''
* 2017
Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum for ''What We Do With the Wreckage''
* 2018
Colette Sartor for ''Once Removed''
* 2019
Patrick Earl Ryan for ''If We Were Electric''
* 2020
Kate McIntyre Kate name may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname
* Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer
* Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...
for ''Mad Prairie''
* 2021
Toni Ann Johnson
Toni Ann Johnson is an American screenwriter, playwright, and novelist.
Early life and education
Toni Ann Johnson grew up in Monroe, New York, and the Greenwich Village area of New York City. During high school she was a student at the Lee Stra ...
for ''Light Skin Gone to Waste''
Finalists
* 2009
Scott Elliott for ''Arrangements''
See also
*
List of American literary awards
This list of literary awards from around the world is an index to articles about notable literary awards.
International awards
All nationalities & multiple languages eligible (in chronological order)
* Nobel Prize in Literature – since 1901 ...
References
External links
*
{{Works by Flannery O'Connor, state=collapsed
University of Georgia
Awards established in 1983
Short story awards
Novella awards
American fiction awards