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2023 Story of the Year Winner

News

The winner of the 2023 Story of the Year, along with the $50 prize and enshrinement in the Hall of Fame, is:

Desert Blues in a Minor Key by Jonathan Kosik

The linguistic choices and presentation in this story are excellent, from the opening parallelism and the small alliterations to the line-by-line delivery that helps feed some of the complex layering and subtle character development. The hissing grandmother and valve stem set the mood, preparing us for the challenging ambiguity of the grandfather’s remark–is it targeted at the line above it, or the line below?–all followed by the discordant double meaning of the final two lines.

Jonathan joins Bob Thurber and Jennifer L. Freed as a two-time Story of the Year winner, after capturing the award in 2017 with Constellations.

Honourable mentions go to Widowmaker by Tim Boiteau and Keeping Up Appearances by Lynn Kozlowski.

2023 Story of the Year Finalists

News

Here are the twelve finalists for the 2023 Story of the Year award!

JANUARY: Your Umbrella by Caroline Ashley
FEBRUARY: The Invisible Girl by Nikki Davison
MARCH: Vernacular by Laura Besley
APRIL: Widowmaker by Tim Boiteau
MAY: Woman-ness by Kelli Short Borges
JUNE: The Librarian and the Time Machine by Chelsea Allen
JULY: I watch the bones sink to the bottom by J.C. Pillard
AUGUST: Monday Morning by Brian Maycock
SEPTEMBER: Blink by Keith J. Powell
OCTOBER: Desert Blues in a Minor Key by Jonathan Kosik
NOVEMBER: Medicinal by Meg Pokrass
DECEMBER: Keeping Up Appearances by Lynn Kozlowski

The winner, as chosen by editor Tim Sevenhuysen, will be announced on Sunday, January 28!

The prize for the Story of the Year winner is:

  • $50 (Canadian)
  • Enshrinement in the 50WS Hall of Fame

Let everyone know your favourite story in the comments!

Throwback: In 2014, Bob Thurber won the Story of the Year award with his piece The Mapmaker’s Calligraphist Daughter. In 2015, Guy Preston took the prize with One Job Away From Retirement. The 2016 winner was Jennifer L. Freed, for Aunt Peg. In 2017, Constellations by Jonathan Kosik won the award. In 2018, Bob Thurber won his second Story of the Year award for The Summer of Sweet Mary (circa 1972). In 2019, Evan McMurry won the Story of the Year for After the Water. The 2020 story of the year was Your Pills by Jennifer L. Freed, for her second win. For 2021, N. West Moss won Story of the Year for A man (not her husband). The 2022 story of the year was Cherry Blossom by Tim Boiteau.

STORY OF THE MONTH: December 2023

News

The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.

The finalists for December were:

Keeping Up Appearances by Lynn Kozlowski
The Kite by Janelle Seabock
Starlight by Tim Boiteau
The Shape Shifter at 50 by Michelle Wilson
Breakout by Deborah Tapper
Cutting Edge by KHOP Möricke

The winner of the December 2023 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…

Keeping Up Appearances