What Is the Pushcart Prize and How Do You Get Nominated?
The Pushcart Prize is the most prestigious award for small press literary fiction and poetry in the US. Here is how it works, who nominates, and what it means for a working writer.
The Pushcart Prize is awarded annually to the best work published in small presses — literary magazines, independent publishers, and chapbooks. It has been running since 1976 and is now considered the most prestigious award for literary short fiction and poetry published outside the major commercial publishing houses. A Pushcart nomination is a genuine credential; an award is a significant career marker.
What makes the Pushcart unusual is its structure. Writers do not apply. Editors of eligible small press publications nominate work they have published. Each eligible publication can nominate up to six pieces per year. This means the path to a Pushcart nomination is not direct self-submission but publication in journals whose editors pay attention and make nominations.
Which journals nominate for the Pushcart?
Almost every serious literary journal nominates work for the Pushcart, but some are more active nominators than others. Smokelong Quarterly, The Sun, Ploughshares, Tin House, Wigleaf, and PANK are all consistent Pushcart nominators. Publishing in these journals is the most reliable route to nomination. Read the full guide to the best literary magazines for flash fiction submissions for a complete breakdown of where to submit.
A Pushcart nomination does not mean your work won. But it means an editor — a real editor with a track record of publishing serious work — read your piece and thought it was among the best six things they published that year. That is not nothing.
What it means in practice
A Pushcart nomination is worth including on a cover letter and a bio. It signals to other editors that your work has been vetted by peers. It opens doors at journals that might otherwise pass. It is not a career-changing event on its own — but it is a marker that accumulates meaning over time, especially when combined with a consistent publication record in strong journals.
For the craft that gets you into Pushcart-nominating journals, read how to write flash fiction and minimalist fiction techniques.
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