In honor of the late Danielle Basford, a 2012 graduate of the program, Writing Seminars senior majors are invited to submit a short story (no excerpts, please) for the Danielle Alyse Basford Writing Prize. Please read Danielle’s book, The Cat in the Jacket.
Length: Stories should be 15 pages (double-spaced) or under, and complete. Excerpts of longer work are not eligible.
Entries will be judged by the Basford family. The winner will receive $1,000.
The department would like to publish the winning story on our website. Please indicate if you do not want your story posted.
Apply
Stories should be emailed to Samuel Cheney at [email protected] in a PDF or Microsoft Word format.
Deadline – March 15, 2025
Winners
- 2024 – “Three and a Half Lives of a Ferrari” by Hongyi Duan
- 2023 – “The Short Story Dispenser” by Anna Scott
- 2022 – “Shards of Glass” by Bridget O’Leary
- 2021 – “Umma” by Sumi Kim
- 2020 – “Hortus Conclusus” by Claire Beaver
- 2019 – “What Happened To Me In My Own Words” by Natalie Wallington.
- 2018 – “Slip of the Mind” by Kailyn Fiocca.
Prior to 2018, the award was given annually to the student writer with the most compelling piece of science-fiction/fantasy writing.
- 2017 – “Gilese 3005” by Michael Gentile
- 2016 – An Excerpt from Annabelle and the Spider King by Lydia Youngman
- 2015 – “From the Mouths of Babes” by Kat Lewis
- 2014 – “Plainhaven” by Cecilia Mancuso
- 2013 – “Bushmeat” by Jonathan Engelberg