2022 Short Story Contest
Congratulations to our 2022 Short Story Contest Winners!
(click story titles for PDFs of stories)
This was an IN-PERSON Meeting for a
LIVE READING OF THE 2022 WINNING SHORT STORIES
Thursday, October 6th | 6:00 pm – 7:45 pm
First Floor Meeting Room of the Rockville Memorial Library
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Student Winners
by Allison Xu
Judge Nate Brown said: This quiet, naturalistic story uses its titular painting as the locus around which all other elements of the story orbit. As the story's protagonist, Suying, grows up and learns the complexities of family life, schooling, and poverty, the painting is there on her parents' wall, an ever-present reminder of her father's home village and of her late uncle, who painted the piece. Eventually, the painting is given to Suying and her new husband as a wedding present, and though the image is comparatively stark in her bright home, it stays on her wall as a reminder of a past that is perpetually being overtaken by the present moment. This is a thoughtful and wise story that I'll remember for a long time to come.
Finalists:
by Eileen Luo
by Alina Amin
Honorable Mention:
by Leanne Tan
Adult winners
by William Campbell
Judge Nate Brown said: The story uses the diagnostic language familiar to physicians to advance a complex discussion of the nature of human suffering. In examining Mrs. Fuller, the story's protagonist walks readers through the medical history of diagnosing dementia, presents a treatise on the nature of psychedelic drugs, and reveals both intriguing and mundane facts about neurological disorders. It's a challenging, deceptively warm story that uses heady clinical language to depict the exacting and ultimately empathetic nature of good and caring physicians. This story may at first seem as cold as any other fact-based diagnostic assessment, but the magic of the piece is that, at heart, it's about one person attempting to understand and assist someone who is in clear pain.
Finalists:
by Cecilia Ferrara
by Amadea Tanner