Life Magazine held a short story contest. Stories must be no more than 1500 words. Authors were paid for the number of words under that maximum. The shortest story accepted, and the one where the author received the highest payout, came in at 76 words. The stories published here where considered the best of the over 30,000 submissions. This volume presents the 81 best stories including the prize winning stories: (First Prize) Thicker Than Water by Ralph Henry Barbour and George Randolph Osborne, (Second Prize) The Answer by Harry Stillwell Edwards, and (Third Prize - tie) Her Memory by Dwight M. Wiley and Business and Ethics by Redfield Ingalls. - Summary taken from the Preface