Congratulations to the Winners of the 2021 J.F. Powers Prize!

As always, it is a joy to announce the winners of the J.F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction. This year’s selections were chosen from a particularly strong field in both craft and content. Our genuine gratitude goes out to each and every author who chose to share their work with us.

Winner: “The New Future,” Drew Denton

“Grace is everywhere,” especially where it is least expected, in this innovative tale that follows a community of vulnerable people living a precarious existence on the margins in downtown Atlanta. While it takes on a range of serious social issues such as economic inequity, gentrification, culture, and the availability (or lack) of support for adults unable to live on their own, the story handles this heavy material with an admirable lightness of touch through the sensory, social, and spiritual worlds of the characters. In this way it remains grounded in the actual lives, interactions, experiences, and daily needs of those most affected, not as sociological case studies, but as human beings with dignity, desires, humor, pain, and flashes of joy—real, living souls.

Runner-up: “Lilies for the Harvest,” Oso Guardiola

Young Delila shows heroic endurance as she grows up in a family stalked by both poverty and tragedy—but when the family fate finally catches up with her, the event is marked not only by the harsh inevitability, but also by the startling tenderness, of nature.

Honorable Mentions:

“The Shadow Knows,” Laurinda Lind—An Irish schoolgirl navigates a baffling encounter with the twists and turns of the human heart, in a classic yet unpredictable tale of innocence and experience.

 “Waiting on the Queen,” Melissa Sullivan—An aging Black orchard owner faces a difficult decision between his professional ideals and his wife’s well-being in her declining years.

“Old Wooden Saint,” Derek Witten—A husband questions the terms of his marriage and whether he ever really knew his wife’s heart when he discovers her attachment to a piece of Ukrainian devotional art.

“Comfort for the Outcasts,” Kathleen Jabs—An encounter with leprosy victims in Japan changes a military woman’s mind about what truly matters in our short time here on earth.