The winner of the 2023/24 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize is Max Lury for his story ‘Santa Fe’.

‘Santa Fe’ is a story that generates a powerful sense of unease and discomfort - simultaneously seducing and repelling its readers, subverting expectations, and posing questions that don’t just seem hard to answer but to which we may not even want the answers… It begins almost (almost!) as a comedy of manners, providing a witty and engaging snapshot of two men in a municipal lido, failing to impress a woman who is lounging on a sun recliner; a woman who seems more poised, more intelligent, more with it than them… But something darker is going on beneath the bright, funny surface patter. We are told, for instance, that the woman ‘fantasises about trapping them, like insects preserved by an entomologist’. And as the narrative unfolds, we also begin to realise that there’s something disgusting in the water, just out of shot, on the periphery of our vision. The reader begins to wonder what the hell is going on… and enters a world that is lurid, bleak, and brilliant.

The judges for this year’s Prize were Alex Clark, Chigozie Obioma, Tomiwa Owolade and Susan Tomaselli - as well as Galley Beggar Press co-directors Sam Jordion and Eloise Millar. ‘Santa Fe’ was one of the over 1500 submissions entered for the award.

Sam Jordison, chair of judges, said: “The judging process of the short story prize took many, many hours this year - because there were so many quality stories to read, so much to discuss and consider… and making decisions was often so complicated and involved. Which is not to complain! Just to give you some indication of the achievement of Max Lucy and ‘Santa Fe’. His haunting, ambiguous evocation of English dead zones and discomfort, combined with such crisp bright prose seemed to me almost Ballardian. Which is a big word to apply to a writer at the start of his career, I know. But also one I don’t think will overwhelm him because it also feels like Max Lury has a talent that is all his own - and will allow him to plot his own path. A path I feel sure many readers will want to follow.”

Eloise Millar, Galley Beggar Press co-director, said: “This is now the ninth year of our Short Story Prize - and it’s not too much to say that it’s one of the highlights of our year, as well as one of the things we’re most proud of. The sheer range of the stories that are sent to us is always so refreshing - it’s an annual reminder of just how many talented writers there are out there, and what a magnificent thing - endlessly startling, surprising, challenging and rewarding - the human imagination is. This year is no different. We’ve been bowled over, yet again. I loved the longlist. I loved the shortlist. And now, it’s thrilling to be able to say that Max has won this year’s prize, and for such a strange, skilled, unsettling story - one which could take its place among the very best of Robert Aickman, and which delighted me on the sixth reading just as much as it did on the first.”

the 2023/24 has been a fine competition, The final thing to say is that we’re already looking forward to the next one. This will be the tenth year of the prize and we hope we can build still further on its success so far. It has become one of the most prestigious short story prizes in the UK - and it’s achieved this through being open to all kinds of talents. We accept entries from published and unpublished authors alike, whoever they are and wherever they come - and the resulting variety and range of the stories we receive is a wonderful and incredible thing.

Congratulations to Max Lury, and a huge thank you to the judges, short- and longlist writers (as well as all those writers who submitted this year) - as well, of course, to the short story readers who follow this award. ‘Santa Fe’, and the nine fellow stories of the 2023/24 Prize, can be read for free here.