Celebrating the Art of the Short but Spectacular Writing

“A good [short story] would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit.” ― David Sedaris

The Short Story Book Awards is a new and fast-growing Chanticleer Book Award Division. Featuring any of our 23 Fiction or Non-Fiction genres, these Awards are different from our other programs in that they have two tracks: One that features Individual Works and another that features Collected Works.

Generally, we announce 5 First Place Winners and 1 Grand Prize Winner for Individual Works and the same for Collected Works. This lets each type of work shine. You can see the Grand Prize Winners and Finalists of our 2020 inaugural Short Story Awards here and the 2021 Winners here for collected works and here for individual works.

Short Stories and Essays stand well apart from their 50,000+ word counterparts in both Fiction and Non-Fiction. N.K. Jemisin, three-time Hugo Award Winner for her brilliant Broken Earth Trilogy, credits writing short stories as the method by which she learned how to create tightly written stories with no fluff. Her talent shines in her collection How Long ’til Black Future Month?

In working with a shorter format, a writer must commit to only putting in what matters to their story. This is true of longer formats, but readers are much less forgiving when a short story or essay feels trivial.

“A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” ― Edgar Allan Poe

The Shorts Hall of Fame from Chanticleer

We’re honored to have received so many excellent submissions in the past. Is your story the next one we’ll discover? Check out these Best Books from Chanticleer.

A Week at Surf Side Beach
By Pierce Koslosky Jr.
2020 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Collections

Vacationers from all walks of life converge on Portofino II-317C, South Carolina, a quaint blue beach house, in Pierce Koslosky Jr.’s short story collection, A Week at Surfside Beach.

From May 30th-December 26th each group of people comes to stay one week at a time, to forget their cares of the big city, to work, to celebrate, or to simply get away. Surfside Beach has much to show them, including temperamental weather.

The small town itself offers a charming supermarket where fishing supplies, whoopie pies, and local southern favorites can be found. The Christmas vacationers, the final of the thirteen beach house renters, struggle to find a tree in time; a real tree simply wouldn’t allow enough space for the family to sleep, and the fake tree would cost too much. But they find arts and crafts supplies in town, to fashion a paper Christmas tree during a day of rainy weather.

Continue Reading here

Savonne, not Vonny
By Robin Lee Lovelace
2020 Shorts Grand Prize for Novellas

Robin Lee Lovelace evokes a world in which the mystical intertwines with the everyday in Savonne, Not Vonny, a coming-of-age story set in rural Louisiana.

Nine-year-old Savonne lives in a small room at the back of Mama Gwen’s whorehouse, in Indianapolis in the ’60s. Her mama is one of the working girls, and her father is Mama Gwen’s own son. Savonne’s daddy dotes on her, and Mama Gwen loves Savonne like the daughter she never had; the two of them together make a loving home for Savonne, in the midst of their raucous brothel.

By contrast, Savonne’s birth mother rarely pays her any mind. A “crazy-ass woman” with a temper “as hot as a Mississippi afternoon,” Coco is not at all opposed to beating the bejesus out of someone. In a fury one night, she does something that cannot be undone, and in her headlong flight out of town, she takes Savonne with her.

See the novella here.

Note: Savonne, Not Vonny, is due to be released as part of Lovelace’s collection, A Wild Region. Keep an eye on her website here for the latest updates. The collection is expected to be published on April 28, 2023.

New York, Give Me Your Best or Your Worst
By Elizabeth Crowens
2021 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Collections

A strong collection of work and art, powered by inspiration and the beauty of New York.

The Review for New York: Give Me Your Best or Your Worst is still forthcoming, but we featured author Elizabeth Crowens’ accomplishment in putting together this unique anthology here.

See Crowens’ website here.

Homegoing
By Toni Ann Johnson
2021 Shorts Grand Prize Winner for Novellas

Homegoing by Toni Ann Johnson is an intimate portrait of a middle-aged African-American woman dragging herself hand over hand out of grief and despair.

This story begins with her aching, echoing pain after the one-two punch of a miscarriage and the dissolution of her marriage. Her journey takes her back to the upper-middle-class white suburb where she grew up, through childhood memories that refuse to be denied and to, of all times and places, a funeral.

Something and someone is supposed to be buried. Certainly the deceased. But quite possibly the woman who has held on to her losses and her grudges long enough to poison her own future.

Continue Reading here

Thank you for celebrating these Shorts Awards Grand Prize Winners with us!

Have a Short piece of Fiction, Non-Fiction, or a Collection? Your work deserves to be discovered. Submit today!

At the End: “Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.” ― Ray Bradbury

IN-Person Registration for the Chanticleer Authors Conference is Open
– April 27-30, 2023! Register Today! –

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887)  has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!