The William Gay Memorial Prize in Short Story
Porchlight is proud to announce the 2025 William Gay Memorial Prize in Short Story which will present $500 to the first-place winner, along with a featured presentation on Porchlight. Three runners-up will be published by Porchlight, and all four winners will be included in a planned printed anthology in 2026.
GUIDELINES:
Entries must be original, unpublished short stories of no more than 7,500 words, submitted by established and emerging writers whose voices embody the high literary standards set by the late William Gay. This is NOT a "write like William Gay" contest.
Please include a cover letter as part of the document that includes a brief bio and a statement attesting that the submitted work is not AI-generated.
Other than in the cover letter, entries should be devoid of any information that indicates authorship since judging--to be done by Porchlight editors and our panel of readers--will be anonymous.
Double space entries in Times New Roman 12 point and email to randy@readporchlight.com as a Word doc or pdf attachment. Only digital entries will be accepted.
Entry fee is $20, payable through the Porchlight website at the link below.
Deadline is midnight, Sunday, November 30, 2025.
Winners will be announced December 31, 2025, via email and on the Porchlight website.
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