53-Word Story Contest
Each month we offer a prompt to subscribers of Press 53 and Prime Number Magazine to write a 53-word story—no more, no less—and send it to us by the fifteenth day of the month. Our editors select one winning story, and the author receives a book from Press 53 as well as publication in Prime Number Magazine. Want to play along? Subscribe to Prime Number Magazine for free and we’ll send you the prompt on the first day of each month.
Scroll down to read our winning stories for September, October, November, and December.
We begin with the prompt, followed by our winning story.
September 2024
Our prompt for September was: Are you ready? Picture this: your fingers in place over the keys, the blank-page backdrop is waiting for your story. What words will you collect there? Do you already know what you want to write? Will it follow the rules? Which way will all the words flow? It’s time to put them down.
Write a 53-word story about a set
“Thrift Store Porcelain: Made Separately, Sold Together” by Lele Xiong
Cowboy hand-painted, rough ’round the edges. Cow too neat to be from the same maker. Seventy-five cents for the cowboy. Fifty for the cow.
No takers. The workers move the two together, just to see.
They don’t match, but ain't that something.
Sold the next day, two bucks for the both of ’em.
~ ~ ~
53-Word Bio
Nicknamed “The Alpha” for her love of the phonetic alphabet, Lele Xiong is an unemployed high school student. Currently, she is putting her writing skills into her college applications. In 2024, Xiong published The First Pancake Is Always the Worst, a ragtag collection of poems about being an older sibling. The Alpha, out!
October 2024
Our prompt for October was: What if I said we have a free book with your name on it? That the publication opportunity you’re pursuing is ready for you to seize? Steady your breathing. It’s simple. Just stick your mitt into the air and all your dreams will drop right in. There is, however, just one more thing.
Write a 53-word story about a catch
“Tricky Trippings” by Zoie Noranho
I've trademarked thready sweaters, holed blouses. Snagged on a stranger’s nail, a bench I didn’t sand. Tried to leave the house with the door handle in my back pocket.
“Too old to be tearing clothes” Mom chided, needle in hand. My foot caught on the carpet as I went in for a hug.
~ ~ ~
53-Word Bio
Zoie Noranho is happily studying English and Philosophy. As an avid tea lover, she can drink her weight in it regularly. With a penchant for getting lost in the city and scaring people with her rambunctious laugh you’d usually find her in gothic styled libraries, working on her first piece of speculative fiction.
Read fifty-three 53-Word Story Contest winners with tips on how to write remarkably brief fiction. Available from Press 53 or from your favorite bookseller.
November 2024
Our prompt for November was: What if I said we have a free book with your name on it? That the publication opportunity you’re pursuing is ready for you to seize? Steady your breathing. It’s simple. Just stick your mitt into the air and all your dreams will drop right in. There is, however, just one more thing.
Write a 53-word story about a catch
“Conditional Beauty” by Elise Pritchard
I pluck the hairs from above my upper lip in the bathroom mirror. It’s not enough for anyone to ever notice that it was there or that it’s now missing, but it’s standard practice. My reflection stares back at me from the glass and I wonder what it means to be a woman.
~ ~ ~
53-Word Bio
Elise Pritchard is a senior in high school and enjoys writing short stories in addition to spending her time involving herself in her school’s theatre department where she does work behind the scenes for their various productions. She loves staying out late with her best friends while blasting Chappell Roan in their cars.
December 2024
Our prompt for December was: We had a brief encounter with disaster. We very nearly repeated a prompt; discovered only after combing the story archives. Those unoriginal words were dismissed with a swipe—something about scrub vegetation. We’ll forget about our momentary contact with the stale past and freshen ourselves on the straight and narrow. That was close.
Write a 53-word story about a brush
"I Still Find Them" by Justine Busto
Golden hairs—in the vacuum’s bristles. Work my fingers through to pull out knots of my own hair, skin flakes, dust. Search for short, straight strands. Admire their years-long persistence. Take the filthy cloud outside to let go. What was once a chore—dog shed—now treasured gold, floating free in the breeze.
~ ~ ~
53-Word Bio
Justine Busto doesn’t like vacuuming, but appreciates the meditative quality of housework—how stories can arrive, even in dusty corners, if you pay attention. She is writing a novel-in-stories set in a 1930s era apartment building in her hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina. You can read more about her and her work at justinebusto.com