Today the finalists for the 2010 Story Prize were announced, picked from 78 story collections from 53 different publishers or imprints. Now in its sixth year, the winner will receive a $20,000 prize and both of the runner-ups will receive a $5,000 prize.

The three contenders are (pictured, in order, via): “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” by Daniyal Mueenuddin, “Drift” by Victoria Patterson, and “Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned” by Wells Tower.

The annual event will take place at New School’s Tishman Auditorium in New York City on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 7:30 pm. Here’s more from the release: “Mueenuddin’s “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” … immerses readers in the colorful world of a vast estate in feudal Pakistan. Patterson’s ‘Drift’ presents connected stories about women and men struggling to find their place in wealthy Newport Beach, California. And eccentric characters in problematic relationships populate Tower’s ‘Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned.’”