Congratulations to our 2024 longlisted writers!
From the 335 submissions we received this year,
our readers selected a longlist of 24 stories.
These stories were sent to our 2024 judge, Kyo Maclear,
who selected the shortlist.
The winner of the 2024 International Amy MacRae Award for Memoir will be announced on October 25.
We have also created a new category this year—Honourable Mention—for a number of stories that were very close to being on the longlist! (See below.)
To learn more about the award, click HERE.
THE 2024 AMY AWARD LONGLIST
*PLEASE NOTE: The longlisted stories are not available to read, but you will be able to read the shortlisted stories in October.
Casey O'Connell - Let's Cross Over
Kristine Oller - The Healthy One
Rory O'Sullivan - Rapids
Valérie Ouellet - Water Weight
Alena Papayanis - The Clock on the Wall
Anna Rumin - Babushka Had Pluck
John Scott Scherer - Right Up to the Gate
Erica Sher - Ginger Pudding
Erica Sher - Gumption
Joy Underhill - What We Need, What We Don't
Jane Usher - My Mother Wore a Pink Coat
Kayla Xu - Silhouette
Sally Basmajian - The Electric Eye
Rebecca Dyer - Taking A Rain Check
Heidi Fedak - If Only
Gemma Green - The Optician
Betsy Hall - The Mansion
Elizabeth Jeha - Cows and Country
Lucie Kybal-Syrovy - Of Course I'll Remember You
Ceridwen Lee - Things We Should Not Say
Linda Lonnqvist - Low Centre of Gravity
Julie Mayhew - The Consolation of Things
Jennie McBride - A Normal Life
Annie Newton - Broomstick Bicycles
HONOURABLE MENTION
* New category for stories that were so close to making the longlist!
Congratulations to all of you, too!
Mary Black - The Senjak Chicken Society
Serena Burman - The Conspicuous Orchard
Karel Fontaine - Revealed
Karen Moore - Her Head in the Clouds
Camilla Morrison - Tiffany
Gail Purdy - The Descent of Hope
Donna Smith - Little Pots Of Gold
Mary Tillinghast - One Last Glass of Wine
Elesa Willies - "Who Do You Think You Are?”
Lillian Salchner - The Long Drive
If you submitted a story to this year’s contest but do not see your name anywhere on this page, please don’t despair! While we do our best to give every story a fair chance, wonderful stories can still fall through the cracks. In the end, it is difficult (impossible?) to ‘rank art,’ so please know that this is not a judgement on your ability as a writer. In fact, two of the previous winners of the Amy Award had been rejected by other magazines or contests first. In every case, the writer did more revisions, sought more feedback, tightened the writing even more, submitted the story again.
Last year’s Runner-Up, Sophie Kohn, also has a beautiful approach to dealing with disappointment. Here’s to curiosity!
CONTEST ENTRANTS: If your story is not on the longlist, your story will be ‘released’ back to you from Submittable in the coming days. There is no need to formally ‘withdraw’ it.
PLEASE NOTE: Owing to the volume of submissions we received, we cannot offer editorial comments on individual stories. Sorry!
