Mary Mackey Short Story Prize Category
First Prize: $100
Second Prize: $50
Third Prize: $25
Note: For the 2022 contest, guest author Gary Turchin will judge this category.
Category Details
Up to 4,000 words. One story per entry. I am looking for well-crafted stories that are original and compelling. The story must demonstrate a mastery of and love for the English language. It must move, not wallow. The characters need to be vivid, the dialogue convincing. Above all, something must happen. This need not be a grand event, but some change must take place: an event, a revelation, or perhaps an insight. Please do not submit your story until you have polished and revised it multiple times. A great short story changes the reader. I look forward to being changed.
About The 2022 Guest Judge/Sponsor
GARY TURCHIN (Berkeley, CA) is the author of Through a Broken Window (2020 Simon DeWitt & Friends), a novel which won first place in the 2020 Best Indie Book Award’s mainstream fiction category and first place in the 2021 NYC Big Book Award’s Sports category. Gary is also the author and illustrator of the cult classic picture book, If I Were You (Simon DeWitt & Friends 2011) and the award-winning illustrated verse collection Ditty-Ditty Doggerel: A Life From Bad To Verse (Simon DeWitt & Friends 2012). In 2013, Sugartown Publications released his poetry collection, Falling Home. His most recent poetry book, Pre-Medicated: Pills, Poems, & Ponderings, was published in 2021 (Naked Bulb Press).
Gary has won numerous literary competition awards, including a number of Soul-Making Keats prizes, several Maggi H. Meyers Memorial poetry awards, and a handful of Poets’ Dinner Awards, among others.
Gary created a poetry show for kids, Gary T. & his PoetTree, featuring his original verse, which toured for more than a dozen years and was presented in more than 300 schools, libraries, and other venues.
Gary’s word-and-picture drawings appear in The Book of Self & Other Drawings: The Word and Picture Art of Gary Turchin. You can hear his rhymes on the DVD, My Pants Want To Dance!
Guest Judge’s Websites
2022 Winners
- First Prize: Sarah Collins Honenberger of Tappahannock, VA
Halfway to Graceland - Second Prize: Mary Ann Carr of Port Haywood, VA
The Blue Hat - Third Prize: William H. Andrews of New York, NY
The Listener
2022 Honorable Mentions
Sabina Letang of Oakland, CA for Carmen Alone
Patricia Schultheis of Baltimore, MD for When Sister Joan Opens the Door
Tobey Hiller of San Rafael, CA for The Problem of Air
Robert Robeson of Lincoln, NE for Letters from Lenny
Teresa Burns Murphy of Fairfax, VA for Nodders