FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO (September 30, 2026)—The editors of Narrative have awarded Ola Szczecinska the 2026 Narrative Prize, given annually for the best work by an emerging writer published the previous year in Narrative. Szczecinska earns the prize for her short story “Hunters.” The Narrative Prize has been awarded every year since Narrative’s launch in 2003, and Szczecinska is the twenty-eighth recipient of the prestigious award.
When my credit cards maxed out I drove down to California, where I heard I could earn some cash. I shipwrecked on your lawn after meeting you at a bar, where all of us “trimmigrants” flocked. I’d clocked you as soon as you walked in. Eyes hiding below cowboy hat. Shy smile. Big arms. “You’re so pretty,” you said, somewhere on our sixth or seventh drink. “I think I just hired the prettiest girl in town.”
In awarding the 2026 Narrative Prize—which includes funds of $5,000—Narrative cofounder and editor Tom Jenks remarked, “Every once in a great while a story comes in over the transom and immediately distinguishes itself and its author by its strength of passion as well as by its artistry. Ola Sczencinska’s ‘Hunters’ has the absolute ring of emotional truth and, like the characters portrayed, a spirit unvanquished by pain.”
I call my friend from town the next morning. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” I say. “I’m riding the pain. Surfing it,” I laugh. “I think I love this man, but I think my heart is broken—as in malfunctioning. Not working anymore. Like a smashed compass.” “I don’t think it’s malfunctioning,” he says. “I think it’s searching.” “I don’t know if I believe in love anymore. And there’s just all this horror without it. Maybe I’m not made for this world.” “You need to hang on,” he says.
Szczecinska was born in Warsaw, Poland, and moved to Canada with her family in 1984. She earned an MA in history from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. She works as a bush camp cook during the warmer months and lives in Madawaska Valley, Ontario.
“Winning this prize is so much more than proof of having succeeded with a particular story. For me, it’s also like finally being admitted into a room I’ve been quietly standing outside of, yearning to be let in. To enter this room, full of so many great contemporary writers whom I’ve read and admired, has made this moment one of the biggest of my life. I am more determined and inspired to get back to my writing, with this new sense of wonder and incredulity. I am filled with gratitude to Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian, and to everyone at Narrative for believing in me over the past few years as I inched my way forward, unknowingly, to this milestone. It is a dream come true.”
— Ola Szczecinska
The Narrative Prize, which recognizes writers whose talent and accomplishments place them at the forefront of a new generation of storytellers, has been awarded to twenty-seven previous winners, including Javier Zamora, Ocean Vuong, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Natalie Diaz, Anthony Marra, Morgan Talty, Tryphena Yeboah, Gbenga Adesina, Paisley Rekdal, Maud Newton, Saidiya Hartman, and Min Jin Lee. See all the winning works here.
ABOUT NARRATIVE:
Founded in 2003, Narrative, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is dedicated to advancing the literary arts in the digital age by supporting the finest writing talent and encouraging readership across generations, in schools, and around the globe. As the premier digital publisher of first-rank fiction, poetry, essays, and art, each year Narrative publishes hundreds of well-known and emerging writers. The Narrative for Schools program supports teachers and students around the world, who are too often hampered by limited resources, by providing free reading, lesson plans, video tutorials, and the annual Narrative High School Writing Contest to inspire the next generation of readers and writers. Narrative for Schools programming reaches students and teachers in more than sixty countries and throughout the US. Narrative was founded on the conviction that there should be no socioeconomic barriers to accessing great literature. Our ever-expanding modern library with works by more than two thousand authors is free to all.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about Narrative, contact editors Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian.