About

The Iowa Short Fiction Award and the John Simmons Short Fiction Award are annual prizes awarded to two collections of stories. Writers who have yet to publish a book-length volume of fiction are eligible to apply, and winning manuscripts are published by The Iowa Press.

Submissions for the 2023-2024 awards are closed. Next submission period will open August 1st, 2024 and close September 30th.

Previous Winners

2018

^{Judge: Rebecca Lee}
Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer The Water Diviner and Other Stories 
Christian Felt The Lightning Jar

2017

^{Judge: Andre Dubus III}
Matthew Lansburgh Outside is the Ocean
Marian CrottyWhat Counts as Love

2016

^{Judge: Bennett Sims}
Robert OldshueNovember Storm
Allegra Hyde Of This New World.

2015

^{Judge: Karen Russell}
Edward Hamlin Night in Erg Chebbi and Other Stories
Charles Haverty Excommunicados.

2014

^{Judge: Wells Tower}
Heather A. Slomski, The Lovers Set Down Their Spoons 
Kathleen Founds, Mystical Creatures Attack!

2013

^{Judge: Julie Orringer}
Tessa Mellas, Lungs Full of Noise 
Kate Milliken, If I'd Known You Were Coming

2012

^{Judge: Jim Shepard}
Marie-Helene Bertino, Safe as Houses 
Chad Simpson, Tell Everyone I Said Hi

2011

^{Judge: Yiyun Li}
Will Boast, Power Ballads 
Josh Rolnick, Pulp and Paper

2010

^Judge:
Marilène Phipps-Kettlewell, The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti 
Barbara Hamby, Lester Higata's 20th Century

2009

^Judge:
Kathryn Ma, All That Work and Still No Boys 
Jennine Capó Crucet, How to Leave Hialeah: Stories from the Heart of Miami

2008

^Judge:
Glen Pourciau,Invite 
Molly McNett, One Dog Happy

2007

^Judge:
Don Waters, Desert Gothic 
Lee Montgomery, Whose World Is This?

2006

^Judge:
Jim Tomlinson, Things Kept, Things Left Behind 
Kevin Moffett, Permanent Visitors

2005

^Judge:
Doug Trevor, The Thin Tear in the Fabric of Space 
Anthony Varallo, This Day in History

2004

^Judge:
Janet Desaulniers, What You've Been Missing 
Merrill Feitell, Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes

2003

^Judge:
Ryan Harty, Bring Me Your Saddest Arizona 
Beth Helms, American Wives

2002

^Judge:
Jennifer S. Davis, Her Kind of Want 
Laura Valeri, The Kind of Things Saints Do

2001

^Judge:
Sohrab Homi Fracis, Ticket to Minto: Stories of India and America 
Donald Anderson, Fire Road

2000

^{Judge: Elizabeth McCracken}
John McNally, Troublemakers 
Elizabeth Oness, Articles of Faith

1999

^{Judge: Marilynne Robinson}
Nancy Reisman, House Fires 
Thisbe Nissen, Out of the Girls' Room and into the Night

1998

^{Judge: Stuart Dybek}
Mark Brazaitis, The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala 
Kathryn Chetkovich, Friendly Fire

1997

^{Judge: Ann Beattie}
Jim Henry, Thank You for Being Concerned and Sensitive 
Lisa Lenzo, Within the Lighted City

1996

^{Judge: Oscar Hijuelos}
David Borofka, Hints of His Mortality 
Don Zancanella, Western Electric

1995

^{Judge: Ethan Canin}
Tereze Glück, May You Live in Interesting Times 
Charles Wyatt, Listening to Mozart

1994

^{Judge: Joy Williams}
Rod Val Moore, Igloo Among Palms 
Susan Onthank Mates, The Good Doctor

1993

^{Judge: Francine Prose}
Renee Manfredi, Where Love Leaves Us 
Lex Williford, Macauley's Thumb 
Ann Harleman, Happiness

1992

^{Judge: James Salter}
Elizabeth Searle, My Body to You 
Enid Shomer, Imaginary Men

1991

^{Judge: Marilynne Robinson}
Sondra Spatt Olsen, Traps 
Elizabeth Harris, The Ant Generator

1990

^{Judge: Jayne Anne Phillips}
Marly Swick, A Hole in the Language

1989

^{Judge: Gail Godwin}
Starkey Flythe, Jr., Lent: The Slow Fast 
Miles Wilson, Line of Fall

1988

^{Judge: Robert Stone}
Sharon Dilworth, The Long White 
Michael Pritchett, The Venus Tree

1987

^{Judge: Alison Lurie}
Abby Frucht, Fruit of the Month 
Lucia Nevai, Star Game

1986

^{Judge: Tobias Wolff}
Dan O'Brien, Eminent Domain 
Russell Working, Resurrectionists

1985

^{Judge: Tim O'Brien}
Robert Boswell, Dancing in the Movies

1984

^{Judge: Frederick Busch}
Susan M. Dodd, Old Wives' Tales

1983

^{Judge: Alice Adams}
Ivy Goodman, Heart Failure

1982

^{Judge: Raymond Carver}
Dianne Benedict, Shiny Objects

1981

^{Judge: Doris Grumbach}
Annabel Thomas, The Phototropic Woman

1980

^{Judge: Francine du Plessix Gray}
James Fetler, Impossible Appetites

1979

^{Judge: John Gardner}
Mary Hedin, Fly Away Home

1978

^{Judge: Stanley Elkin}
Lon Otto, A Nest of Hooks

1977

^{Judge: Leonard Michaels}
Pat Carr, The Women in the Mirror

1976

^{Judge: Donald Barthelme}
C. E. Poverman, The Black Velvet Girl

1975

^{Judge: George P. Garrett}
Barry Targan, Harry Belten and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto

1974

^{Judge: William H. Gass}
Natalie L. M. Petesch, After the First Death There Is No Other

1973

^{Judge: John Hawkes}
H. E. Francis, The Itinerary of Beggars

1972

^{Judge: Joyce Carol Oates}
Jack Cady, The Burning and Other Stories

1971

^{Judge: George P. Elliott}
Philip F. O'Connor, Old Morals, Small Continents, Darker Times

1970

^{Judges: Vance Nye Bourjaily and Kurt Vonnegut}
Cyrus Colter, The Beach Umbrella