Short Fiction Prize - Past Winners

Winners of the Stony Brook $1,000 Short Fiction Prize and Honorable Mentions are encouraged to keep in touch with us. Let us know what you are doing. Email Carla Caglioti.

2020

First Prize

Ryan Cahill
University of Washington in St. Louis
“That Summer We Were Boys”

Runners-Up

Anna Dodson
Dartmouth College
“The Daphne”

Eleanor Jahns-Roerick
Bethel University
“Okeefenokee Swamp”

Rachel Zhu
Boston University
“The Face That Drained the Bohai Sea”

Lisa Zhuang
Emory University
“The Telepathis”

Prize Judge

Robert Lopez

 

2019

First Prize

Teja Dusanapudi
University of California, Davis
“This Is Where the Dead Things Dance"

Runners-Up

Emory O’Malley
Rollins College
“Cranes"

Lydia Trigili
Haverford College
“Earning a Living"

Semi-Finalists

Laura Bristol
University of Buffalo
“The Children Are Playing War"

Mary Kearney-Brown 
Haverford College 
“Paradise Apartments"

Owen Duncan
Concordia University, Irvine 
“Julie E. Baker - Application Form for Zycanine®"

Prize Judge

Susan Minot

 

2018

First Prize

Harpit Samra
York University
"What Isolation Bred"

Runners-up

Brady Alexander
University of Louisville, Kentucky
"Harvestman"

Krystal Song
University of California, Los Angeles
"Of Lilacs and Melancholy"

Finalists

Anne Kat Alexander
Brandeis University
"The Writer"

Elizabeth Charles 
Ithaca College 
"Vanessa on the Cusp"

Julia Gagliardi
Fordham University
"The Chapel of Love"

Justin Joyce
Lehman College
"Spaceman"

 

2017

First Prize

Madeline Hernstrom-Hill
Allegheny College
"The Church of the Reformed Eden"

Runners-up

Aryanna Falkner
Canisius College
"Weekend Girls"

Benjamin Selesnick
Northeastern University
"Davidson Park"

Rachel Finn-Lohmann
Oberlin College
"The Everest"

 

2016

First Prize

Iryna Klishch
Denison University

"The Feathers of an Addict"

First Runner-up

Hope Kennedy
North Central College
"It's Fine"

Second Runner-up

Laura Hartman
Ohio Dominican University
"Who Will Pray for the Nuns?"

2015

First Prize

Mariya Poe
Pratt Institute

"Turtle Bones"

 

Honorable Mention:

Sarah Suleski
University of Wisconsin
"Bear and the Axe"

Caitlin Keen
Santa Fe Community College
"Swarm"

 

2014

First Prize

Mason Boyles
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

"Phonebooks"

 

Honorable Mention:

Olivia Powers
Skidmore College
"Spring Fever"

Delia Pepper
Franklin and Marshall
"Time Held Me Green and Dying"

Rebekah Fields
Sweet Briar College
"Settling"

 

2013

First Prize

Kaitlin Williams
University of Michigan

"My Deer"

 

Honorable Mention:

"Thief River Falls"
Melanie Dearman
University of California-Irvine

 

"The Public Library"
Maxim Golubchik
University of California-Irvine

 

"48 Days"
Sarah Guinee
Normandale Community College

 

2012

First Prize

Sara Francesca Taylor
Randolph College

"Chloe's Story"

Honorable Mention

"The Haircut"
Zebbie Watson
Bryn Mawr College

"Charity Inn"
Charles Caulkins
Franklin Pierce College

 

2011

First Prize

Eve Gleichman
Haverford College

"The New Neighbor"

Honorable Mention

"F.U.B.A.R."
Kenneth F. Barrett
City College of New York

"The Age of Automobiles"
Adrian Shirk
Pratt Institute

"Common Symptoms"
Mackenzie Evan Smith
Carnegie Mellon University

 

2010

First Prize

Patrick Shuler
Georgia Southern University

"You Kill It, You Eat It"

Honorable Mention

Sarah Spring, Willamette University
"Alice and the Rabbits"

Ty Russell, University of Pennsylvania
"The Sharecroppers Daughter"

 

2009

First Prize

Ryan Brown
Duke University

"To Be Certain"

Honorable Mention

Christian Parsons, SUNY-Oswego
Jake Schindel, Dartmouth College
Anne M. Shepherd, Texas Tech University

 

2008

First Prize

Rebecca Power
University of California-Berkeley

"Active Homing Guidance"

Honorable Mention

John Guin, Sewanee, University of the South - "Yellowstone Park Service Stations"
Wen Wen Mao, Carnegie Mellon University - "A Vancouver Hunger"
Amy Ni Pan, Amherst College - "This Was Us, Then"
Kevin Tang, Dartmouth College - "West Gate Strays"
Min Ha Yoon, Washington University of St. Louis - "Invitation"

 

2007

First Prize

Stephanie Chan, Johns Hopkins University
"No Man's Land"

Honorable Mention

Lindsay Harrison, Brown University
Alexanne Malia Madison, University of Washington
Anne Putnam, Washington University

 

2006

First Prize

Ah-Young Song, Brown University
"Daunt"

Honorable Mention

Kimberly Gotches, Marquette University - "Sacrifice"
Elizabeth Fallon, Southampton College - "Karo & Me"

 

2005

First Prize

David Lowry Pressly, University of Georgia
"U"

Honorable Mention

Evelyn Khoo, Swarthmore College - "A Ghost Story"
Brian Huskie, University at Albany - "Ten More Minutes"
Theresa Ray, Murray State University - "Dark Thirty"
Robert Young, Western Washington University - "Sex in Subic"
Theodore Wheeler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln - "The Scythian Defense"

 

2004

First Prize

Michael Capel, SUNY Oswego
"Divers"

Honorable Mention

Jane L. Carman, Western Illinois University – "The World's Biggest Fish"
Diane Fu, University of Minnesota – "Metro Transit 16"
Erin Xia Gieschen, Georgia State University – "One Volume of One Author"
Janet Liao, Cornell University – "The Great Sog"
Keith Lin, University of Maryland, Baltimore County – "Eavesdropping"
Sarah Colleen Morgan, University of Houston – "Old Houses and Dirt Roads"
Xuequn Pan, Princeton University – "The Sex Lives of Filipino Maids"
Nate Sellyn, Princeton University – "A Kind of Dignity"
Phillip Waalkes, Hope College – "Passion Between the Living”
Kyla Wetherell, Lane Community College – "No Suffah"
Samy Yang, University of Wisconsin, Madison – "There Is No Snow in Laos"

 

2003

First Prize

T. M. Douglas, California State Hayward
"The Shrine"

Honorable Mention

1ST HONORABLE MENTION - Nancy Jooyoun Kim, UCLA - "Orientation"
Kate Benson, Princeton University - "The Long Drive Back from Seaside"
Kathryn Brackett, Converse College - "The Road of Hoping"
Heather Curry, University of South Florida - "Starvation"
Ashley Davidson, University of Arizona - "The Aspirin and the Ecstasy"
Mandy Hu, Harvard University - "Leonids"
Danielle Mullen, New Mexico State University - "A Rush of Silence"
Erin Pringle, Indiana State University - "The Magnolia Lyric"
Lia Romeo, Princeton University - "War Stories"

* This is the second consecutive year in which Nancy Jooyoun Kim, Kate Benson and Erin Pringle have been recognized with Honorable Mentions, and we applaud their consistent high quality of writing.

 

2002

The winning story for 2002 was withdrawn

Honorable Mention

1ST HONORABLE MENTION - Veronica Lucero, New Mexico State University - "In the Blood"
Kate Benson, Princeton University - "Surface Tension"
Nathan Keonaona Chai, Brigham Young University - "Driven"
Sarah K. Hammond, University of South Carolina - "The Train Fell Off the Track"
Nancy Jooyoun Kim, UCLA - "Silence and Sound"
Erin Pringle, Indiana State University - "Sunday Night Blues"
Alison Stoltzfus, University of Pennsylvania - "There, But For the Grace"
Xiao Wu, Harvard University - "The Dissident"

* This is the second consecutive year that Nathan Chai of Brigham Young University has been recognized with an Honorable Mention, and we applaud his consistent high quality of writing.

 

2001

First Prize

Jennifer Oh, Duke University
"No Regrets"

Honorable Mention

Nathan Chai, Brigham Young University - "War After the Flesh"
Erin Xia Gieschen, Georgia State University - "What Magically Appears"
Paige Grande, San Jose State University - "Winter in Nowhere Land"
Laurel Greenidge, University of Washington - "The Test"
Kerrie Kvashay-Boyle, University of S. California - "Like Smoke: Gone"
Annie Lee, Princeton "Yellow Soil"
Amy O'Neal, Bryn Mawr College - "The Lord of the Diving Board"
Alex Ortolani, Northwestern University - "Accidents"

* This is the second consecutive year that Alex Ortolani of Northwestern University has been recognized with an Honorable Mention, and we applaud his consistent high quality of writing.

 

2000

First Prize

Katherin Nolte, Wright State University
"If the Boyfriend Has Lasted a Year"

Runners-up with Distinction

Jill Alphonso Lin Fen, Hawaii Pacific University - "Fluid Spaces"
Michael Fearnow, James Madison University - "Ladies' Night at the Home of Human Cannonball"
Katie Hays, Bucknell University - "Half-Winged"
Melissa A. Thompson, Concordia University - "Nibble-Nibble, Gnaw-Gnaw"

Honorable Mention

Nellie Hermann, Brown University - "Bunny Love"
Alex Ortolani, Northwestern University - "The Penguin Men"
Annie Rong-tzu Lin, Rice University - "The Armrest"
Jacqueline To, Concordia University - "a stone, a sleeping armadillo, a silent turtle, a cactus plant, a hermit crab"

 

1999

First Prize
Malia Mulder Wollan, University of California, Santa Cruz
"Persimmon"

Runners-up with Distinction

Megan Gilman, Princeton University - "Eat Flounderly"
H. Jessica Kim, Amherst College - "Prono"
Caitlin Shirts, Indiana University - "Magicians without Wives"

Honorable Mention

Jeremiah Ho, University of California, Los Angeles - "Buying Time"
Susie Moon, Cornell University - "Birth of Jeff"
Simon Patrick Rogers, Concordia University - "The Zoo"
Diane Saulon, State University of New York at Stony Brook - "The Breakup"

* This is the second consecutive year that Susie Moon of Cornell University has been recognized with an Honorable Mention, and we applaud her consistent high quality of writing.

