The award itself is called The O. Henry Award, not the O. Henry Prize, though until recently there were first, second and third prize winners.
The award was first given in 1919. Money to support the award comes from the Society of Arts and Sciences. As of 2003, the series editor chooses twenty short stories and each one is called an O. Henry Prize Story. All stories originally written in English and published in an American or Canadian magazine can possibly win. Three people become jurors each year. The jurors get the twenty prize stories in text form. The author or publication name are not listed. Each juror works alone and chooses one special short story and comments on it.
The goal of The O. Henry Prize Stories is to improve the art of the short story. Starting in 2003, The O. Henry Prize Stories is dedicated to a writer who has made a major contribution to the art of the short story. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2007 was dedicated to Sherwood Anderson, a U.S. short-story writer. Jurors for 2007 were Charles D'Ambrosio, Lily Tuck, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
In 2009 Anchor books announced a change in the series tittle. Anchor is the publisher of The O. Henry Prize Stories. They worked with the PEN American Center and renamed the series the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories collection. Profits from selling The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 books went to PEN's Readers & Writers Program. This program sends well-known authors to under served inner-city schools.
In an interview for the Vintage Books and Anchor Books blog, editor Laura Furman called working with PEN a "natural partnership."
For more information or complete lists of yearly winners, visit The O. Henry Prize Stories website.
| 2012 |
- Yiyun Li: "Kindness" in A Public Space
- Alice Munro: "Corrie" in The New Yorker
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| 2011 |
- Lynn Freed: "Sunshine"
- Matthew Neill Null: "Something You Can't Live Without"
- Jim Shepard: "Your Fate Hurtles Down at You"
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| 2010 |
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| 2009 |
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| 2008 |
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| 2007 |
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| 2006 |
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| 2005 |
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| 2004 |
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| 2003 |
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| 2002 |
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| 2001 |
- Mary Swan: "The Deep” in The Malahat Review, No. 131
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| 2000 |
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| 1999 |
- Peter Baida: "A Nurse's Story” in The Gettysburg Review, Vol. 13, No. 3
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| 1998 |
- Lorrie Moore: "People Like That Are the Only People Here” in The New Yorker, January 27, 1997
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| 1997 |
- Mary Gordon: "City Life” in Ploughshares, Vol. 22, No. 1
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| 1996 |
- Stephen King: "The Man in the Black Suit” in The New Yorker, October 31, 1994
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| 1995 |
- Cornelia Nixon: "The Women Come and Go” in New England Review, Spring 1994
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| 1994 |
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| 1993 |
- Thom Jones: "The Pugilist at Rest” in The New Yorker, December 2, 1991
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| 1992 |
- Cynthia Ozick: "Puttermesser Paired” in The New Yorker, October 8, 1990
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| 1991 |
- John Updike: "A Sandstone Farmhouse” in The New Yorker, June 11, 1990
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| 1990 |
- Leo E. Litwak: "The Eleventh Edition” in TriQuarterly, No. 74, Winter 1989
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| 1989 |
- Ernest J. Finney: "Peacocks” in The Sewanee Review, Winter 1988
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| 1988 |
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| 1987 |
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| 1986 |
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| 1985 |
- Stuart Dybek: "Hot Ice” in Antaeus
- Jane Smiley: "Lily” in The Atlantic Monthly
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| 1984 |
- Cynthia Ozick: "Rosa” in The New Yorker, March 21, 1983
- Gordon Lish: "For Jeromé—with Love and Kisses" in "The Antioch Review", Summer 1983, 1984
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| 1983 |
- Raymond Carver: "A Small, Good Thing” in Ploughshares, Vol. 8, Nos. 2 & 3
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| 1982 |
- Susan Kenney: "Facing Front” in Epoch, Winter 1980
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| 1981 |
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| 1980 |
- Saul Bellow: "A Silver Dish” in The New Yorker, September 25, 1978
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| 1979 |
- Gordon Weaver: "Getting Serious” in The Sewanee Review, Fall 1977
- Anne Leaton: "The Passion of Marco Z" in Transatlantic Review, 55/56
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| 1978 |
- Woody Allen: "The Kugelmass Episode” in The New Yorker, May 2, 1977
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| 1977 |
- Shirley Hazzard: "A Long Story Short” in The New Yorker, July 26, 1976
- Ella Leffland: "Last Courtesies” in Harper's Magazine, July 1976
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| 1976 |
- Harold Brodkey: "His Son in His Arms, in Light, Aloft” in Esquire, August 1975
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| 1975 |
