Pushcart Prize Nominees for 2025 by FreedomFiction.com
Pushcart Prize Nominees for 2025 by FreedomFiction.com
We again aim to get our nominations in hard-copy to the New York office of Pushcart Press in October 2024. We also always try to get noticed. We will send them the printed copies of below listed fiction short-stories published by FreedomFiction.com
By the last week of September 2024 these would be on the way to New York with the aim of getting them included in their next “Best of Small Presses” anthology which would be widely available as their “2025 Edition”.
Hence the confusing year 2025 in our announcement’s headline which refers to best of FFJ’s 2024 run.
Only a total of six nominations can be made by a small publisher for this prestigious prize. The finalized nominations are listed below.
Two of our six nominations are of literary fiction category and this can be disappointing to genre fiction authors. Well, we have copies of Pushcart Prize anthologies and genre fiction authors would find its contents competing with The New Yorker magazine rather than any genre fiction publications.
So why do we take so much effort to push genre fiction onto their table? Well, because these are well-written and exemplary works, storytelling that transcends genre preference and we believe in the competitiveness of these genre fiction short stories. Hence they comprise the majority of our nominations this year as in past.
There is no entry fee and no form to fill out.
Editor’s picks for Pushcart Prize (in no particular order nor ranking):
* The Soldier’s Return by Shelley K. Davenport (paranormal)
https://www.freedomfiction.com/2024/07/the-soldiers-return-by-shelley/
* People v. Meriaux by C. David Ray (science fiction)
https://www.freedomfiction.com/2024/07/meriaux-by-c-david-ray/
* Glen by Bill Tope (romance)
https://www.freedomfiction.com/2024/01/glen-by-bill-tope/
* Imposter by Barry Garelick (literary)
https://www.freedomfiction.com/2024/05/imposter-by-barry-garelick/
* Some Kind of Angel by Austin Roberts (crime)
https://www.freedomfiction.com/2024/03/some-kind-of-angel-by-austin-roberts/
* Georgie in Wintertime by Dan Morey (literary)
https://www.freedomfiction.com/2024/04/georgie-in-wintertime-by-dan-morey/
Each of these six stories competed against incredibly good stories we published since previous year’s nominations. We are actually so disappointed that we can’t just publish the lot in an anthology ourselves–but that too is in the works. Primarily we will focus on stories we include in “Our Favorites” menu which is being updated retroactively to include fiction dating back to 2008. In the meantime, we will try and reach out to our favorites with something in time for Thanksgiving.
What is Pushcart Prize and why is it significant?
From official website of Pushcart Prize:
http://pushcartprize.com/
The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America – including Highest Honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
https://artsandletters.org/pressrelease/2020-special-awards
Since 1976, hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in our annual collections. Each year most of the writers and many of the presses are new to the series. Every volume contains an index of past selections, plus lists of outstanding presses with addresses.
The Pushcart Prize has been a labor of love and independent spirits since its founding. It is one of the last surviving literary co-ops from the 60’s and 70’s. Our legacy is assured by donations to our Fellowships endowment.
Refer latest anthology on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWC6Z3BW/
