O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1920

by Unknown

The committee express thanks for the approval which affirms that "No more fitting tribute to the genius of William Sidney Porter (O. Henry) could possibly have been devised than that of this 'Memorial Award,'" [1] which recognizes each story as "a definite expression of American life—as O. Henry's was," [2] which knows by inescapable logic that a story ranking second with five judges is superior to one ranking first with only one of these. A number of reviewers graciously showed awareness of this fact.

[Footnote 1: New York Times, June 2, 1920.]

[Footnote 2: Chicago Tribune, Paris Edition, August 7, 1920.]

The Committee of Award for 1920 consisted of

BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS, Ph.D., Chairman |
EDWARD J. WHEELER, Litt.D. | JUDGES
ETHEL WATTS MUMFORD |
MERLE ST. CROIX WRIGHT, D.D. |
and JOHN F. TUCKER, Managing Director of the Society,
Founder of the O. Henry Memorial.

As in preceding years the Committee held regular meetings at which they weighed the merits of every story-candidate presented. By January, 1921, one hundred and twenty-five remained, among which those rated highest are as follows:[3]

Babcock, Edwina Stanton, Gargoyle (Harper's, Sept.)
Barrett, Richmond Brooks, The Daughter of the Bernsteins
(Smart Set, July).
"Belden, Jacques," The Duke's Opera (Munsey's, October).
Benét, Stephen Vincent, The Funeral of John Bixby (Munsey's, July).
Brooks, Jonathan, Bills Playable (Collier's, September 18).
Burt, Maxwell Struthers, A Dream or Two (Harper's, May);
Each in His Generation (Scribner's, July).
Cabell, James Branch, The Designs of Miramon (Century, August).
Child, Richard Washburn, A Thief Indeed (Pictorial Review, June).
Clausen, Carl, The Perfect Crime (Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 25).
Cram, Mildred, The Ember (McCall's, June); Odell (Red
Book, May); Wind (Munsey's, August).
Dobie, Charles Caldwell, Young China (Ladies Home Journal, August).
Edwards, Cleveland, Pride o' Name on Peachtree (Live Stories, Feb.).
Ferber, Edna, You've Got to Be Selfish (McClure's, April).
Fitzgerald, Scott, The Camel's Back (Saturday Evening Post,
Apr. 24); The Cut-Glass Bowl (Scribner's, May);
The Off-Shore Pirate (Saturday Evening Post, May 29).
Forbes, Esther, Break-Neck Hill (Grinnell Review, September).
Gilpatric, Guy, Black Art and Ambrose (Collier's, August 21).
Hartman, Lee Foster, The Judgment of Vulcan (Harper's, March).
Hergesheimer, Joseph, "Read Them and Weep" (Century, January).
Hooker, Brian, Branwen (Romance, June).
Hull, Alexander, The Argosies (Scribner's, September).
Hume, Wilkie, The Metamorphosis of High Yaller
(Live Stories, June).
Kabler, Hugh, Fools First (Saturday Evening Post, November 20).
Kerr, Sophie, Divine Waste (Woman's Home Companion, May).
La Motte, Widows and Orphans (Century, September).
Lewis, O. F., Alma Mater (Red Book, June). Sparks That Flash
in the Night (Red Book, October).
Marquis, Don Kale (Everybody's, September); Death and Old Man
Murtrie (New Republic, February 4).
Marshall, Edison, Brother Bill the Elk (Blue Book, May).
Means, E. K., The Ten-Share Horse (Munsey's, May).
Miller, Alice Duer, Slow Poison (Saturday Evening Post, June 12).
Montague, Margaret Prescott, Uncle Sam of Freedom Ridge (Atlantic
Monthly, June).
[4]Mumford, Ethel Watts, A Look of the Copperleys (Ladies Home
Journal, April); Red Gulls (Pictorial Review, October).
Newell, Maude Woodruff, Salvage (Green Book, July).
Noyes, Frances Newbold, "Contact!" [5] (Pictorial Review, December).
Pelley, William Dudley, The Face in the Window (Red Book, May);
The Show-Down (Red Book, June).
Perry, Lawrence, The Real Game (Everybody's, July). A Matter of
Loyalty (Red Book, July); The Lothario of the Seabird
(Ladies Home Journal, August); The Rocks of Avalon
(Red Book, December).
Post, Melville Davisson, The House by the Loch (Hearst's, May).
Redington, Sarah, A Certain Rich Woman (Outlook, May 5).
Reid, M. F., Doodle Buys a Bull Pup (Everybody's, August).
Richardson, Norval, The Bracelet (McClure's, July).
Robbins, L.H., "Ain't This the Darnedest World?" (American, May);
Professor Todd's Used Car (Everybody's, July).
"Rutledge, Marice," The Thing They Loved (Century, May).
Ryan, Kathryn White, A Man of Cone (Munsey's, March).
Scarborough, Dorothy, The Drought (Century, May).
"Sidney, Rose," Butterflies (Pictorial Review, September).
Smith, Gordon Arthur, No Flowers (Harper's, May); The Aristocrat
(Harper's, November).
Steele, Wilbur Daniel, Both Judge and Jury (Harper's, January);
God's Mercy (Pictorial Review, July); Footfalls (Pictorial
Review, October).
Synon, Mary, On Scarlet Wings (Red Book, July).
Titus, Harold, Aliens (Ladies Home Journal, May).
Tuckerman, Arthur, Black Magic, (Scribner's, August).
Welles, Harriet, According to Ruskin (Woman's Home Companion,
June);
Distracting Adeline (Scribner's, May).
Whitman, Stephen French, The Last Room of All (Harper's, June).
Wilkes, Allene Tupper, Toop Goes Skating (Woman's Home Companion,
November).

[Footnote 3: Listed alphabetically by authors.]

[Footnote 4: A member of the Committee of Award, this author refused as a matter of course to allow consideration of her stories for republication here or for the prizes. But the other members insist upon their being listed, and upon mention of "Red Gulls" as one of the best stories of 1920.]

[Footnote 5: Reprinted as by Frances Noyes Hart.]