Baltimore Review 2025 Prize Nominations
by Barbara Westwood Diehl
Baltimore Review 2025 Nominations:
PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for best debut fiction published in a literary magazine
“The Baby,” Claire Wyatt
Best of the Net
Work published between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025
“The Nugget,” Anne Rudig
“beta waves,” Marika Guthrie
“Passions,” Sarah Sugiyama Issever
“#JustTheTwoOfUs,” Sage Tyrtle
“Fishing Trip,” Kelly Terwilliger
“September,” Leanne Shirtliffe
“Premonition,” Lindsay M. D'Andrea
“A Story,” Caroline Barnes
“blueberries,” Fran Qi
“Wisconsin, Summer,” Hannah Keziah Agustin
Best Small Fictions
Work under 1,000 words published in 2025
“A Bird,” David Hansen
“Crux,” Kayla Rutledge Page
“Yo Mama,” L. Soviero
“Carefully Dreamed Shakshuka in Sachsenhausen,” Per Olvmyr
“Easy Bake,” Joanne Merriam
Pushcart Prize
Work published in 2025
“Three Horses in a Field at Dusk,”
“Apocalypso,” Ron MacLean
“Root Lady,” Fay Sachpatzidis
“Note from the (sic)Bed,” Veronica Kornberg
“Snowfall,” Stefan Balan
“Suspended Belief,” Megan Nichols
Best Microfiction
Work under 400 words published in 2025
“In an uncannily incandescent time when night skies still twinkled,” Mikki Aronoff
“Dysgeusia,” Christopher Notarnicola
“Spite the Face,” Brett Biebel
“Bull,” Rebecca Klassen
“On The New Yankee Workshop, Norm Abrams Builds a Garden Swing on Which to While Away an Evening,” Abbie Kiefer
The Best Short Stories of the Year: The O’Henry Prize
In April 2025, we sent the following the following nominations for the O’Henry Prize
“Conduit,” Andrea
“Three Horses in a Field at Dusk,” Erik Harper Klass
“Apocalypso,” Ron MacLean
“The Two Kinds of Stories We Told,” Elizabeth Rosen
“#JustTheTwoOfUs,” Sage Tyrtle
Copies of our annual print compilation are sent to the Best American series editors each year.
We also send copies of work published online after our print compilation is published.
And sometimes, nominations and even awards come as a pleasant surprise. We include a list of awards here.
Wishing all the best for the wonderful writers published in the past year’s issues!