The Story Prize is a yearly book award started in 2004. It gives a prize of $20,000 to the author of a collection of short stories that is considered outstanding. Each of the two runners-up receives $5,000. Books that are entered must be written in English and first published in the United States during a calendar year. Julie Lindsey founded the prize, and Larry Dark is the director. Before becoming the director, Larry Dark worked as a series editor for the annual short story anthology Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards from 1997 to 2002.

The Story Prize usually receives between 100 and 120 short story collections as entries each year. The director and founder choose the three finalists together. Three independent judges then select the winner from those books. The group of judges changes every year and includes a mix of people such as writers, booksellers, readers, critics, teachers, publishers, and editors. One judge is always a fiction writer. Another judge is either a bookseller or librarian, alternating each year. The third judge is usually a critic, editor, or someone else connected to short stories.

Publishers, authors, or agents can submit a short story collection written in English by a living author and published in the United States during a calendar year. Three finalists are announced in January. These authors take part in an award event, usually in March, where they read from their work and have a discussion with Larry Dark on stage. At the end of the event, Julie Lindsey announces the winner, who also receives an engraved silver bowl in addition to the prize money. From 2006 to 2020, the event was held at the New School in New York City, which was co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Department. In 2021, the event was recorded using Zoom, and it has since been held at The Lotos Club.

In March 2019, Catapult published The Story Prize: 15 Years of Great Short Fiction, an anthology that celebrated the award's fifteenth anniversary.

The Story Prize Spotlight Award

This $1,000 award is given to a short story collection of very high quality, as chosen by the Director of the Story Prize from all people who enter. Winners of The Story Prize Spotlight Award may include works by authors writing for the first time, collections in different formats like audiobooks or e-books, or stories that show new or different ways of telling stories.