Student Laura Green Wins 2022 Story Foundation Prize

Writing Research Arts Student Laura Green recently placed first in the Story Foundation Prize for her short story, "Stuck."

Now in its third year, the Story Foundation Prize awards $1500 and publication for a single short story each year. The prize is hosted by Story, a tri-annual print publication dedicated to showcasing the complex and diverse world of short fiction. Fiction published by Story has been reprinted in The Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize: Best of Small Presses, and The O. Henry Prize Stories.

Green's story follows a young woman named Tess who is struggling with alcoholism and babysitting two children for the weekend while their father is out of town. When a mysterious Evangelical girl appears out of the woods, their weekend takes a turn for the strange. "It's a rich, peculiar story that stood out for its evocative characters and wonderful tension throughout the narrative," stated Michael Nye, the Editor-in-Chief of Story.

Green began writing “Stuck” in her second year of the program while taking Professor Binnie Kirshenbaum’s seminar, More Excruciating. "That class was key for me in learning how to convey feeling in fiction and in understanding the benefit of focusing on a single feeling, on a character’s overarching pain, while drafting a story," Green stated.

"Stuck" is Green's first story in the linked collection she is currently working on. "I’m grateful to Editor-in-Chief Michael Nye and the other Story editors for believing in my work…The support and recognition from the Story Foundation Prize gives me a lot of confidence as I’m finishing my book," said Green.

Green's award-winning story will be published in the June 2022 edition of Story.

Laura Venita Green is an MFA candidate and undergraduate teaching fellow at Columbia University. Her fiction and translations have appeared in Joyland, Fatal Flaw, World Literature Today, and the Italian literary magazine Spazinclusi.