# Locus Award for Best Short Story

The Locus Award for Best Short Story is one of a series of Locus Awards given every year by Locus Magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year.
Originally known as the Locus Award for Best Short Fiction, the first award in this category was presented in 1971.

## Winners

Winners are as follows:
| Year | Short Story | Author | Publication |
| 1971 | "The Region Between" | Harlan Ellison | |
| 1972 | "The Queen of Air and Darkness" | Poul Anderson | |
| 1973 | "Basilisk" | Harlan Ellison | |
| 1974 | "The Deathbird" | Harlan Ellison | |
| 1975 | "The Day Before the Revolution" | Ursula K. Le Guin | |
| 1976 | "Croatoan" | Harlan Ellison | |
| 1977 | "Tricentennial" | Joe Haldeman | |
| 1978 | "Jeffty Is Five" | Harlan Ellison | |
| 1979 | "Count the Clock that Tells the Time" | Harlan Ellison | |
| 1980 | "The Way of Cross and Dragon" | George R. R. Martin | |
| 1981 | "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" | Clifford D. Simak | |
| 1982 | "The Pusher" | John Varley | |
| 1983 | "Sur" | Ursula K. Le Guin | |
| 1984 | "Beyond the Dead Reef" | James Tiptree, Jr. | |
| 1985 | "Salvador" | Lucius Shepard | |
| 1986 | "With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole" | Harlan Ellison | |
| 1987 | "Robot Dreams" | Isaac Asimov | |
| 1988 | "Angel" | Pat Cadigan | |
| 1989 | "Eidolons" | Harlan Ellison | |
| 1990 | "Lost Boys" | Orson Scott Card | |
| 1991 | "Bears Discover Fire" | Terry Bisson | |
| 1992 | "Buffalo" | John Kessel | |
| 1993 | "Even the Queen" | Connie Willis | |
| 1994 | "Close Encounter" | Connie Willis | |
| 1995 | "None So Blind" | Joe Haldeman | |
| 1996 | "The Lincoln Train" | Maureen F. McHugh | |
| 1997 | "Gone" | John Crowley | |
| 1998 | "Itsy Bitsy Spider" | James Patrick Kelly | |
| 1999 | "Maneki Neko" | Bruce Sterling | |
| 2000 | "macs" | Terry Bisson | |
| 2001 | "The Missing Mass" | Larry Niven | |
| 2002 | "The Bones of the Earth" | Ursula K. Le Guin | |
| 2003 | "October in the Chair" | Neil Gaiman | |
| 2004 | "Closing Time" | Neil Gaiman | |
| 2005 | "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" | Neil Gaiman | |
| 2006 | "Sunbird" | Neil Gaiman | |
| 2007 | "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" | Neil Gaiman | |
| 2008 | "A Small Room in Koboldtown" | Michael Swanwick | |
| 2009 | "Exhalation" | Ted Chiang | |
| 2010 | "An Invocation of Incuriosity" | Neil Gaiman | Songs of the Dying Earth |
| 2011 | "The Thing About Cassandra" | Neil Gaiman | Songs of Love and Death |
| 2012 | "The Case of Death and Honey" | Neil Gaiman | A Study in Sherlock |
| 2013 | "Immersion" | Aliette de Bodard | Clarkesworld (#69), June 2012 |
| 2014 | "The Road of Needles" | Caitlín R. Kiernan | Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales |
| 2015 | "The Truth About Owls" | Amal El-Mohtar | Kaleidoscope |
| 2016 | "Cat Pictures Please" | Naomi Kritzer | Clarkesworld (#110), Jan 2015 |
| 2017 | "Seasons of Glass and Iron" | Amal El-Mohtar | The Starlit Wood |
| 2018 | "The Martian Obelisk" | Linda Nagata | Tor.com, 7/19/2017 |
| 2019 | "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" | P. Djèlí Clark | Fireside #52, Feb 2018 |
| 2020 | "The Bookstore at the End of America" | Charlie Jane Anders | A People's Future of the United States, Penguin's One World |
| 2021 | “Little Free Library“ | Naomi Kritzer | Tor.com, 4/8/2020 |
| 2022 | "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" | Sarah Pinsker | Uncanny #39, Mar/Apr 2021 |
| 2023 | "Rabbit Test" | Samantha Mills | Uncanny #49, Nov/Dec 2022 |
| 2024 | "How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" | P. Djèlí Clark | Uncanny #50, Jan/Feb 2023 |