233 Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize
With founding dates, genre info, and an ongoing roster.
Whenever I see 'pushcart nom' in a writer's bio, I can't help thinking NOM NOM NOM. But I'm a child. Pushcart is a prestigious award for small works published in indie lit since the 70s. The only way your work can be nominated for the prize is if the magazine you publish in chooses it.
Here is how it works. Each year, from October to December, magazines can nominate six works to be considered for a Pushcart Prize. If you win, your work goes into Pushcart's yearly anthology.
I do feel like... OK, I never want to slag on something that seems to be doing good. But a prize is a reward. The reward here is kind of a literary high-five. But, oh well, this is a world where Forbes 30 Under 30 Exists, so fuck it. Let's get ours. Really, I think this is a neat thing and their mission is admirable. Also, extra credibility never hurt anyone, and if I’m prioritizing two similarly tiered magazines for a story and one nominates for prizes, I’ll likely go with the nominating one.
It can be tough to nail down which magazines nominate for Pushcart. Some will do it one year, but not the next. Or say they do, but don’t. Some don’t say it, but do. We’ve tried our best to narrow this down to the ones we’re pretty sure are still in the nominating game.
To even this out I thought it would be nice to have two lists at the top. If you discover someone who does nominate who is not on this list, I’ll add them to “Added By Request,” and to those who have stopped nominating, I’ll add them to “Stopped Nominating.”
This way, if you’re interested in submitting with the chance for a Pushcart Nomination, you can always return to this list to see any updates. If you click the name of any magazine, you’ll be redirected to their guidelines. I also included founding date, descriptions, and genres.
Click the name of any of the magazines in this list to be redirected to their guidelines.
Added by request:
Ploughshares
Stopped Nominating:
Five on the Fifth
Magazines Who Currently Nominate for Pushcart
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(2012) - An independent art and literature, online and print magazine that highlights words and images in gemlike forms. Each issue includes a combination of flash fiction, creative nonfiction, erasure texts, narrative art, word+image, collage poems, and poetic storytelling. [ Fiction. Nonfiction. Poetry. ]
(2002) - Poetry for the ear, the eye, and the ego. [ Poetry. ]
(2019) - At 34 Orchard, we like dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth. We’re not genre-specific; we just like scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad. [ Fiction. Poetry. ]
(2021) - We publish anything that has been written "with abandon" (whatever that means to you). No submission fees, ever (though we do accept tips!), and we are a paying market. [ Fiction. Nonfiction. Poetry. ]
(2018) - We offer emerging and established authors an opportunity to showcase their work. We publish quicks, short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and art. [ Fiction. Poetry. ]