Friday, May 1, 2020

In Response to the Pandemic, The Story Prize Is Waiving Entry Fees for 2020


Because of the coronavirus pandemic and its financial impact on writers and publishers, for 2020, The Story Prize is waiving its $75 entry fee. In addition, if conditions are such that it isn’t possible to send printed books, we will accept e-book only submissions. We do, however, reserve the right to not accept particular book entries.

Entry fees and revenue from ticket sales to The Story Prize event, which we split with our partner The New School Creative Writing Program, are our only sources of revenue to offset the costs of operating the award. They cover just a small but important portion of the funding for The Story Prize, all of which the Chisholm Foundation generously provides.

This sacrifice on our part pales in comparison to the efforts of first responders and essential workers—and to the illness and terrible losses many have suffered. We hope for better times ahead.

The mission of The Story Prize remains to encourage and promote the publication and reading of short story collections. Of course, we highly recommend the 16 short story collections we've honored as winners of The Story Prize and the 32 books we've named as finalists. We encourage you to support your local bookseller if you decide to purchase any of these books. Thanks to The New School Creative Writing Program, you can view on YouTube at no cost video of past events, including readings by and interviews with most of the writers we've been fortunate to honor.