Why We Nominate
How your work at PHIL LIT can reach further, with key award opportunities.
Dear PHIL LIT community,
We believe in being good literary citizens, by putting people first and amplifying your work. With PHIL LIT, each contributor’s words join a broader conversation, one that emphasizes recognition, opens doors beyond the issue, and fosters community within the wider literary landscape. That’s why our editorial team puts in the extra work to nominate select pieces for major literary awards.
WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOU AND HOW THE PROCESS WORKS
What Nominations Do For You:
Visibility: A nomination places your work into high-profile anthologies or databases, increasing its reach to editors, agents, other journals or presses.
Credibility: Being chosen signals that the editors at PHIL LIT believe your work meets a quality and mission-driven benchmark; it becomes part of your professional portfolio.
Opportunity: Even if a nomination doesn’t lead to a prize win, it may result in reprints, anthology placement, invited readings, teaching markets, or new submission opportunities.
Community Recognition — Because PHIL LIT is rooted in philanthropy, environmental and animal activism, love-centric and fear-averse transformation, levity, and joy, each nomination highlights how the work aligns with our mission and attracts others who share that ethos.
How It Works:
You don’t need to apply for nomination. Once your piece is published in PHIL LIT Journal, Inc. (a registered nonprofit lit-organization) and falls within an award eligibility window, our editors review all eligible works and make informed, mission-aligned selections. If your work is chosen, we’ll contact you, confirm any permissions needed, and handle the submission on your behalf before each award’s deadline.
Because PHIL LIT has a diverse international contributor base, we carefully verify which awards welcome global participation and ensure all nominations comply with regional or publication requirements.
6 AWARDS WE NOMINATE FOR AT PHIL LIT
1. Pushcart Prize
What it is: A longstanding American literary prize (“Best of the Small Presses”) recognizing poetry, short fiction, essays, and novel excerpts published by small presses or literary journals.
International eligibility: The nominating entity must be a U.S./Canada-based small press or literary magazine, so international authors may be eligible if published in a qualifying journal. PHIL LIT (as a U.S.-based publication) qualifies to nominate.
Deadline: December 1st2. Best of the Net Anthology
What it is: An annual anthology recognizing online literary work (poetry, fiction, and essays) that first appeared within a given eligibility period. Learn More
International eligibility: Broadly inclusive; any work published online in an eligible literary venue may be nominated, regardless of author nationality.
Deadline: September 30th3. Best Small Fictions
What it is: An international anthology celebrating the best short-short stories, flash fiction, and hybrid forms under 1,000 words. Editors and publishers may nominate up to five pieces from their publication year.
International eligibility: Fully international — authors and journals from any country are eligible to submit or be nominated.
Deadline: Typically in March4. Best Spiritual Literature
What it is: An annual Orison anthology of spiritually-engaged writing across genres — poetry, fiction, and nonfiction — published in periodicals during the prior year. Editors nominate work that deepens spiritual and artistic understanding. Learn More
International eligibility: Broadly inclusive; any work published in a qualifying periodical is eligible, regardless of author nationality.
Deadline: Nomination window May 1st — August 15. Best New Poets
What it is: An annual anthology showcasing fifty poems from emerging poets. Nominations come from U.S./Canadian writing programs and eligible literary magazines. Learn More
International eligibility: The nominating entity must be U.S./Canada-based, but the poet may be international. Since PHIL LIT qualifies as a U.S. based publication, we may nominate international contributors.
Deadline: Nominations window March 3 — April 156. The Best American Series
What it is: A collection of annual anthologies (The Best American Short Stories, Essays, Poetry, etc.) published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Editors and guest editors curate the year’s best work originally published in U.S./Canadian periodicals. International eligibility: Authors of any nationality are eligible if the work first appeared in a U.S./Canadian publication. As a U.S.-based journal, PHIL LIT may nominate eligible work.
Deadline: Varies by genre (typically between January and April each year).
By submitting to PHIL LIT, you’re joining a publication where nominations are part of our editorial process — where your voice is amplified beyond our pages and into the wider literary world.
How to submit to PHIL LIT
Visit www.phillitjournal.com to familiarize yourself with our current issues and submission guidelines. Check our current open reading periods and contests. If your piece is accepted and published within an award’s eligible time-frame, it automatically enters our editorial nomination pool.
Thank you for being part of the PHIL LIT community—your work, your courage, your thoughtfulness, your threshold-writing matter. We’re here not only to publish, but to help carry your voice further.
Fearless & Human First,
PHIL LIT Journal Editorial Team
So wonderful 💚 thanks for championing us 🎉