The 2025 Judges for The Story Prize are Benjamin Dreyer, Ling Ma, and Stephen Sposato

Each year The Story Prize enlists three judges to choose the winner from among the three short story collections we select as finalists and announce in January. In alternating years one of the judges is bookseller and one is a librarian. One judge is always a short story writer, and the third can be a critic, editor, or academic.

The judges who will choose the 22nd winner of The Story Prize—which we'll announce on March 31, 2026—are author and copyeditor Benjamin Dreyer, past winner of The Story Prize Ling Ma, and Chicago librarian Stephen Sposato. We'll announce the three finalists in January.

Benjamin Dreyer, author of the New York Times bestseller Dreyer’s English, is the retired copy chief and managing editor of the Random House division of Penguin Random House. He has copyedited books by writers including E. L. Doctorow, Janet Evanovich, Rachel Joyce, Frank Rich, and Elizabeth Strout, as well as Let Me Tell You, a volume of previously uncollected material by Shirley Jackson. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

Ling Ma is author of the novel Severance and the story collection Bliss Montage, a recipient of the 2023 Story Prize. Other honors include the MacArthur Fellowship, the Whiting Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her short stories, published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Yale Review, have also been anthologized in the Best American Short Stories and twice received the O. Henry Prize. She lives in Chicago and teaches at the University of Chicago. 

Stephen Sposato is the Collection Development Manager at Chicago Public Library, where he has worked in several positions since 1995. He has presented at conferences such as the American Library Association, Illinois Library Association, and BookExpo America. He has served on the LibraryReads Steering Committee, the RUSA CODES Board, the RUSA CODES Readers' Advisory Research and Trends Committee, and the Notable Books Council and served as chair of the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence selection committee.  

Video of The Story Prize event: Andrea Barrett, Ling Ma (winner), and Morgan Talty

 Here's the edited video of The Story Prize event held on March 15. 

What the Judges Had to Say About The Story Prize Winner, Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

Photo © Beowulf Sheehan

When the three judges for The Story Prize make their choices, they provide citations for the books. This year's judges were critic, writer, and editor Adam Dalva, writer Danielle Evans, and bookseller and podcaster Miwa Messer. We include the citations in congratulatory letters we present to each finalist, along with their checks ($20,000 to the winner, $5,000 to the other two finalists). To protect the confidentiality of the judges' votes and the integrity of the process, we don't attribute citations to any particular judge. Here's what the judges had to say about Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty:

“There is much to love about this stylish, inventive collection—Ma melds humor and the surreal beautifully, resulting in a project that is at once absurd and insightful. Two of the stories feel like all-time greats: ‘Peking Duck’ is a many-layered masterpiece of telling and retelling that serves as counterpoint to the argument that nothing can be gained by writing about a writing class; ‘Returning’ is a meandering, brilliant look at separation, art, and unique traditions. The rest of the collection lives up to these high points, especially ‘Office Hours,’ with its uncanny ending. Who but Ling Ma could give us flirty yetis and an unforgettable baby arm, dangling? This is an expansive, bold, and delightful book.”

“The stories in Ling Ma’s collection, Bliss Montage, sneak up on you. Relationships old and new, a marriage on the rocks, a friendship that’s run its course, a wildly challenging pregnancy—we think we’ve heard these setups before. But then Ma takes a remarkable tack: 100 ex-boyfriends in your home, an unexpected baby arm, a Yeti, a harrowing homecoming (of sorts). At first the absurdities reveal a familiar sense of disbelief and loss. Sit longer, and the comically outlandish stories in Bliss Montage reveal a thrumming rage and grief, the shocking truths we try to ignore.” 

Ling Ma's Bliss Montage is the 19th Winner of The Story Prize!

photo © Beowulf Sheehan

The winner of The Story Prize for books published in 2022 is Bliss Montage (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Ling Ma. 

We announced Ma as the 19th winner of the prize after an evening of readings by and interviews with the three finalists for The Story Prize, Andrea Barrett for Natural History (W.W. Norton & Co.) and Morgan Talty for Night of the Living Rez, in addition to Ma.

 

The Story Prize’s $20,000 top prize is among the largest first-prize amounts of any annual U.S. book award for fiction. Ma also received an engraved silver bowl, which The Story Prize presents to all winners. As runners-up, Barrett and Talty each received $5,000.

Director Larry Dark and Founder Julie Lindsey selected the three finalists for The Story Prize, now in its 19th year, from among 119 books entered in 2022, representing 79 different publishers or imprints. Three judges—critic, author, and editor Adam Dalva; author Danielle Evans, and bookseller and podcaster Miwa Messer—determined the winner from among the three books chosen as finalists. 

Buy Bliss Montage, Natural History, Night of the LIving Rez other story collections published in 2022 from your local bookseller or on Bookshop.

Congratulations to Ling Ma and to Farrar, Straus and Giroux! 

Live-Stream The Story Prize Award Event on March 15 at 7:30 p.m.

The Story Prize event is just a week away. Although we're having a private award night this year, we're going to live-stream it on YouTube. Here's the link.

What you'll see and hear is the three finalists for The Story Prize for books published in 2022—Andrea Barrett for Natural History (W.W. Norton), Ling Ma for Bliss Montage (FSG), and Morgan Talty for Night of the Living Rez (Tin House)—read from and discuss their short story collections before we announce the 19th winner of The Story Prize and present that writer with an engraved silver bowl and the top prize of $20,000. The other two finalists will each take home $5,000.

Finalists Andrea Barrett, Ling Ma, and MorganTalty

If you miss the live-stream, you'll still be able to watch the video on our website and on YouTube in the days that follow. You can find videos of past events under the WINNERS menu on our home page or on YouTube.

The 2022/3 Finalists for The Story Prize Are Andrea Barrett, Ling Ma, and Morgan Talty

The Story Prize, now in its 19th year, is pleased to honor as its finalists three outstanding short story collections chosen from 119 submissions representing 79 different publishers or imprints. The range and quality of story collections published in 2022 were high, and, as always, it was difficult to narrow the list down to three books. This year's finalists are: 

• Natural History by Andrea Barrett (W.W. Norton)

• Bliss Montage by Ling Ma (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

• Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty (Tin House)

We will announce the winner of The Story Prize on the evening of Wednesday, March 15, at a private event featuring readings by and interviews with finalists Barrett, Ma, and Talty, as well as the announcement of the winner and acceptance of the $20,000 top prize and the engraved silver bowl that goes with it. The runners-up will each receive $5,000. We plan to live stream the event starting at 7:30 p.m. and will post a link before then and a video the next day. 

Story Prize Founder Julie Lindsey and Director Larry Dark selected the finalists. Three independent judges will determine the winner:

• Critic, writer, and editor Adam Dalva;
• Writer Danielle Evans; and
• Bookseller and podcaster Miwa Messer

In the weeks ahead, we'll announce this year's winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award. We'll also publish a long list of other exceptional collections we read last year and information on how to watch the event.