2010 Second Annual Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction

Philadelphia Stories Selects Winner for Second Annual Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction
Winner will be honored at special awards dinner at Rosemont College

Allison AlsupCompetition was tough for the second annual Marguerite McGlinn National Prize for Fiction, but after hundreds of hours of screening, the board of Philadelphia Stories narrowed the choices down to a top eight stories, and judge Ru Freeman chose "East of the Sierra" by Allison Alsup of New Orleans (pictured left) as the winner. Ms. Alsup will receive a prize of $2,000 and a trip to a special awards dinner at Rosemont College outside Philadelphia on October 15, 2010, from 6-9pm, the evening before the Push to Publish conference. The public was invited to join the celebration and help us continue to support our community of writers by attending this event. The night was an opportunity to meet other writers and readers and to celebrate the legacy of Ms. McGlinn's love of writing.

Ms. Freeman says this of the winning story:

"The winning story...captures the experience of many Toisanese who, during the mid-eighteen hundreds, formed the bulk of labor migration to San Francisco, while also alluding to the ways in which their departures, returns and, too often, deaths, affected the families left behind. To do all this in less than five thousand words points to an author with a pitch-perfect command over both material and audience."

"The award means so much--financially, emotionally and professionally--to an emerging writer like me," says Ms. Alsup. "Please pass on my deepest thanks to all the readers, to Ru Freeman for her thoughtful comments and to the McGlinn family. Such recognitions make all the difference in a writer's decision to trudge on against the odds. The work you all do is nothing short of life changing or, at least, affirming."

Location of awards ceremony: Main Hall, Rosemont College, Rosemont College, 1400 Montgomery Ave., Rosemont, PA 19010

Congratulations to the following prize finalists:

1st Runner Up: The Fog by Nimisha Ladva
2nd Runner Up: The Corner by Craig O'Hara

Finalists
Jews who Come Back by CK Howell
A Good Life by Julialicia Case
Cordova by Ashley Shelby
A Minimum Balance by Jeanne Michelle Gonzalez

About Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction

The annual Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction is an annual national short fiction contest. The 2010 prize is $2000 plus travel expenses to an awards dinner in Philadelphia on October 15, 2010 the evening before Philadelphia Stories' Push to Publish Conference. The winning story will appear in the Winter 2011 print and online issue of Philadelphia Stories. The Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction is made possible by the generous support of the McGlinn family and the Dry Family Foundation.  

About Marguerite McGlinn
Marguerite McGlinnMarguerite McGlinn was the essay editor of Philadelphia Stories from 2004-2008. Her travel stories appeared in the New York Times, the Sun-Sentinel, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times. She was the editor of The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric (Paul Dry Books, 2002). The Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction is made possible by the generous support of the McGlinn family and the Dry Family Foundation.

Philadelphia Stories complies with the ethical guidelines for contests set forth by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. For more information, email jamie@philadelphiastories.org