Pushcart Prize and Mysterious Press 2024 Nominations

As a service to those who appear in the Lowestoft Chronicle, we try to honor some of these exceptional writers by nominating work for the many prestigious awards that surface around this time of year. There is usually a specific limit to the number of works an editor is allowed to nominate. There is also a money and time requirement, dictating that magazine editors up and down America must sacrifice their afternoon at the bar lining up shots to stand in line at the post office and spend the bar tab mailing nominations to a PO Box. An editor’s sobriety is usually rewarded with stony silence from those with the keys to these tiny PO Boxes crammed with thousands of envelopes that if read and acknowledged would take years to get through. Once in a blue moon, a new face joins the usual suspects. That’s the hope, anyway.

Best American 2024 Nominations

Over the years, we’ve nominated work published in our magazine for various annual awards. The process has rarely been straightforward. Armies of micro mag editors up and down the country have grown accustomed to spending their marketing budgets making clumsy dissertations out of their digital journals in order to get the work evaluated by Top Table judges.

Mercifully, the vast majority of judges have stumbled across an incredible tool that streamlines the review process. It’s a free email service provided by Google. Entries get to them instantly and it even removes the threat of paper cuts. If only all judges would share this knowledge with others.

The Best American Series

New competitions emerge now and then, but every few years, a Best Of anthology editor closes the door on their PO Box and returns the key. The Best American Series, published annually by Mariner Books (an imprint of HarperCollins), is still going strong. In fact, the Best American Short Stories has lasted since 1915. Its five other series publications continue to accept submissions.