The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to

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 ...

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 Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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. 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 Blanche Colton Williams (February 10, 1879 – August 9, 1944) was an American author, editor, department head and professor of English literature, and pioneer in women’s higher education. She was known for her “groundbreaking work on str ...

(1919–32), Harry Hansen (1933–40), Herschel Brickell (1941–51),

Paul Engle Paul Engle (October 12, 1908 – March 22, 1991), was an American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as co-founder of the International W ...

(1954–59), Mary Stegner (1960),

Richard Poirier Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'str ...

(1961–66, assisted by William S. 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.

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 PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of litera ...

), 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 Graham William Joyce (22 October 1954 – 9 September 2014) was a British writer of speculative fiction and the recipient of numerous awards, including the O. Henry Award and the World Fantasy Award, for both his novels and short stories ...

John Burnside John Burnside FRSL FRSE (born 19 March 1955) is a Scottish writer. He is one of only three poets (the others being Ted Hughes and Sean O'Brien) to have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the same book (''Black C ...

, Roger Nash, Manuel Muñoz,

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 ...

, Paul Theroux, Judy Troy, Nadine Gordimer, Marisa Silver, Paul Yoon, Andrew Sean Greer, and

Junot Díaz Junot Díaz (; born December 31, 1968) is a Dominican-American writer, creative writing professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and was fiction editor at '' Boston Review''. He also serves on the board of advisers for Freed ...

, with A. S. Byatt, Tim O'Brien and

Anthony Doerr Anthony Doerr (born October 27, 1973) is an American author of novels and short stories. He gained widespread recognition for his 2014 novel ''All the Light We Cannot See'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Early life and education Rais ...

– all authors of past O. Henry Prize Stories – serving as the prize jury. In an interview for the

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random ...

and Anchor Books blog, editor Laura Furman called the collaboration with PEN a "natural partnership."

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

Source: The O. Henry Prize Stories past winners.

References

External links

*
O. Henry Prize, PEN Announce Partnership

2009 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories

at

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

(via

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

)
Past winners (by date, 1919–1999)
at

's ''Bold Type'' (via

)
Compilations by year
{{O. Henry PEN America awards Awards established in 1919 1919 establishments in the United States * Short story awards

History and format

Partnership with PEN American Center

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

See also

References

External links