Winners of our FREE monthly 53-Word Story Contest

Each month we offer a prompt to subscribers of Prime Number Magazine to write a 53-word story—no more, no less—and send it to us by the twenty-first day of the month. Our judges select one winning story, and the author receives a book from Press 53 as well as publication here, in Prime Number Magazine. Want to play along? Subscribe to Prime Number Magazine and we’ll send you the prompt on the first day of each month.

Below, read our winners for April, May, and June 2020.

Pyramids

After the service, Tim and I were the first people back to the house. I’d prepared ham and cheese sandwiches earlier. I had taken the crusts off and cut the sandwiches into triangles, just the way she liked it. She used to say they looked like pyramids standing on the plate like that.

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L.M. Brown started writing while her daughters napped. Now, she’s the mother of a fifteen-, twelve- and ten-year-old, and is the author of the novel Debris and collections Were We Awake and Treading the Uneven Road. When she saw the 53-word competition, she couldn’t resist the challenge. It was a lot of fun.

Short of Cash

Jacques was rolling in dough before the world went haywire. His restaurant, l’Avignon, was forced to close.

Nobody wants French takeout.

Now he’s idling his Volvo in line at the high school his kids attended until March, hoping he doesn’t run out of gas, imagining what he’ll make with canned corn and potatoes.

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Sally Simon is a retired teacher living in Fleischmanns, NY. Having received a MFA in writing from Manhattanville College over twenty-five years ago, she figured it was time to start seriously writing again. In her free time, she travels the world and stabs people with her épée, but not at the same time.  

Fracking, our new neighbor

The ground trembles beneath the campfire. We reminisce over the flames, ignoring the worksite’s midnight glow, the thunderous drilling, the spindly oil tower that eavesdrops over the evergreens. Another angry tanker crunches deep ruts into the once-smooth gravel road. We savor the childhood taste of s’mores on our lips, relishing the sweet immutability.

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Neil Shook lives in Pennsylvania and has too many interests. Although he spends much of his time during the day crunching numbers, he has always been fascinated by words and language. Recently he has made it a priority to dedicate more time to writing creatively. He also enjoys traveling, tennis, theater, and thunderstorms.