Pushcart Prize Nominees 2025:

Fiction:

City People by Benjamin Warner

Near the End of Their Lives, Barbie and Ken Question Their Existence by Jo Withers

Mrs. Frankenstein by Gwen E. Kirby

Poetry:

Amazon Reveals Feature That Teaches Alexa to Sound Like Your Dead Loved Ones by Todd Dillard

The National Park Service Warns Us Not to Lick the Psychedelic Toad by Carla Sofia Ferreira

Taxidermy by Sarah Fawn Montgomery

Best Small Fictions Nominees 2024:

Like Real Women Do by Avitus B. Carle

Daddy Issues by Aileen O’Dowd

Adversity is the Parent of Virtue (in Bed) by Stephen Cicirelli

The Werewolves of Camp Emerald Lake by L. Soviero

Last Day Cupcakes by Jeffrey Yamaguchi

Best Microfiction Nominees 2024:

Screenland by Jacques Debrot

Swallowing Teeth by Zhu Yue (Translated by Jianan Qian and Alyssa Asquith, and Illustrated by Jianan Qian)

José Martí in 2023 by Chip Livingston

Lake Day & Emerald Ocelot by Joe Gallagher

Four Stories by Tiffany Hsieh

Pushcart Prize Nominees 2024:

Fiction:

There is Only One Object in the Museum of Darkness by Helen Harjak

Togetherland by Amy Stuber

The Stress on Modern Women by Alyssa Asquith

Poetry:

blue jeans | blue beard by Danielle Roberts

Nephthys Again by Marcella Haddad

rabbit’s foot harvest by Robin Gow

Best of the Net Nominees 2023:

Fiction:

Sparkle Time by Audrey Lee

It’s Me, a Selfie by Lindsey Peters Berg

Poetry:

rabbit’s foot harvest by Robin Gow

All My Dentists Love My Teeth by Elia Karra

Comet as Paperboy by Samantha Blysse Haviland

Haibun for a Day in the Life of a Hikikomori by Jemma Leigh Roe

The Emmy Goes to the Seagull, Flying off with a Hot Wing… by Khadjiah Johnson

In Response to Question No. 3 by Susan Barry-Schulz

Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions 2023:

Ghouls by Gordon Brown (longlisted)

Superposition by Josh Denslow (longlisted)

The Deaths of the Great Lakes by Jeffrey Hermann (longlisted)

Nails by Julia Kenny (longlisted)

Offering by Laura S. Marshall (longlisted)

Brackish by Eshani Surya (longlisted)

Best New Poets Nominees 2023:

Our Place by Yanita Georgieva

All My Dentists Love My Teeth by Elia Karra

Best Small Fictions Nominees 2023:

Brackish by Eshani Surya

Superposition by Josh Denslow

1000 by Rob Roensch (selected as a winner)

Betty by Didi Wood

New Forever by Rebekah Morgan

Togetherland by Amy Stuber (selected as a winner)

Best Microfiction Nominees 2023:

When Everyone is President by Maryann Aita

My Mother Visits Me in America and is Offended by What the Dishwasher Can Do by Tara Isabel Zambrano (selected as a winner)

Tongue Depressors by Emily Behnke

Transit by Julia Halprin Jackson

The Deaths of the Great Lakes by Jeffrey Hermann (selected as a winner)

Chickens by Harsimran Kaur

Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers Nominees 2023:

Mr. Worldwide by Megan Robinson

Pushcart Prize Nominees 2023:

Fiction:

Fly Fishing with God by Andrew Bertaina

Silver Rings by Aimee Parkison

Choices by Anna Hundert

Poetry:

Lilith with Snake, with Body by Kathryne David Gargano

Kuchisabishii by Kathleen Hellen

Arroz Con Leche by Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez

Best of the Net Nominees 2022:

Fiction:

Soft Bundles by Meghan Louise Wagner

Everything Works Differently in Darkness by Kaj Tanaka

Poetry:

Literary Realism by Ayokunle Falomo

Foodie, Or I Miss Every Hometown Cookout by KB

Ode to the Empanadas on Pacific & Elm, with Apologies to William Carlos Williams by Carla Sofia Ferreira

A Small, Private Sadness by Amorak Huey

Old Man in the Kitchen by Audrey Hall

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH A CAPTURED ASTEROID? by Dare Williams

Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions 2022:

A Universe Waiting to Be Born by Cathy Ulrich (selected)

