Close Search

Selected Shorts

The Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize

The Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize is a writing competition sponsored by the stage and radio series Selected Shorts.

This long-running series at Symphony Space in New York City celebrates the art of the short story by having stars of stage and screen read aloud the works of established and emerging writers. Selected Shorts is recorded for Public Radio and heard nationally on both the radio and its weekly podcast.

We are thrilled to announce this year’s winner, as chosen by our guest judge, Ottessa Moshfegh:

Congratulations to J. Condra Smith, whose story “Kestrel” is our 2025 winner!

Read the winning story on Electric Literature.

We are also happy to announce and congratulate our two runners-up:

Bex Petterson: "Naucrate's Wish"
Megan Baxter: "Temptation"

Thank you to all for submitting! Stay tuned, as the 2026 contest will be announced in the coming months.

Ottessa Moshfegh is a fiction writer from New England. Eileen, her first novel, was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Man Booker Prize, and won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction. My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Death in Her Hands, her second and third novels, were New York Times bestsellers. She is also the author of the short story collection Homesick for Another World and the novella McGlue. Her most recent novel, Lapvona, was published in June 2022.

Media partner:

Event partner:

Contest Details and Guidelines
  • Entries should be 750 words or less.
  • Stories can be on any theme.
  • There is a fee of $25 to enter.
  • Submissions must be entered by 11:59 PM EST on March 7, 2025
  • Writers of all ages and nationalities are eligible.
  • The story must have a title.
  • We do not accept work that has been previously published in print, online, or any other medium.
  • We do not accept works in translation.
  • Once entered, we do not accept revisions for any stories. Your $25 is nonrefundable.
  • You may enter as many stories as you like, but a $25 fee is required for each story.
  • We no longer accept mailed, paper submissions. Stories received in the mail will be returned unread with your uncashed check. If you have problems with the online form or are unable to submit online for some extenuating circumstance, please contact Selected Shorts directly at [email protected] and we will make sure your work reaches us.
  • The winner will be announced in spring 2025.

2024 Contest Winner

"What I Could Have Given" by Esther Hayes

Read