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For much of his life, Robert J. Dau manufactured wood blocks for a living from a factory in Michigan. Growing up in Petosky, he was always inclined towards the arts: sculpture, gardening, literature. One other thing about northern Michigan called to him: Ernest Hemingway had spent his summers there, by Walloon Lake. And thus began his new dream: to find the next Hemingway.
Established in that stride, the PEN/Dau Short Story Prize, with generous support from his family foundation, each year recognizes exceptional emerging writers for a debut short story published in a literary magazine, journal, or website. The winners receive $2,000 and are anthologized in Best Debut Short Stories (Catapult), promoting and spotlighting the next generation of fiction writers. Past winners include Crystal Hana Kim, author of If You Leave Me, Ben Shattuck, author of The History of Sound, and Willa C. Richards, author of The Comfort Monsters.
For the 2024 prize, judges Sindya Bhanoo, an award-winning writer and journalist and finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, Sidik Fofana, writer, public school teacher and recipient of the 2023 Whiting Award, and Ayşegül Savaş, a Turkish writer, chose winners from a pool of more than 100 applicants. The winners’ works came from a variety of literary journals spanning the country from Sewanee, Tennessee, to Cincinnati, and from magazines for an African diaspora to one from the Bellevue hospital.
Here are the list of 2024 awardees:
“Daisy the Whale” (The Sewanee Review) by Josie Abugov
“What Child Is This?” (New England Review) by Annie Barnett
“Rocket” (Bellevue Literary Review) by Jason Baum
“Alfhild” (The Cincinnati Review) by Alex Boeden
“Return to Sender: Big Time Tief” (Transition Magazine) by Winelle Felix
“A Good Word” (Transition Magazine) by Zkara Gaillard
“Guilty Parties” (Salamander Magazine) by Leanne Ma
“Patience” (Salamander Magazine) by Benjamin Van Voorhis
“While judging, I was looking out for stories that moved me, stories that made me laugh and cry and stories with indelible images and characters,” said Bhanoo. “I know that the writers we selected will bring us many more stories, and that their particular perspective on the human experience is important and necessary.”
The winning stories were anthologized by Catapult in the annual Best Debut Short Stories 2024. The writers also convened for a virtual reading hosted by PEN America in December.
“The most beautiful part of the event was sharing in the joy of the winners as they introduced their incredible voices to the world,” said Claire Mehrotra, coordinator, literary programs at PEN America. “This is truly a talented group, and it was very special to share this moment in their early careers with them.”
“It would be nice to say you don’t need external validation to fuel your sense of self-worth as a writer, but man does it really matter,” said Benjamin Van Voorhis. In his story, Patience, a deeply-introspective General inspects his ideas of identity and power. “On a material level, it’s not easy for writers, especially less established writers, to dedicate time and resources to their craft, and prizes like this afford us the opportunity to do exactly that,” Van Voorhis said.
The Dau prize is awarded to previously published short stories, recognizing the quintessential role of local literary magazines dotted all across the country from New England to Portland.
“Every short story collection is traced back to a single story’s publication in a literary magazine,” said Valentine Sargent, Coordinator, Literary Awards at PEN America. “The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers spotlights the power of the literary magazine and its ability to propel these wonderful short story writers forward.”
“I’m incredibly grateful to Katie Sticca, Fiction Editor at Salamander, for picking the story out of the slush pile and giving it a home,” said Leanne Ma. Her story, which uses the unusual first-person plural voice, took many drafts and several years to get right. “It is an honor to be selected for the prize, and I’m grateful to PEN America, the Dau family, and the judges for this huge encouragement to my writing. It’s also been wonderful connecting with my fellow cohort.”
“The PEN/Dau Short Story Prize is an encouragement that I will carry with me. I am so grateful to be a part of it,” said Annie Barnett, whose story, “What Child Is This?” first appeared in the New England Review.
“I’m just so grateful to PEN America, Catapult, the judges, and (Bellevue Literary Review), who published and gave an award to a story about a recovering addict who builds a rocket ship to get sober in outer space. Their acknowledgment has been the coolest thing ever,” said Jason Baum.
Baum said he started writing the story, “Rocket,” in 2014, during his 11th or 12th rehab. Though he had a lot of ideas, all he could write at that point were bullet points of what he hoped the story would be. In 2024, he published it in the Bellevue Literary Review, winning the PEN Robert J. Dau Award for Emerging Writers. “Winning felt like I had followed through on some kind of promise I made to myself back in rehab,” he said.
“It’s one thing for your friends, family, and writing buddies to say they believe in you,” said Voorhis. “It’s a different ballgame when a group of professional, accomplished writers you’ve never met reaches out to say, ‘Hey, this thing you’re doing is worth it, and you’re doing it well.’”
Keep an eye out for the next award cycle here.