On April 18, 1918, the Society of Arts and Sciences of New York City paid tribute to the
memory of William Sydney Porter at a dinner in honour of his genius. In the ball-room of
the Hotel McAlpin there gathered, at the speakers' table, a score of writers, editors and
publishers who had been associated with O. Henry during the time he lived in Manhattan;
in the audience, many others who had known him, and hundreds yet who loved his short
stories.
Enthusiasm, both immediate and lasting, indicated to the Managing Director of the
Society, Mr. John F. Tucker, that he might progress hopefully toward an ideal he had, for
some time, envisioned. The goal lay in the establishing of a memorial to the author who
had transmuted realistic New York into romantic Bagdad-by-the-Subway.
When, therefore, in December, 1918, Mr. Tucker called a committee for the purpose of
considering such a memorial, he met a glad response. The first question, "What form
shall the monument assume?" drew tentative suggestions of a needle in Gramercy Square,
or a tablet affixed to the corner of O. Henry's home in West Twenty-sixth Street. But
things of iron and stone, cold and dead, would incongruously commemorate the dynamic
power that moved the hearts of living men and women, "the master pharmacist of joy and
pain," who dispensed "sadness tinctured with a smile and laughter that dissolves in tears."
In short, then, it was decided to offer a minimum prize of $250 for the best short story
published in 1919, and the following Committee of Award was appointed:
BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS, Ph.D.
EDWARD J. WHEELER, Litt.D.
ETHEL WATTS MUMFORD
ROBERT WILSON NEAL, M.A.
MERLE ST. CROIX WRIGHT, D.D.
It is significant that this committee had no sooner begun its round table conferences than
the Society promised, through the Director, funds for two prizes. The first was fixed at
$500, the second at $250.
At a meeting in January, 1919, the Committee of Award agreed upon the further
conditions that the story must be the work of an American author, and must first appear
in 1919 in an American publication. At the same time an Honorary Committee was
established, composed of writers and editors, whose pleasure it might be to offer advice
and propose stories for consideration. The Honorary Committee consisted of
GERTRUDE ATHERTON
EDWARD J. O'BRIEN
FANNIE HURST
