In 1918 the Society of Arts and Sciences established, through its Managing Director, John F. Tucker, the O. Henry Memorial.  Since that year the nature of the annual prize and the work of the Committee awarding it have become familiar to writer, editor, and reader of short stories.  To the best short story written by an American and published in America the sum of $500 is awarded; to the second best, the sum of $250.  In 1919 the prize winning story was Margaret Prescott Montague’s “England to America”; in 1920 it was Maxwell Struthers Hurt’s “Each in His Generation.”  Second winners were:  1919, Wilbur Daniel Steele’s “For They Know Not What They Do,” and, 1920, Frances Noyes Hart’s “Contact!” [The prizes were delivered on June 2, 1920, and on March 14, 1921, at the annual memorial dinner, Hotel Astor.]

In 1921 the Committee of Award consisted of these members: 

     Blanche Colton Williams, Ph.  D., Chairman
     Edward J. Wheeler, Litt.  D.
     Ethel Watts Mumford
     Frances Gilchrist wood
     grove E. Wilson

And the Committee of Administration: 

     John F. Tucker, [Deceased, February 27, 1921.], Founder of the O.
          Henry Memorial
     Edward J. Wheeler, Litt.D. 
     Glenn frank, Editor of The Century Magazine
     George C. Howard, Attorney.

As in previous years each member of the Committee of Award held himself responsible for reviewing the brief fiction of certain magazines and for circulating such stories as warranted reading by other members.

Results in 1921 differ in a number of respects from those of 1919 and 1920.  In the earlier half year, January excepted, every reader reported a low average of current fiction, so low as to excite apprehension lest the art of the short story was rapidly declining.  The latter six months, however, marked a reaction, with a higher percentage of values in November and December.  Explanation of the low level lies in the financial depression which forced a number of editors to buy fewer stories, to buy cheaply, or to search their vaults for remnant of purchases made in happier days.  Improvement began with the return to better financial conditions.

The several members of the Committee have seldom agreed on the comparative excellence of stories, few being of sufficient superiority in the opinion of the Committee as a whole to justify setting them aside for future consideration.  The following three dozen candidates, more or less, average highest: 

Addington, Sarah, Another Cactus Blooms (Smart Set, December).

Alexander, Elizabeth, Fifty-Two Weeks for Florette [Reprinted as by
  Elizabeth Alexander Heermann.] (Saturday Evening Post, August 13).

Allen, Maryland, The Urge (Everybody’s, September).