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 January, February, March, and April
We begin with the prompt, followed by our winning story
January 2026
Prompt for January: By the modern definition, a single horse can produce roughly seven horsepower on a sustained basis, and up to fifteen in shorter bursts. Somewhere along the way we got off the energy horse-standard. Is there an exchange rate between breeds? Is this horseflation? Is a bushel still a bushel? A peck a peck?
Write a 53-word story about measurement
Gardening Tips from the Great Beyond
by Lisa H. Owens
Gramps stops digging, gazes skyward, eyes squinting against the morning sunlight. His lips move, and though I can't hear, I know he's arguing with Granny. She had (has) an opinion on… everything.
Stormclouds loom.
“Fine!” Gramps shouts, cheeks reddening. “Two feet apart, my foot,” he mutters, resetting holes, nevertheless, and the sun reemerges.
###
53-Word Bio
Lisa H. Owens, a former humorist columnist, resides in Weatherford, Texas, with two senior rescue dogs, who rule the roost. Her work’s been featured in dozens of anthologies and magazines, and a collection of her short stories will be released in 2026. Lisa favors dark comedy and isn't afraid of spiders and snakes.
Editor’s note: Congratulations, Lisa, for being our fourth writer to become a two-time winner of the 53-Word Story Contest. Lisa’s first winning story was for July 2025, “We Might Be Onto Something Here” (Issue 277, Sept-Dec 2025)
February 2026
Prompt for February: I’ve got a feeling about February, deep in my gut. Maybe it’s the weather. You might see snow this month. Then you might watch it melt, running off wherever it goes, seeping into the ground toward roots and dormant life. Or maybe I have the flu and ought to go wash my hands.
Write a 53-word story about a sink
The Bake-Off
by Adrian Bresler
Contestant Number Five takes a risk: chocolate soufflé. As she measures, mixes, and whips, Five dreams of cookbook deals, cable network shows, restaurants in New York and Vegas.
Brownie-maker Number Four has dreams, too. Four's stack of metal bowls clatter to the floor.
“Oopsie,” she says.
Five opens her oven door.
Worlds collapse.
###
53-Word Bio
Adrian Bresler recently completed her MA in Gastronomy at Boston University after a forty-year career in accounting, finance, and benefits. She is now studying creative writing with a focus on food and travel. Her interests are French language and cuisine, chess, healthy eating, and historical menus. Her food memoir is forthcoming in Gastronomica.
March 2026
Prompt for March: This month let’s impose a task on someone, or give them a card to buy something, or bring a dead appliance back to life, maybe accuse someone of a crime, or give the order to advance with aggression. Are you confused? Let’s clear the air by assigning the first item on our list.
Write a 53-word story about a charge
You Are Free to Go
by Michael A. Boyles
A castaway in his own hometown. Publix stands where Joel remembered Sizzler and Blockbuster. Cigarettes no longer permeate the courthouse. He didn’t understand downloads, cell phones, or judicial injunctions. In the same courtroom where it all began, his twenty-three-year battle ended when the judge read “the perpetrator’s DNA does not match your own.”
###
53-Word Bio
At age 60, Michael Alexander Boyles is a dentist in Winston-Salem. Due to poor penmanship, he never enjoyed English until Mrs. Privette’s tenth grade class. Langston Hughes wrote his “Theme for English B,” the light brigade charged, Robert Frost pondered over a fork in the road, and that has made all the difference.
April 2026
Prompt for April: There is no to-and-fro month quite like April. Winter will lick at our heels while summer teases. Young couples will box-step through school dances. The bats of spring training arc in repetition. The dormant creatures all return to work. The year progresses and the pendulum is turned; gaining speed down its short hill.
Write a 53-word story about a swing
Old Wives’ Tale
by Anna Gebbie
“If it swings back and forth, it’s a boy. Circles for a girl.”
My husband’s wedding band swayed to and fro over my belly. We shared a smile as the ring began to glow, and the strand of hair holding it aloft disintegrated into sparks.
He’s going to be just like his mummy.
###
53-Word Bio
A translator by trade, Anna Gebbie spends all day reading, researching and playing with words, and sometimes strings together a few of her own (perhaps exactly 53!). She lives with her husband in her native Edinburgh, but loves to travel and discover new places, people and stories by plane, train, bus and book.