Beginning in April 2025, there will no longer be a $10 Canadian prize for the story of the month.

I pay out the prizes via PayPal, and the flat rate fees per transaction have been increasing over time. At this point, it costs me almost $15 each month to send the $10 prize. It is not a question of whether I can “afford” to pay out those prizes; it’s more that I can’t justify paying a 50% fee  to a big corporation in order to get that prize into the authors’ hands. As a result, I have made the decision to remove that prizing.

I will still provide the Story of the Year with the same $50 Canadian prize.

My apologies to future monthly winners. I know how special it is for a writer to receive payment for their work.

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

The finalists for February were:

The Smile by Clive Oseman
The Human Legacy by Millie Sun
Still Life by Paul D’Arcy
How to Move Your Mother To Assisted Living by Jennifer L. Freed

The winner of the February 2025 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…

Still Life

The story of the week for February 24 to 28 is…

The Gift a Medical Power of Attorney Bestows Upon You by Sharon Gerger
and
Whispers of the Woods by Michael Samuel

The story of the week for February 17 to 21 is…

How to Move Your Mother to Assisted Living by Jennifer L. Freed

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

The finalists for January were:

Shadowing by Sam Hall
Morning by Amanda LaMantia
Shivering to Death by Bob Thurber
Autonomy by Jenny Mattern
Duplicity by Fiona H. Evans

The winner of the January 2025 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…

Duplicity

The story of the week for February 10 to 14 is…

Still Life by Paul D’Arcy

The story of the week for February 3 to 7 is…

The Human Legacy by Millie Sun

The story of the week for January 27 to 31 is…

The Smile by Clive Oseman

The winner of the 2024 Story of the Year, along with the $50 prize and enshrinement in the Hall of Fame, is:

My neighbor is the second coming of Jesus Christ by Nina Evans

As Amanda Le Rougetel pointed out in the comments, this story is “so very open to interpretation,” and that is a large part of its effectiveness. The story’s power is drawn from its understatement; it is a gentle letdown, a form of anticlimax that achieves one my personal favourite literary effects, which is to lead the reader into self-examination: the story cannot be interpreted unless the reader simultaneously interprets themself.

Honourable mentions go to Secret Regret by Matthew Eichenlaub and The Monument by Ron Scully.

The story of the week for January 20 to 24 is…

Duplicity by Fiona H. Evans