Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction

Submit JAnuary 1 - February 15

In celebration of Sarabande’s 30th anniversary, we are pleased to offer an increased prize in the amount of $3,000, as well as publication of the manuscript with an introduction by Lauren Groff, and a standard royalty contract.

ELIGIBILITY

This contest is open to any short fiction writer of English. Employees and board members of Sarabande are not eligible. Agented manuscripts are not eligible. Submissions may include a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a short novel. Works that have previously appeared in magazines or in anthologies may be included. Translations and previously published collections are not eligible. To avoid conflict of interest, close friends of a judge or current students in a degree-granting program with a judge are not eligible.

Submission REQUIREMENTS

  • Manuscript must be ANONYMOUS—the author’s name or address must not appear anywhere on the manuscript (title page should contain the title only)

  • Must be typed, standard font, 12 pt., double-spaced

  • Between 150-250 pages

  • Manuscript should be paginated consecutively with a table of contents and acknowledgements page (a list of publications in which stories or sections of the manuscript have appeared)

  • Must be accompanied by a $29 submission fee

  • Must be submitted electronically through Submittable

Multiple submissions are permitted if submitted separately, each with a submission fee. Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but please withdraw your manuscript if accepted elsewhere.

Sarabande Books considers all finalists for publication. 

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Previous winners

2023 Winner: an chang joon, God-Disease, chosen by Manuel Muñoz

2022 Winner: David Lawrence Morse, The Book of Disbelieving, chosen by Susan Minot

2021 Winner: Chaitali Sen, A New Race of Men, chosen by Danielle Evans
2021 Finalists: Nights from this Galaxy by Wil Weitzel (2023)

2020 Winner: Leslie Kirk Campbell, The Man With Eight Pairs of Legs and Other Stories
2020 Finalists: Where the Rubies Live by Tyler Barton (2021)

2019 Winner: Whitney Collins, Big Bad, chosen by Sarah Gorham and Jeffrey Skinner

2018 Winner: Joan Frank, Where You're All Going, chosen by Aimee Bender

2017 Winner: Robert Yune, Tiny Heroes, Tiny Villains, chosen by Paul Yoon.

2016 Winner: Nona Caspers, Alley Stories, chosen by Stacey D'Erasmo.

2015 Winner: Emily Fridlund, Catapult, chosen by Ben Marcus.

2014 Winner: Matthew Neill Null, Allegheny Front, chosen by Lydia Millet.

2013 Winner: Nathan Poole, Father Brother Keeper, chosen by Edith Pearlman.

2024 Judge: Lauren Groff

Lauren Groff is a three-time National Book Award finalist and The New York Times–bestselling author of the novels The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies, Matrix, and The Vaster Wilds, and the celebrated short story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida.

Past winners: