NER Award Winners – New England Review

Every year, New England Review sees poems, stories, and essays from among its pages receive honors and distinctions from respected publications that recognize and anthologize works of literary merit. Our recent prizewinners and honorary mentions are listed below by year.

2024 Anthologies

Pushcart Prize XLVIV (December 2024)
editor Bill Henderson
Featured Selections
• Shaan Sachdev, “Portrait of the Technocrat as a Stanford Man” (44.1)
• Esther Lin, “French Sentence” (44.3)
• Lily Greenberg, “The Beginning According to Mrs. God” (44.3)
Special mentions
• Emily Crossen, “The Bloody Parts” (44.4)
• Anu Kandikuppa, “A Bed for Kavita” (44.2)
• Emily Mitchell (NER fiction editor), “The Severe Inquisition into the Causes of the Great Fire” from American Short Fiction
• Micah Muldowney, “Apis Mellifera” (44.3)

Best American Short Stories 2024 (October 2024)
guest editor Lauren Groff, series editor Heidi Pitlor
Featured Selections
• Lori Ostlund, “Just Another Family” (44.3)
Other Distinguished Stories
• Emily Crossen, “The Bloody Parts” (44.4)
• Emily Mitchell (NER fiction editor), “The Severe Inquisition into the Causes of the Great Fire” from American Short Fiction

Best American Essays 2024 (October 2024)
guest editor Wesley Morris, series editor Kim Dana Kupperman
Other Notable Essays & Literary Nonfiction
• Shaan Sachdev, “Portrait of the Technocrat as a Stanford Man” (44.1)

Best American Science & Nature Writing (October 2024)
guest editor Bill McKibben, series editor Jaime Green
Other Notable Science & Nature Writing
• Kelle Groom, “Tideland” (44.1)

The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners (September 2024)
guest editor Amor Towles, series editor Jenny Minton Quigley
Featured story
• Caroline Kim, “Hiding Spot” (43.3)

Best Literary Translations 2024 (April 2024)
guest editor Jane Hirshfield, series coeditors Noh Anothai, Wendy Call, Okyu Tekten, Kola Tubosun
Featured poem
• From Guerrilla Blooms by Daniela Catrileo, translated by Edith Adams (43.4)

2023 Anthologies

Best American Essays (October 2023)
guest editor Vivian Gornick, series editor Robert Atwan
Featured essays:
• Robert Anthony Siegel, “Thirteen Ways of Listening to the Rain” (43.1)
• Angelique Stevens, “Care Credit” (43.3)
Notable essays:
• Nicky Beer, “Noted Author” (43.4)
• Sherrie Flick, “All in the Family: Waldo and His Ghosts” (43.1)
• Sara Michas-Martin, “Black Boxes” (43.1)
• Sarah Fawn Montgomery, “Doomscroll” (43.2)
• Katie Moulton, “The Elvis Room” (43.3)
• Zoe Valery, “The Ghost” (43.4)
• Xu Xi, “Fiction Remix” (43.1)
• Carolyn Kuebler (NER editor), “Self-Storage” from Colorado Review (49.2)

Best American Short Stories (October 2023)
guest editor Min Jin Lee, series editor Heidi Pitlor
Featured stories:
• Da-Lin, “Treasure Island Alley” (43.3)
• Kosiso Ugwueze, “Supernova” (43.2)
Other distinguished stories:
• Bradley Bazzle, “Where the West Begins” (43.3)
• Christine Sneed, “Where Do You Last Remember Holding It” (43.2)

Best American Science & Nature Writing (2023)
guest editor Carl Zimmer, series editor Jaime Green
Notables:
• Leath Tonino, “American Outback” (43.4)
• Sara Michas-Martin, “Black Boxes” (43.1)

The Best Short Stories 2023: The O. Henry Prize Winners: (September 2023)
guest editor Lauren Groff, series editor Jenny Minton Quigley
Featured story:
•David Ryan, “Elision” (43.2)

Pushcart Prize XLVII (November 2023)
editor Bill Henderson and the Pushcart Prize Editors
• Da-Lin, “Treasure Island Alley” (43.3)
Special Mentions:
• Zoe Valery, “The Ghost” (43.4)
• Marianne Boruch, “Shards” (43.2)

2022 Anthologies

Pushcart Prize XLVII (November 2022)
editor Bill Henderson and the Pushcart Prize Editors
• Ellen Bass, “During the Pandemic I Listen to the July 26, 1965, Juan-les-Pins Recording of A Love Supreme” (42.2)
Special Mentions:
• Thomas Dai, “Driving Days” (42.2)
• Hanh Hoang, “Bedtime Stories from Vietnam” (42.4)

Best American Essays (October 2022)
guest editor Alexander Chee, series editor Robert Atwan
Featured Essay:
• Jung Hae Chae, “The Gye, the No-Name Hair Salon, the Coup d’État, and the Small Dreamers” (42.4)
Notables:
• Susan Daitch, “Three Essays” (42.1)
• Daniel Kennedy, “Relax Your Face, Clint” (42.4)
• Jesse Lee Kercheval, “Crash” (42.2)
• Kat Meads, “Things Woolfian” (42.1)
• Jenn Shapland, “You Are Glowing with Crystal White Light” (42.3)
• Leath Tonino, “RIP Chuck, But I Doubt It” (42.3)

Best American Short Stories (October 2022)
guest editor Andrew Sean Greer, series editor Heidi Pitlor
Other Distinguished Stories:
• Matthew Lansburgh, “Hasina” (42.1)
• Debbie Urbanski, “Long May My Land Be Bright” (42.1 )

Best American Poetry (October 2022)
guest editor Matthew Zapruder, series editor David Lehman
Featured work by NER poetry editor:
• Jennifer Chang, “The Innocent” (from The Believer)

Best New Spiritual Writing (November 2022)
edited by Luke Hankins, Nathan Poole, Karen Tucker
Featured poem:
• Ellen Bass, “During the Pandemic I Listen to the July 26, 1965, Juan-les-Pins Recording of A Love Supreme” (42.2)

2021 Anthologies

Pushcart Prize XLVI (November 2021)
editor Bill Henderson and the Pushcart Prize Editors
• McKenna Marsden, “Suffering in Motion” (fiction)
• Lindsay Starck, “Baikal” (fiction)
Special Mentions:
• Rachel Hall, “Those Girls” (fiction)
• Michael X. Wang, “Further News of Defeat” (fiction)
• Laura Schmitt, “Snow Mountain” (fiction)
• David Roderick, “Cicadas” (poetry)

Best American Short Stories (October 2021)
guest editor Jesmyn Ward, series editor Heidi Pitlor
Other Distinguished Stories:
• Meron Hadero, “Medallion”
• Christine Sneed, “The Swami Buchu Trungpa”
• Rachel Hall, “Those Girls”

Best American Essays (October 2021)
guest editor Kathryn Schulz, series editor Robert Atwan
Notables:
• May-lee Chai, “Women of Nanjing”
• Marshall Klimasewiski, “The Art of Oblivion”
• Alyssa Pelish, “The Problem with Being a Final Girl”

Best American Poetry (September 2021)
guest editor Tracy K. Smith, series editor David Lehman
• Victoria Chang, “Marfa, Texas”
• Su Cho, “Abecedarian for ESL in West Lafayette, Indiana”
• Jay Deshpande, “A Child’s Guide to Grasses”
• Patrick Phillips, “Elegy with Table Saw & Cobwebs”

Pushcart Prize XLV (November 2020)
editor Bill Henderson and the Pushcart Prize Editors
Special Mentions:
• Sharon Solwitz, “Six Lectures in Normal” (fiction)
• Emma Duffy-Comparone, “The Package Deal” (fiction)
• Alisa Koyrakh, “Tomorrow We Travel” (nonfiction)

2020 Anthologies

Best American Essays (October 2020)
guest editor André Aciman, series editor Robert Atwan
• Jerald Walker, “Breathe”
Notables:
• Sean Hill, “For Which It Stands”
• Alisa Koryakh, “Tomorrow We Travel”

Best American Poetry (September 2020)
guest editor Paisley Rekdal, series editor David Lehman
• Timothy Donnelly, “All Through the War”
• Jennifer Grotz, “The Conversion of Paul”
• Cecily Parks, “The Seeds”
• Jon William Stout, “Dysphonia”
• Brian Teare, “Sitting Isohedric Meditation”

Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN American Dau Prize (June 2020)
editor Yuka Igarashi
• Valerie Hegarty, “Cats vs. Cancer”

Pushcart Prize XLIV (November 2019)
editor Bill Henderson
• Maureen Stanton, “The Human Soup” (nonfiction)
• Alison C. Rollins, “Five and a Possible” (poetry)
• Samantha Libby, “Chinko” (nonfiction)
Special Mentions:
• Christine Sneed, “The Monkey’s Uncle Louis” (fiction)
• John Gallaher, “Brand New Spacesuit” (poetry)
• Corey Marks, “Lark” (poetry)
• Kimberly Johnson, “Fire-work” (poetry)

2019 Anthologies

Best American Short Stories 2019
guest editor Anthony Doerr, series editor Heidi Pitlor
• Ella Martinsen Gorham, “Protozoa”
Other Distinguished Stories:
• Douglas Silver, “Borders and Crossings”
• Karl Taro Greenfield, “Station 4”

Best American Poetry 2019
guest editor Major Jackson, series editor David Lehman
• Didi Jackson, “Burning Bush”

Best American Essays 2019
guest editor Rebecca Solnit, series editor Robert Atwan
Notables:
• Stephen Benz, “Overlooking Guantanamo”
• Katherine E. Standefer, “The Unmaking”
• Maureen Stanton, “The Human Soup”
• Jennifer Stock, “Parrot on a Stone Plinth”

Best American Travel Writing 2019
guest editor Alexandra Fuller, series editor Jason Wilson
• Stephen Benz, “Overlooking Guantanamo”
Notable:
• Eric Wilson, “Nix Hotel Savoy”

Best American Nonrequired Reading 2019
guest editor Edan Lepucki, series editors 826 National
Notable: Supritha Rajan, “Landscape with Figure Turning” (poetry)

Pushcart Prize XLIII (November 2018)
editor Bill Henderson and the Pushcart Prize Editors
• Nomi Stone, “Wonder Days” (poetry)
Special Mentions:
• Kim McLarin, “Eshu Finds Work” (nonfiction)
• Erika Meitner “The Practice of Depicting Matter as It Passes from Radiance to Decomposition” (poetry)

2018 Anthologies

PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
• Celeste Mohammed, “Six Months” (38.1)

O. Henry Prize Stories 2018
• Michael Parker, “Stop n Go” (38.1)

Best American Short Stories 2018
guest editor Roxane Gay, ed. Heidi Pitlor
• Yoon Choi, “The Art of Losing” (38.2)
Other Distinguished Stories:
• Alyssa Pelish, “The Pathetic Fallacy”

Best American Poetry 2018
guest editor Dana Gioia, ed. David Lehman
• Adrienne Su, “Substitution” (38.1)

Best American Travel Writing 2018
guest editor Cheryl Strayed, ed. Jason Wilson
• Barrett Swanson, “Notes from a Last Man” (38.2)

Best American Essays 2018
guest editor Hilton Als, ed. Robert Atwan
Notables:
• Evan Lavender-Smith, “Post-its,”
• Kim McLarin, “Eshu Finds Work”
• Clarence Orsi, “Take Stock”

New Stories from the Midwest
guest editor Antonya Nelson
• Steve de Jarnatt, “Wraiths in Swelter”

Pushcart XLII (November 2017)
• Safiya Sinclair, “Good Hair,” 37.2 (Poetry)
• Ethan Chatagnier, “Miracle Fruit,” 37.4 (Fiction)
Special Mentions:
• Lia Purpura, “All the Fierce Tethers” (Nonfiction)
• David Brainard, “In the Desert” (Fiction)
• Ben Eisman, “Right-Hearted” (Fiction)
• Wayne Miller, “On Progress” (Poetry)

