author of the best story, and according to a recognized system of counts,[1] the best is “England to America”: the second best, “ For They Know not What They Do.” The first award, therefore, goes to Miss Margaret Prescott Montague; the second to Mr. Wilbur Daniel Steele.
The Committee were remarkably unanimous in answering the question, “What is a short-story?”; but they differed, rather violently, over the fulfilment of requirements by the various illustrations. Without doubt, the most provocative of these was Mr. Steele’s “Contact.” Three of the Committee think it a short-story; two declare it an article; all agree that no finer instance of literature in brief form was published in 1919.
Their diverging views, however, challenged curiosity: what did the publishers think about it? The editor of Harper's wrote:
“Contact” was written by Mr. Steele after a personal visit to the North Sea fleet. It is a faithful portrayal of the work done by our destroyers and therefore falls under the category of “articles.”
And the author:
I am not quite sure what to say. The piece, “Contact,” of which you speak, was in a sense drawn from life, that is to say it is made up of a number of impressions gained while I was at sea with the U. S. destroyers off the coast of France. The characters are elaborations of real characters, and the “contact” told of was such a one as I actually witnessed. Otherwise, the chronology of events, conversations, etc., were gathered from various sources and woven to the best of my ability so as to give a picture of the day’s work of our convoying forces in the War.
These data reconcile, in part, the conflicting points of view, or at least show the tenability of each.
In addition to the first requisite of struggle, “the
- ↑ Since there were five judges, the system used was the following:
A story of place 1 was given 5 points
A“ story“ of“ place“ 2 was“ given“ 4 points“
A“ story“ of“ place“ 3 was“ given“ 3 points“
A“ story“ of“ place“ 4 was“ given“ 2 points“
A“ story“ of“ place“ 5 was“ given“ 1 point.