Fly Fishing with God by Andrew Bertaina (longlisted)

The Painted Moth by Jennifer Fliss (longlisted)

A Closed Door with a Keyhole by L Mari Harris (longlisted)

Best New Poets Nominees 2022:

Anatomy of a House Fire by Stella Lei

Arroz Con Leche by Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez

LAMBDA Award for Transgender Poetry 2022:

Salamat sa Intersectionality by Dani Putney (finalist)

Best Small Fictions Nominees 2022:

After 70 Years in the Ice, Steve Rogers Visits Whole Foods by Emily Capettini

No Running by Taylor Clarke

The Roadrunner by Brianne M. Kohl

This Isn’t Anything by Francine Witte (selected as a winner)

Casey Who Exorcises People by Eric Rasmussen

Best Microfiction Nominees 2022:

Laughing with Anne Hathaway by Megan M. Garwood

Other Husbands by M.L. Krishnan

Bill Murray Terraforms Mars by Robbie Maakestad

Hearing Paired by Sara Nović

So Much an Outlaw I Belong on a Wanted Poster by Holly Pelesky

Where There’s Smoke by Leslie Walker Trahan (selected as a winner)

Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers Nominees 2022:

Dorothy Grows a Beard by Joy Guo

Meat Bag by Hannah Gregory

Five Things I Admire About Tudi by Olivia Post

Pushcart Prize Nominees 2022:

Fiction:

The Sad Song in Every Story by Mileva Anastasiadou

Emily, Don’t by Kelsey Ipsen

Oxygenation by Gabrielle Trúc Cohen

Poetry:

When he asks me to try doggie style, I think by Madeleine Corley

Lately by Emry Trantham

one day when I become a museum by Juliana Chang

Best of the Net Nominees 2021:

Fiction:

The Reality Star Gets Her Start on a Dating Show by Kyra Kondis

Jumping the Shark by Jennifer Wortman

Poetry:

Teratoma by Keshe Chow

Portrait of a Womb as Painted by Flies by Ashley Dailey

Meeting Octavio Paz on the Planet Jupiter by Jose Hernandez Diaz

The Goblin King’s Love Language by Rita Feinstein

my mouth is full of words i don’t know by Monica Kim

Anatomy of a House Fire by Stella Lei

Balcones Prize for Poetry 2021:

Ways We Vanish by Todd Dillard (finalist)

Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions 2021:

The Prognosticators by Matthew Burnside (longlisted)

Alice in Voreland by Lauren Friedlander (longlisted)

text message to alexia from a cleveland clinic waiting room before an electromyogram by Matt Mitchell (longlisted)

There’s a Trick with a Knife by Megan Phillips (longlisted)

Best New Poets Nominees 2021:

to eat the sleeping sky, whole by Ashley Cline

one day when I become a museum by Juliana Chang

Best Small Fictions Nominees 2021:

10 Facts About a Winter Day, 2021 by Hallie Nowak

Opossum by Michael Czyzniejewski

I’ll Allow It Maybe Just This Once by Jeff Chon (selected as a winner)

American Movie by K-Ming Chang

Whale Watch by Gabrielle Griffis

Best Microfiction Nominees 2021:

B is for Balls by Kara Vernor (selected as a winner)

Alice in Voreland by Lauren Friedlander (selected as a winner)

Stranger Disconnected by Darren Nuzzo (selected as a winner)

One Fist Holding by Dustin M. Hoffman

The Chorus in My Walls by Elisabeth Ingram Wallace (selected as a winner)

There’s a Trick with a Knife by Meghan Phillips (selected as a winner)

Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers Nominees 2021:

Oxygenation by Gabrielle Trúc Cohen

10 Facts About a Winter Day, 2021 by Hallie Nowak

Pushcart Prize Nominees 2021:

Fiction

Dead? Yes, Dead by Amy Stuber

The Right Light by Janelle Bassett

You Don’t Have a Place Here by Anna Vangala Jones

Poetry

Country Song Erasures by Kit Armstrong

How to Love a Monster with Average-Sized Hands by Jules Archer

Things People Have Written in Letters to Ghosts by Chloe N. Clark

Best of the Net Nominees 2020:

