Once again, we’re thrilled to announce our nominees for the Pushcart Prize Anthology.

YARN alum Elizabeth Maria Naranjo offers up a wonderful creepy, bittersweet tale, which was one of the runners-up chosen by Rin Chupeco for last year’s Halloween Contest. Enjoy! 

He’d never been to the ocean and didn’t know what the waves sounded like when they broke against the shore, but Timothy knew they didn’t sound like the voices of girls.

With many thanks to our judge Nisha Sharma, we present our winner to you, “Tequila” by YARN alum Laura Gonzalez!

In all my seventeen years, I have always been second. Rosa, my twin, was twenty-two minutes older, and she has held those twenty-two minutes over me for our entire life.[…]

One of our wonderful Humor Contest Runners-Up, “Citrus and Ash.”

Geoffrey lifted the knocker and brought it down on the witch’s door. Three short authoritative raps to get the job done.[…]

Kat, Nick, and Robbie face tough fights — and try to find the best way to win.

The bottle left on the kitchen counter is never a good sign.[…]

In “Don’t Look Down,” you’ve got to face your worst fears — whether you want to or not.

White walls are nothing but trouble. Trust me. I’ve woken up in enough hospitals to know this by heart.[…]

In this powerful story by YARN alum Elizabeth Maria Naranjo, a young girl tries to make sense of a family secret.

[…]Maybe if you were here it would have been different. We’d talk about things.[…]

Maybelle could not see over the feathered ears of the owl in her lap.