Pushcart Nomination

Paul Lamb

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Is there a consensus about the worth of mentioning getting a Pushcart Nomination in query letters?

There is a scathing article from some years back saying that getting a Pushcart nomination is nothing very special (given the number of stories nominated) and is actually embarrassing when included in query letters and bios. I think the math in that article is unfairly one sided since it doesn't take into account the number of published stories that were not nominated to give perspective, but what do you think or hear?

Is an editor interested in knowing a submitter has this credential? Sure, I understand that a story stands or falls on its own, but it seems as though a Pushcart nomination is still something worth mentioning.

What do you think?
 
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Chris P

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I don't know for sure, but I tend to think being nominated is not such a big deal (accepted, on the other hand . . .). I'm happy to hear otherwise from people more in the know.

I was nominated for a story some years ago (not accepted, which is a shame because I'm a fan of the anthology), and the reason I think it's not such a big deal is the editor of the mag nominated a bunch of articles for a wide range of awards. There were probably 15 or 20 of the stories from his mag for that year being nominated for something. Maybe all mags do this, but I don't know. I don't mention the nomination in query letters or submissions, any more than I would mention my failed run for the grad student organization at my university on my resume (had I won, however...)
 

mrsmig

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Several years ago a short-short story I wrote won a monthly contest (small monetary prize) sponsored by an online journal, which then went on to publish the winning stories on Amazon (again, a small fee was paid). Shortly after the anthology was published, the journal closed up shop and promptly reopened under a different name. All of us who'd been published in the anthology were encouraged to resubmit our old stories as well as new material to the new journal. The hitch? This time around there was no pay. Instead, the publisher said he'd nominate our stories for Pushcart, so we'd have that nomination to puff up our literary resumes.

I declined - the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. It smacked of those pay-to-play contests (like this one) where there are literally hundreds of categories, so you're pretty much guaranteed to "win" if you pony up the fairly hefty entry fee. Ultimately it's meaningless (you even have to pay for your "winner" stickers).

That's not to say the Pushcarts are meaningless - like Chris P, I like the anthologies - but when a publisher can dangle the carrot of a nomination in lieu of actually paying you for your work, it cheapens the value of said nomination. My bet is that most editors will view a Pushcart nomination about the way they view those pay-to-play contest "wins."
 
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