Short Story Contest Judges
Judges for the Adult and Young Adult categories
Debbie Duncan
Stanford resident Debbie Duncan reviewed children’s books for the Palo Alto Weekly for 23 years. She is the author of the Benjamin Franklin award-winning picture book “When Molly Was in the Hospital,” as well as a self-published middle grade novel, “Caller Number Nine,” and a book for parents, “Joy of Reading.” She is a regular contributor to the Perspectives series of commentaries on KQED radio. You can find information about all her books and essays at debbieduncan.com.
Elaine Ray
Elaine C. Ray spent the early years of her career as an editor and writer for Essence magazine, served several years on the editorial board of the Boston Globe, and more than 20 years as a communications director for Stanford University. After transitioning to emerita status at Stanford in 2018, Elaine earned a Master of Fine Arts at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Chatham University and a master’s in journalism from Kent State University. She won the 2016 Gival Press Short Story Award for Pidgin. Another story, The Donna Collection, is published in the 2020 edition of the 166 Palms Literary Anthology. You can read more about Elaine at https://ebenezerray.com/.
Maud Carol Markson
Maud Carol Markson is the author of two novels, “Looking After Pigeon” and “When We Get Home,” as well as numerous short stories published in magazines as varied as Esquire and The New Yorker. She taught writing at the University of New Hampshire and Cabrini College and currently works editing other people’s work. These days you can more often find her traveling with her husband or walking their greyhound, Liberty.
Judges for the Teen category
Caryn Huberman Yacowitz
Caryn Huberman Yacowitz is the author of children’s books and plays. Her picture books have been widely anthologized and are included in the Junior Great Books and Junior Library Guild Selections. “Shoshi’s Shabbat,” her most recent picture book, was named among the Best Jewish Children’s Books of 2022 by Tablet Magazine; and was an Association of Jewish Librarians Selection. She also enjoys creating theater pieces for adults, based on true life stories from the community. Her website is carynyacowitz.com.
Marjorie Sayer
Marjorie Sayer writes books with a multicultural and interdisciplinary perspective. Her middle-grade novel, “The Girl Mechanic of Wanzhou,” is a winner of the Scholastic Asia Book Award. Her nonfiction for adults has appeared in O’Reilly Media, and her recreational math books have been used in clubs throughout the country. She enjoys bicycle travel, her family and the friendship of her cats. She blogs about her interests at http://marjoriesayer.com/.
Kali Shiloh
Kali Shiloh helped run the Short Story Contest from 2018–2021. She wrote for the Palo Alto Weekly’s sister publication, The Six Fifty, and she is now a staff writer at Stanford’s alumni magazine, where she covers professors using prawns to fight disease, alumni with carnivorous plant obsessions, and NASA scientists competing in mustache competitions.