2017 Anthologies

Best New Poets 2017
Kai Carlson-Wee, “Rail,” 38.3

Best American Essays 2017
Notables: Alia Volz, “Chasing Arrows”
Lia Purpura, “All the Fierce Tethers”

Best American Short Stories 2017
Notable: Christine Sneed, “Older Sister,” 37.1

Best American Poetry 2017
Monica Youn, “Greenacre,” 37.1

O. Henry Prize Stories
Genevieve Plunkett, “Something for a Young Woman,” 36.3

Golden State 2017: The Best New Writing from California
Vincent Poturica, “Dad’s House,” 36.4 (Fiction)

Pushcart XLI
Lisa Taddeo, “Forty-Two,” 36.1 (Fiction)
Eric Wilson, “I Sing You for an Apple,” 36.2 (Nonfiction)
Emma Duffy-Comparone, “The Devil’s Triangle,” 36.4 (Fiction)
Special Mentions:
Cate Marvin, “High School in Suzhou,” 36.1 (Poetry)
Ocean Vuong, “To My Father / To My Unborn Son,” 36.1 (Poetry)
Camille Dungy, “A Shade North of Ordinary,” 36.2 (Nonfiction)

(Congratulations are also due to our fiction editor Janice Obuchowski, whose story “Sully” garnered a special mention in Pushcart XLI. It can be found in the Summer 2015 edition of the Gettysburg Review)

2016 Anthologies

New Stories from the Midwest (New American Press)
Emily Mitchell, “Three Marriages”
Other Distinguished Stories:
Christine Sneed, “The Couplehood Jubilee,” 34.1; “Clear Conscience,” 35.3
Charlie Baxter, “Sloth,” 34.3-4

Best American Short Stories 2016
Sharon Solwitz, “Gifted,” 36.2
Notables: Carla Panciera, “The Kind of People Who Look at Art,” 36.2
Michael X. Wang, “Further News of the Defeat,” 36.2
Rav Grewal-Kök, “The Bolivian Navy,” 36.4
Mateal Lovaas Ishihara, “Crossing Harvard Yard,” 36.4

Best American Essays 2016
Jill Sisson Quinn, “Big Night,” 36.1
Notables: Kelly Grey Carlisle, “Permutations of X,” 35.4
Ursula Hegi, “I’m Searching for a Home for Unwed Girls,” 36.3

Best American Poetry 2016
Patrick Rosal, “At The Tribunals,” 35.4
Cate Marvin, “High School in Suzhou,” 36.1

2015 Anthologies

Best American Short Stories
Laura Lee Smith, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” 35.1
Notables:
Charles Baxter, “Sloth,” 34.3-4
Leslie Bazzett, “Studies in Composition,” 34.3-4
Ricardo Nuila, “At the Bedside,” 35.1
Christine Sneed, “Clear Conscience,” 35.3

Best American Mysteries
Steven Heighton, “Shared Room on Union,” 35.1

Best American Essays
Kate Lebo, “The Loudproof Room,” 35.2
Notables:
Jeff Staiger, “Kindle 451,” 34.3-4
Larry I. Palmer, “The Haircut,” 35.1
Ben Miller, “Village Bakery,” 35.2

Pushcart XXXIX Tarfia Faizullah, “The streetlamp above me darkens,” 34.1 (Poetry)
Special Mentions:
Michael Coffey, “Sons,” 34.1 (Fiction)

2014 Anthologies

Best American Short Stories
Other Distinguished Stories: David Heronry, “Less Awful,” 33.4

Best American Essays
Notables:
Kathleen Chaplin, “The Death Knock,” 34.1
Marian Crotty, “It’s New Year’s Eve and This Is Dubai,” 34.2

O. Henry Prize Stories
Maura Stanton, “Oh Shenandoah,” 33.2

Pushcart XXXVII
Jake Adam York, “Self-Portrait as Superman,” 33.3 (Poetry)