- Harold Brodkey: "A Story in an Almost Classical Mode” in The New Yorker, September 17, 1973
- Cynthia Ozick: "Usurpation (Other People's Stories)” in Esquire, May 1974
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| 1974 |
- Renata Adler: "Brownstone” in The New Yorker, January 27, 1973
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| 1973 |
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| 1972 |
- John Batki: "Strange-Dreaming Charlie, Cow-Eyed Charlie” in The New Yorker, March 20, 1971
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| 1971 |
- Florence M Hecht: "Twin Bed Bridge” in The Atlantic Monthly, May 1970
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| 1970 |
- Robert Hemenway: "The Girl Who Sang with the Beatles” in The New Yorker, January 11, 1969
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| 1969 |
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| 1968 |
- Eudora Welty: "The Demonstrators” in The New Yorker, November 26, 1966
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| 1967 |
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| 1966 |
- John Updike: "The Bulgarian Poetess” in The New Yorker, March 13, 1965
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| 1965 |
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| 1964 |
- John Cheever: "The Embarkment for Cythera” in The New Yorker, November 3, 1962
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| 1963 |
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| 1962 |
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| 1961 |
- Tillie Olsen: "Tell Me a Riddle” in New World Writing, No. 16
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| 1960 |
- Lawrence Sargent Hall: "The Ledge” in The Hudson Review, Winter, 1958–59
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| 1959 |
- Peter Taylor: "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time” in The Kenyon Review
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| 1958 |
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| 1957 |
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| 1956 |
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| 1955 |
- Jean Stafford: "In the Zoo” in The New Yorker
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| 1954 |
- Thomas Mabry: "The Indian Feather” in The Sewanee Review
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| 1951 |
- Harris Downey: "The Hunters” in Epoch
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| 1950 |
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| 1949 |
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| 1948 |
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| 1947 |
- John Bell Clayton: "The White Circle” in Harper's Magazine
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| 1946 |
- John Mayo Goss: "Bird Song” in The Atlantic Monthly
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| 1945 |
- Walter Van Tilburg Clark: "The Wind and the Snow of Winter” in The Yale Review
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| 1944 |
- Irwin Shaw: "Walking Wounded” in The New Yorker
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| 1943 |
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| 1942 |
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| 1941 |
- Kay Boyle: "Defeat” in The New Yorker
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| 1940 |
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| 1939 |
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| 1938 |
- Albert Maltz: "The Happiest Man on Earth” in Harper's Magazine
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| 1937 |
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| 1936 |
- James Gould Cozzens: "Total Stranger” in The Saturday Evening Post, February 15, 1936
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| 1935 |
- Kay Boyle: "The White Horses of Vienna” in Harper's Magazine
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| 1934 |
- Louis Paul: "No More Trouble for Jedwick” in Esquire
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| 1933 |
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| 1932 |
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| 1931 |
- Wilbur Daniel Steele: "Can't Cross Jordan by Myself” in Pictorial Review
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| 1930 |
- W. R. Burnett: "Dressing-Up” in Harper's Magazine, November 1929
- William H. John: "Neither Jew nor Greek” in Century Magazine, August 1929
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| 1929 |
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| 1928 |
- Walter Duranty: "The Parrot” in Redbook, March 1928
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| 1927 |
- Roark Bradford: "Child of God” in Harper's Magazine, April 1927
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| 1926 |
- Wilbur Daniel Steele: "Bubbles” in Harper's Magazine
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| 1925 |
- Julian Street: "Mr. Bisbee's Princess” in Redbook, May 1925
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| 1924 |
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| 1923 |
- Edgar Valentine Smith: "Prelude” in Harper's Magazine, May 1923
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| 1922 |
- Irvin S. Cobb: "Snake Doctor” in Cosmopolitan, November 1922
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| 1921 |
- Edison Marshall: "The Heart of Little Shikara” in Everybody's Magazine, January 1921
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| 1920 |
- Maxwell Struthers Burt: "Each in His Generation” in Scribner's Magazine, July 1920
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| 1919 |
- Margaret Prescott Montague: "England to America” in The Atlantic Monthly, September 1918
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In Spanish: Premio O. Henry para niños