TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL ZOETROPE: ALL-STORY SHORT FICTION COMPETITION

Many thanks to all who entered the 2019 Short Fiction Competition. We appreciate the opportunity to read your work.

From more than 2,300 submissions, guest judge Tommy Orange honored the following stories.

First Prize:
“Plum Island” by Uzma Aslam Khan (Hadley, MA)
This story was far and away my favorite. The balance and pacing were perfect. The sentences were surprising and inventive. The narrative was full and complex. The ending was brilliant. I could read a whole novel of this character and setting. Bravo!
—Tommy Orange

Second Prize:
“You Would Set Your Jaws Upon My Throat” by Steve Trumpeter (Chicago, IL)

Third Prize:
“Our Lady of Recreation” by Katheryn Soleil (Brooklyn, NY)

Honorable Mentions:
“Code of Conduct” by Charlotte Crowe (Brooklyn, NY)
“Annulment” by Francisco González (Xalapa, Mexico)
“The Evaporated” by Sacha Idell (Baton Rouge, LA)
“Spring Light” by Christie Jones (Houston, TX)
“Tell the Bees” by Jill Koenigsdorf (Sonoma, CA)
“Flock” by Jessica Lee Richardson (Myrtle Beach, SC)
“Killers” by Sarah Smith (Pittsburgh, PA)

First prize is $1,000; second prize, $500; and third prize, $250. The prizewinners and honorable mentions will be considered for representation by William Morris Endeavor; ICM; the Wylie Agency; Regal Literary; Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency; Markson Thoma Literary Agency; Inkwell Management; Sterling Lord Literistic; Aitken Alexander Associates; Barer Literary; the Gernert Company; and the Georges Borchardt Literary Agency.

The winning story, “Plum Island” by Uzma Aslam Khan, has been published as a special online supplement to the Winter 2019/2020 edition.

The 2020 Short Fiction Competition opens July 1; for details, please visit the website this summer. And should you wish to receive updates by email, please write us at [email protected].

Thanks once more for sharing your writing, and all good wishes for your work,
The editors