Dear Readers,

We are thrilled to announce our 2026 Best of the Net nominees! Congratulations to all our nominees whose work appeared between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025. We’re posting links to all the pieces in case you missed them. Here are the nominees:

Fiction 

Mai Tais and Manhattans by Taylor McKay Hathorn

Passion and Wild Card by Mandira Pattnaik

Nonfiction

One for Sorrow: On Why I Got a Tattoo by Trystan Popish

All Those Moments by Paul Yoder

Poetry

First Walk in Hilo by Al Fournier

Golden Ratio by Heather M. Hoover

When It Pours by Bethany Jarmul

A Stirring Outside My Window Nine Stories Up by Maya Klauber

The Candle by Justin Pulice

Girl, Summer by Joyce Ritchie

Art 

Sardinian Crane Flower by Viviana De Cecco

Sagebrush Rookery by Graham Tobin

Coloradan Dunescape by Xavier Martinez

Congratulations again to all the writers and photographers chosen this year!

In other news, we are currently reviewing entries to our 2025 Fall Flash Fiction Contest and will announce an update soon. We also are closed now to poetry and regular fiction submissions, and will close to all work on Nov. 15. Stay tuned to our Submit page for reopening dates. Also, thank you for continuing to support us with your readership and donations. We are grateful to share this space with you.

Warmly,
Rudri & Beth
Founders and Editors