WINNER

• "The Specialist", Alison Smith (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern)

HONORABLE MENTION

• "After the Disaster", Ben Ehrenreich (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern)
• "Ash City Stomp", Richard Butner (Trampoline: An Anthology)
• "Bitter Grounds", Neil Gaiman (Mojo: Conjure Stories)
• "Bread & Bombs", M. Rickert (F&SF Apr 2003)
• "The Brief History of the Dead", Kevin Brockmeier (The New Yorker 8 Sep 2003)
• "Come Dance with Me", Terry Bisson (Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian)
• "Custer's Angel", Adrienne Gormley (New Voices in Science Fiction)
• "Death Penality", Leslie What (Sci Fiction 19 Feb 2003)
• "The Fishie", Philip Raines & Harvey Welles (Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #12 Jun 2003)
• "The Mystery of Our Baraboo Lands", Barth Anderson (Polyphony, Volume 3)
• "The People of Paper", Salvador Plascencia (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern)
• "The Pond", Sarah Willis (Missouri Review)
• "The Reincarnate", Michael Bergstein (Conjunctions 41: Two Kingdoms)
• "The Shortest Distance Between Me and the World", Mark Kline (Missouri Review)
• "They Took My Body Apart and Made Another Me", Robert Kelly (Conjunctions 41: Two Kingdoms)
• "You Go Where It Takes You", Nathan Ballingrud (Sci Fiction 16 Jul 2003)