Fiction

Trees Like a Way Out by Jennifer Fliss

Ladybird, Ladybird by DeMisty Bellinger

Poetry

Strange Furniture by Lannie Stabile

Buzz Drunk by Tara Campbell

Lycopene in Scale by Matthew DeMarco

What Jupiter wrote to Ganymede after years of separation by Satya Dash

Elusive Shadows by Steve Castro and Daniel Romo

When His Surgeon Called and Asked If I Had Questions by Jacqueline Hughes Simon

Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions 2020:

The Giant by Joaquin Fernandez (selected)

Port Town/El Pueblo del Puerto by Édgar Omar Avilés (translated by Toshiya Kamei) (longlisted)

A Quick Word About My Life by Trent England (longlisted)

Breast Roulette in Utero by Jennifer Todhunter (longlisted)

Best New Poets Nominees 2020:

Country Song Erasures by Kit Armstrong

Email to My Boyfriend When Rent Is Due by Micaela Walley

Best Small Fictions Nominees 2020:

Ordering Fries at Happy Hour by Christopher Gonzalez

here is the whole history of us chapter one by Amanda Claire Buckley (selected as a winner)

Martin Moves In by Ellen Rhudy

The Angle of Depression by Patricia Q. Bidar

The Candy Children’s Mother by A.A. Balaskovits (selected as a winner)

Best Microfiction Nominees 2020:

Bears by Tom Jenks

Signature by Nicholas Grider

you again by Monique Quintana

A Quick Word About My Life by Trent England (selected as a winner)

Port Town/El Pueblo del Puerto by Édgar Omar Avilés (translated by Toshiya Kamei)

Squirrels in the Attic by Jenny Fried

The Unreliable Narrator Apologizes by Chris Haven

She’s Been Living in the Attic for Who Knows How Long by Steve Chang

Pushcart Prize Nominees 2020:

Fiction

Escalator by Dan Sanders

Teethings by Deena Lilygren

Outline by Darrin Doyle

Poetry

A Seal Skull Seems To Be a Wolf Skull by Erin Rice

Desireé Panda and the Lee Van Cleefs by Tracy Lynne Oliver

Prey by Christine Taylor

Best British & Irish Flash Fiction 2019-2020:

We Feed Them to the Lions by Paul Thompson (selected as a winner)

Best of the Net Nominees 2019:

Fiction

Hello There, Talk Show Host by Nicholas Grider

A Tremendous Head, Uneasy by Nell Ovitt

Poetry

Delayed Lightning by Benjamin Niespodziany

Our love will stretch to cover this in time by Jeni De La O

Desireé Panda and the Lee Van Cleefs by Tracy Lynne Oliver

A Wrinkle in Grief by Savannah Slone

Directions by Jeffrey Yamaguchi

Email to My Boyfriend When Rent Is Due by Micaela Walley

Ladies of Horror Award for Best Collection 2019:

Ghosts of You by Cathy Ulrich (finalist)

Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions 2019:

No One Holds a Grudge Like a Crow by Marisa Crane (selected)

Bear by Shayne Terry (selected)

Ganymede by Chelsea Harris (longlisted)

Madlib by Kim Magowan (longlisted)

Big Bad by Mary Hamilton (longlisted)

Best Small Fictions Nominees 2019:

Early Intervention by Colleen Rothman

No One Holds a Grudge Like a Crow by Marisa Crane

A Nearly Beautiful Thing by Cathy Ulrich

Madlib by Kim Magowan (selected as a winner)

Segmented Moments by Hannah Gordon

Best Microfiction Nominees 2019:

The Flat by Michael Alessi

A Gun in the First Act by Scott Garson

Feeding Time by Tara Isabel Zambrano (selected as a winner)

Birds of a Feather by Tianna Grosch

Madlib by Kim Magowan

Plan Exclusion by J. Bradley

Big Bad by Mary Hamilton

Natural Resources by Anita Goveas

Best British & Irish Flash Fiction 2018-2019:

Drink Like a Bird by Meg Pokrass (selected as a winner)

Clapping by Sarah Salway (selected as a winner)

Best of the Net Nominees 2018:

Fiction

The Flat by Michael Alessi (selected as a finalist)

Ganymede by Chelsea Harris

Poetry

A Seal Skull Seems To Be a Wolf Skull by Erin Rice

The Lazarus Questionnaire by Ted Mico

Last Night in Antsville by Sharon Suzuki-Martinez (selected as a finalist)

Webster’s Dictionary defines “communist” as “one who speaks with ghosts” by Brian Dau