 

1998

First Prize

Brett Williams, Stony Brook University
"22"

Honorable Mention

Penda Aiken, Hunter College - "Lightening"
Amanda J. Besl, SUNY Oswego - "Daisy Chains and Pigeon Bones"
Joyce Cheng, Northwestern University - "Lotus"
Jhoanna Infante, Northwestern University - "The Ascetic"
Susie Moon, Cornell University - "The Condensed History of Giuseppe and Bettina"
Vu Hoang Tran, University of Tulsa - "Ghost Story"
Henrikki Priyanga Rajapaksa-Yapa Tuovinen, Ohio State University - "Devouring Prometheus"
Ho Chan Won, Tufts University - "Fireflies in Daylight"

* This is the second consecutive year that both Amanda J. Besl and Vu Hoang Tran have been recognized with Honorable Mentions, and we applaud their consistent high quality of writing.

 

1997

First Prize

Mitch Cullin, University of Houston
"Sifting Through"

Honorable Mention

Jessica Jordan Nudel, Empire State College - "A Volcano is Like a Heart Bursting"
Amanda Besl, SUNY at Oswego - "Homing Instincts"
Tamika Edwards, Louisiana State University - "The Girl, Clara"
Abby Goldenfarb, Wellesley College - "Lines"
Kischa Kai Miller, Williams College - "Swollen Bellies"
Elissa Minor, Oregon State University - "Ilima Flowers"
Chris Santiago, Oberlin College - "The Reader of Teeth"
Vu Tran, The University of Tulsa - "Solomon's Dream"

1996

First Prize

Amy Yee, Wellesley College
"In the Dark of the Kitchen"

Honorable Mentions

Evetta A. Andersson, University of Nebraska at Omaha - "The Butterfly King"
P. E. Farquhar, SUNY at Albany - "There are Stars Over Locust Street"
Jillian Horton, University of Western Ontario - "Bread"
A. Rey Pamatmat, New York University - "Belt"
Allen Teng, University of California at Berkeley - "The Angel of Salk"
Silvia Turchin, University of Southern California - "thieves"

1995

First Prize

K. E. Phillips, Cornell University
"Pull Your Hat Down Tight"

First Honorable Mention

Carol Wong, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
"Dark Inside"

* Carol Wong's first honorable mention in our Prize was given in 1994.

Honorable Mention

Amy Jo Anderson, University of Wisconsin - "Confessions Ripped from the Pages of the Diary of a Half-Baked, Empty-Tanked Drug Dealer"
Ronica Bhattacharya, University of Chicago - "Where You Find Two Women There is a Coterie"
Marisa Castuera, Williams College - "A Room All to Myself"
Melissa Klein, University of Wisconsin - "The African Eve"
Kevin Lee, Williams College - "Midnight Basketball"
Clarke Colson Whitehead, SUNY at Stony Brook - "Stormclouds Left of Heaven"

1994

First Prize

Julie Anne McNary, Wellesley College
"Blessings from the Sandwoman"

Honorable Mention

Christopher Castellani, Swarthmore College
Margaret K. Dodds, Wellesley College
Erin Flanagan, University of Nebraska
Giles Pinto, University of Alberta
Aliyah Abdur Rahman, SUNY at Stony Brook
Jeannie Wang, University of California at San Diego
Carol Wong, University of Victoria

* Christopher Castellani of Swarthmore College was the 1992 winner of the Prize. This is the second time that Margaret Dodds of Wellesley College has been recognized with an Honorable Mention, and we applaud her consistent high quality of writing.

1993

First Prize

Zoe Landale, University of British Columbia
"Dollie and Her Sister"

First Honorable Mention

Yvette Louise, Columbia University
"La revolucion"

Honorable Mention

Simon Fanning, McGill University - "Sacrifice"
Shobita Mampilly, Indiana University - "India Summers"
Aliyah Silverstein, University of Michigan - "No More Than You're Comfortable With"
Yaelan Wong, Sarah Lawrence College - "Letters About a Story Untold"

1992

First Prize

Christopher Castellani, Swarthmore College
"You'll Be Saying the Same Thing"

Honorable Mentions

Margaret Dodds, Wellesley College - "Dreams"
Kenny Hung, Duke University - "Black Beans & Rice"
Ian Mount, Amherst College - "The City"
Seiji Ogata, UCLA - "The Realization of Maya"
Kimberly Yaman, University of Iowa - "Winter Kill"