We have nominated the following Identity Theory pieces for anthologies and awards in recent years.
Best Small Fictions 2027 Nominations
(Fiction Less Than 1000 Words Published in 2025 and the first half of 2026)
- "Baggage" by Fannie H. Gray
- "The Witnesses" by Jennifer Fox
- "Unraveling Helen" by Selby Liebert
- "The Order of Things" by Jonathan Daniel Gardner
- "The girl who bullied you in middle school dies at seventeen" by Federica Silvi
2027 Best of the Net Nominations
(Pieces Published from Summer 2025 to Summer 2026)
- "A Good Cause" by Erik Fatemi (fiction)
- "Bone Memory" by Sabrina Hicks (CNF)
- "Cape Disappointment" by Brittany Micka-Foos (poetry)
- "Sweet Potato Fries" by Jean Biegun (poetry)
- "That Time the Horizon Snapped" by Alan Michael Parker (art)
Best Microfiction 2026 Nominations
(Fiction Less Than 400 Words Published in 2025)
- "Homing" by Elena Zhang
- "Lullaby to the Old World Order" by Elizabeth Fletcher
- "Egg, Five Ways" by Emily Rinkema
- "Never This Before" by Donna Shanley
2026 Best of the Net Nominations
(Pieces Published from Summer 2024 to Summer 2025)
- "Deities" by Jo Withers (fiction)
- "White Woman Freedom" by Matthew Henry
- "Little Bluestem" by Pamela Manasco (poetry)
- "In Dreams" by Shira Haus (poetry)
- "Reasons for Staying" by Sarah Mills (poetry)
- "Sonnet for the Dreamers Craving Sleep" by Janna Miller (poetry)
- "A chainsaw whirs through February air" by nat raum (poetry)
- "As Is" by Jillian Clasky (poetry)
- "Politeness of Giraffes" , "Rothko Burger", and "The Subway Boar" by Alan Michael Parker (art)
Best Microfiction 2025 Nominations
(Fiction Less Than 400 Words Published in 2024)
- “Corvus Corax” by Cristina Politano
- "Our First Night Together" by Chelsea Stickle*
- "Grandmother Is a House Y'all Tore Down" by Jessica Willingham
- "Fish Soup" by Jenny Wong*
- "Sunset" by Joshua Zeitler
*Winners of Best Microfiction 2025!
Best Small Fictions 2025 Nominations
(Fiction Less Than 1000 Words Published in 2024)
- "Do You Love Me?" by Anita Brienza
- “Heat-seekers” by Meg Pokrass
- “The Sisters of Saint Milburg” by Cristina Politano
- "Treasure" by Claire Taylor
- "Nascent" by Tara Isabel Zambrano*
*Winner of Best Small Fictions 2025!
2026 Pushcart Prize Nominations
(Pieces Published in 2024)
- "Look Yourself" by Sara Lippmann (fiction)
- "Two Truths and a Lie" by Jackie Domenus (CNF)
- "Free Bleed" by Is Curtis (Micro CNF)
- "Letter to Persephone, Before Mother's Day" by Sarah A. Etlinger (poetry)
- "The Transitive Property of Despair" by Jed Myers (poetry)
- "M.A.S.H." by Abigail Raley (poetry)
2025 Best of the Net Nominations
(Pieces Published from Summer 2023 to Summer 2024)
- “Δ Means Change” by Corinne Cordasco-Pak (CNF)
- “I’m Sorry, I Know My Well-Being Is Bad for the Planet” by Francesca Leader (CNF)
- “Ganache Girl” by Aimee Campos (fiction)
- “Parking Lots” by John Newman (fiction)
- “Meteorite” by D.W. Baker (poetry)
- “In Honor of the Man Who Denied Bill Nye” by Alexa Doran (poetry)
- “The Second Scientific Revolution” by Taylor Franson-Thiel (poetry)
- “Luck” by Stefanie Kirby (poetry)
- “Call Me Baby” by Joseph Lezza (poetry)
- “Why Don’t We Paint the Town” by Jess Smith (poetry)
- Ampydoo Cartoon #122 and two other cartoons (#81, #109) from Alan Michael Parker (art)
Best Microfiction 2024 Nominations
(Fiction Less Than 400 Words Published in 2023)
- "Barbie Toes and Blow-Up Dolls" by Cole Beauchamp
- "Windford" by Melissa Ostrom
Best Small Fictions 2024 Nominations
(Fiction Less Than 1000 Words Published in 2023)
- "Styrofoam Sunsets" by Brendan Gillen
- "Demolition" by Will Musgrove*
- "Dosai!" by Srilatha Rajagopal
- "Toy Collector" by Rebecca Winterer*
*Winners of Best Small Fictions 2024!
