Jacob's stort story, Prisoners of the Multiverse, which first appeared in The New Orleans Review and was later collected in The Liars' Asylum, received "Special Mention" for the 2019 Pushcart Prize in Fiction.
February 23, 2018 - March 10, 2018
Jacob's play, Arborophilia, will run at the Bartell Theater in Madison, Wisconsin.
November 30, 2017
Jacob's essay, "Why Get There From Here?" which first appeared in Fourth Genre, was was selected as a "notable essay" in the Best American Essays of 2017 and received "Special Mention" for the 2018 Pushcart Prize.
October 29, 2016
Jacob's story collection, The Magic Laundry, won the Devil's Kitchen Reading Series Award in Fiction from Southern Illinois University.
September 24, 2015
Jacob's essay, "Sudden Death: A Eulogy," which first appeared in the Kenyon Review Online, was was selected as a "notable essay" in the Best American Essays of 2015.
October 28, 2014
Jacob's short story, "Einstein's Beach House," which first appeared in the Sonora Review, was short-listed for the 2015 Pushcart Prize.
October 11, 2013
Jacob's short story, "Hue and Cry," which first appeared in the Gettysburg Review, was short-listed for the 2014 Pushcart Prize.
September 25, 2013
Jacob's short story, "Canvassing," was selected as a "notable story" in the Best American Mystery Stories of 2013.
Jacob's essay, "Livery," was selected as a "notable essay" in the Best American Essays of 2013.
Jacob's short story, "The Price of Storks,: was selected as a "notable story" in the Best American Short Stories of 2013.
September 21, 2013
Jacob's short story, "Dessert with Judge Crater," won The Ledge's annual fiction contest and will be published in 2014.
August 25, 2013
Jacob's novel manuscript for The Man Who Trounced God at Chess received second prize at Killer Nashville.
August 23, 2013
Jacob's short story, "Next of Kith," was named a "Top-25" story in Glimmer Train's Open Short Story Competition.
July 29, 2013
Jacob's novel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up, won the International Rubery Book Award.
May 18, 2013
Jacob's story, “Carried Away,” was chosen as runner up for the 2012 Calvino Prize. Another story, "The Resurrection Bakeoff," was named a finalist.
April 16, 2013
Jacob's stories, “Ashton Main’s Wayward Daughter” and “The Synagogue at the Edge of the Earth,” were named finalist for the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize.
April 6, 2013
Jacob's short story, Marriage and Similar Paracosms, is named a finalist for the 2012 DANA Award in Fiction.
October 26, 2012
Jacob's novel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up, won the Dundee International Book Prize.
October 11 2012
Jacob's essay, An Absence of Jello, which first appeared in The Southwest Review, received "Special Mention" for the 2013 Pushcart Prize in Nonfiction.
October 3 2012
Jacob's play, A Marriage of Inconvenience, won the grand prize in this year's Writer's Digest writing competition.
October 3 2012
>Jacob's essay, An Absence of Jello, which first appeared in The Southwest Review, was selected as a "Notable Essay of 2011" in The Best American Essays 2012 (David Brooks, editor).
June 29, 2012
Jacob's short story collection, Scouting for the Reaper, won the 2012 Hudson Prize and will be published by Black Lawrence Press.
October 5 2011
Jacob's essay, Judy & Malcolm: Maybe a Love Story, which first appeared in Lake Effect, was selected as a "Notable Essay of 2010" in The Best American Essays 2011.
October 22, 2010
Two of Jacob's stories ("Dyads," first published in The Jabberwock Review, and "The Vermin Episode," first published in Image) were shortlisted for the 2011 Pushcart Prize.
August 28, 2010
The editors of the Southwest Review have awarded Jacob's story Phoebe with Impending Frost (Volume 94, Number 3) a 2009 McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction.
January 13, 2010
Jeffery Deaver selected Jacob's short story, Ad Valorem, which previously appeared in Subtropics, as a "Distinguished Mystery Story" in The Best American Mystery Stories 2009.
September 18, 2008
Salman Rushdie selected Jacob's short story, Creve Coeur, which previously appeared in The Missouri Review, as one of the "100 Other Distinguished Stories of 2007" in The Best American Short Stories 2008.
February 25, 2008
Jacob's stage play, Thirds, has received the Hidden River Arts Playwriting Award.
December 22, 2007
Jacob's essay, Two Cats, Fat and Thin, has been awarded first prize in the Briar Cliff Review's annual non-fiction competition.
September 23, 2007
Jacob's short story, The Apprenticeship, which first appeared in The North American Review, has been honored as "Notable Nonrequired Reading of 2006" by The Best American Nonrequired Reading.
September 20, 2007
Stephen King selected Jacob's short story, The Butcher's Music, which previously appeared in West Branch, as one of the "100 Other Distinguished Stories of 2006" in The Best American Short Stories 2007.
June 6, 2007
Jacob's short story, Hazardous Cargoes, which previously appeared in the Greensboro Review, has been awarded the New Millennium Writings Winter 2007 Fiction Award.
May 15, 2007
Jacob's play, Thirds, has been honored with the Zarkower Award for Excellence in Playwriting at Hunter College. (He is extremely grateful to Lou and Lillie Berger for selecting his play, and to the brilliant Tina Howe for her guidance in revising it.)
May 1, 2007
Purdue University's Sycamore Review awarded Jacob's short story, Exposure, its Wabash Prize for Fiction.
January 23, 2007
Jacob's short story, Creve Coeur, won the Missouri Review's short fiction contest.
November 13, 2006
Jacob's short story Coulrophobia (Bellevue Literary Review, Fall 2005) received "Special Mention" for the 2007 Pushcart Prize.
September 1, 2006
Jacob's short story, The Ataturk of the Outer Boroughs, which appeared in Raritan in 2005, won first prize in the Writer's Place fiction competition.
July 15 & 16, 2006
Jacob's one-act play, In the Floodplain, was staged as part of the Manhattan Repertory Theatre's SummerFest. Rosalie Purvis directed.
June 11, 2006
Jacob's play, The Resurrection of Dismasand Gestas, received a staged reading at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, California.
February 11, 2006
Jacob's short story, The Orchard, won the Phoebe Winter Fiction Contest at George Mason University.
November 23, 2005
Jacob's short story Fallout (Colorado Review, Fall/Winter 2004) received "Special Mention" for the 2006 Pushcart Prize.
September 11, 2005
Southwest Writers honored Jacob's story, Coulrophobia, with first place in their annual competition.
September 11, 2005
Jacob was awarded the 2005 Sherwood Anderson Foundation Writing Grant
September 11, 2005
Arts & Letters (Georgia College & State University) honored Jacob's short story, The Punishment, with first place in their annual short fiction contest.
March 6, 2005
The Hackney Literary Awards (Birmingham-Southern College) awarded Jacob's short story, Coulrophobia, second place in their national short fiction competition.
February 24, 2005
Jacob's short story, Grappling, was awarded the Theodore Christian Hoepfner Award for the best work of fiction to appear in the Southern Humanities Review during the year 2004.
February 8, 2005
Disaster Management, won the Washington Square short fiction contest (New York University) and will appear in the Summer 2005 issue of Washington Square.