2025 Pushcart Prize Nominations
(Pieces Published in 2023)
- "Distribution" by Nicholas Claro (fiction)
- "Bricks" by Tyler Plofker (fiction)
- "The Teacher and the Boxer" by Zoe Young (fiction)
- "Unsolved Mysteries" by Sandy Pool (nonfiction)
- "how long is a minute" by Shlagha Borah (poetry)
- “cashier at campus thai restaurant calls me [sir]” by Becky Tarasick (poetry)
2024 Best of the Net Nominations
(Pieces Published from Summer 2022 to Summer 2023)
- "Miss Venezuela" by Naihobe Gonzalez (fiction)
- "Ten Silver Cars" by R. B. Miner (fiction)
- "Woodwork" by Luke Larkin (nonfiction)
- "Knowledge of Missing Out" by Diane Shipley (nonfiction)
- "southern apocrypha smeared with duke’s mayonnaise, 1974" by Evelyn Berry (poetry)
- "Twitter is Abject" by Katie Berta (poetry)
- "Storm" by Jacob Griffin Hall (poetry)
- "Lake Valley" by Santana Shorty (poetry)
- "Coppering" by Donna Vorreyer (poetry)
- "Old Sons" by Jane Zwart (poetry)
- Ampydoo Cartoons #25, #54, & #57 (art)
2024 Pushcart Prize Nominations
(Pieces Published in 2022)
- "Ruskin and the Horses" by Jack Bedell (poetry)
- "Adjacent" by Nicholas Grider (fiction)
- "Unrooted" by L. Andrew Huffman (fiction)
- "Love is Iraq" by Christine Ma-Kellams (fiction)
- "The Batman of Perry County" by Cody Shrum (fiction)
- "Almost Mothers" by Stephanie Vessely (nonfiction)
2023 Best Small Fictions Nominations
(Fiction Less Than 1000 Words Published in 2022)
- "To Taste a Merman" by Lisa Alletson
- "The Funeral Clown" by Will Musgrove
- "A Night in October" by Megan Neary
- "Stephen Tries His Hand at Microfiction" by Stephen Snowder
2023 Best of the Net Nominations
(Pieces Published from Summer 2021 to Summer 2022)
- "Exhibits in the Museum of Dust" by Jared Beloff (poetry)
- "The Phrase Is 'Comfortable in Your Own Skin' but Who Has Ever Felt Such a Thing?" by Amorak Huey (poetry)
- "Fat Poem" by Brooke Kolcow (poetry)
- "Things I Wish I Told My Mother Before She Died" by Ezra Solway (poetry)
- "Five Arguments with Czeslaw about 'Self-Image'" by Alina Stefanescu (poetry)
- "Euryale" by Julia Watson (poetry)
- "Take a Femur, Leave a Femur" by Leigh Chadwick (fiction)
- "Watermelon Boyfriend, HaHa Lounge, '94" by Robin Zlotnick (fiction)
- "On Missing the Women’s Evolution (or the Importance of Becky Lynch’s Broken Nose)" by Emmy Ritchey (nonfiction)
- "As Soon as You Leave This Town" by Liz Shulman (nonfiction)