FLARE Magazine

Art by Anahita Karthik

Nominations and Awards

2026 Genrepunk Awards Nominations

Genrepunk Editors’ Choice Awards

  1. “Rituximab Redux” by Barbara Krasner (medication issue, poem)
  2. “A Solitary Baptism Outside Chicago” by Jonathan Saucedo (issue 5, hybrid)
  3. “made of stars” by Amy Austin (issue 5, poem)

Genrepunk Award for Disabled Creatives

  1. “Echoes of Hysteria” by Rebecca Upton (issue 4, poem)
  2. “Crohn’s Diary” by Faune Vita (issue 4, poem)
  3. “Learning to Speak in the Middle of Panic” by Ria Cabral (issue 5, hybrid)

Genrepunk Wildcard Award

  1. “I Live in Salt (The Medicine Song)” by Laura (ELCEE Music) (medication issue, hybrid/experimental)
  2. “DENIAL Comes in Capsule, Gel, or Seltzer Forms” by AME (medication issue, hybrid/experimental)
  3. “grocery” by Madeline Blair (issue 5, poem/experimental)

Genrepunk Haunting Award

  1. “Rise Again” by Cypher (issue 4, poem)
  2. “Idiopathic Hypersomnia w/ Long Sleep Time” by A. Riel Regan (health scares issue, poem)
  3. “Write a Happy Poem” by Wesley Orion (issue 5, poem)

Winners are set to be announced November 15, 2026–fingers crossed!

2027 Best of the Net Nominations

Poetry

  1. “The Wanderer” by Veronica Sorgi (issue 4)
  2. “User Manual: Operating the Human Body (revised for glitchy functioning)” by Shelley Lloyd (issue 4)
  3. “Instead of Decorating the Christmas Tree, I’m Researching Ketamine Therapy” by Bri Gearhart Staton (issue 5)
  4. “They Name It Illness” by Carrie Farrar (health scares special issue)
  5. “Small Negotiations” by Rebekah Norris (medication special issue)
  6. “Night Offerings” by Tori Hirsh (special collab issue 1)

Fiction

  1. “Cypress Mother” by Marketa Dowling (issue 5)
  2. “Have You Tried Seeing Someone Else?” by Amber Budd (issue 5)

Creative Nonfiction

  1. “Workout Starring Jane Fonda” by Sumitra Singam (issue 5)
  2. “I Started Taking Vitamin B” by Mattie Paige (medication special issue)

Art

  1. “The Origin of Back Pain” by Mindy Kober (issue 5)
  2. “Fusion” by Sara Jorgensen (health scares special issue)
  3. “The Dance” by Zainah Usman (medication special issue)

2026 Best of the Net Nominations

Poetry

  1. “Return Me to the Womb” by Alicia Swain (issue 1)
  2. “Skygazing” by Muheez Olawale (special issue 1)
  3. “No Sun Summer” by Oisín Rowe (issue 2)
  4. “my therapist is breaking up with me” by Sofía Aguilar (issue 2)
  5. “do you?” by Skye Saul (issue 3)
  6. “There’s Something Wrong With Me, She Said” by Jeannine Hall Gailey (issue 3)

Fiction

  1. “1 p.m. on a Sunday” by Alice Lyon (issue 2)
  2. “Scales” by Laurie Doyle (issue 2)

Creative Nonfiction

  1. “The Privilege of Independence” by Chelsea Gerow (issue 1)
  2. “Am I a Spoonie?” by Wendy Kennar (issue 2)

Art

  1. “Untitled” by Mario Loprete (special issue 1) – FINALIST
  2. “Ernogh the Goblin” by Ellen Forkin (issue 2)
  3. “The COVID Nightmare” by Donald Patten (issue 3)

2025 Genrepunk Awards

This is a new award created by Genrepunk Magazine, so we decided to nominate for the below categories!

Genrepunk Editors’ Choice Award

  1. “Taking Space” by Sarah M. Chen, issue 1: CNF – FINALIST
  2. “THIS SHIMMERING NOTHING” by Katie Larson, issue 2: poem
  3. “Fifty Shades of Grief” by JB Polk, issue 2: CNF

Genrepunk Award for Disabled Creatives

  1. “Love Letter to My ME/CFS, Long Covid Body” by M. S. Marquart, special Valentine’s Day issue: poem
  2. “Perception” by Katie Collan, issue 2: flash fiction
  3. “Sliding Scale” by Nicole Zelniker, issue 2: CNF – WINNER

Genrepunk Wildcard Award

  1. “Iterations” by Brady Alexander, issue 1: experimental poem – FINALIST
  2. “On Atrophy” by Isobel Bradshaw, issue 2: experimental/hybrid piece
  3. “Doctor Roulette” by Linnea Peterson, issue 3: experimental poem

Genrepunk Haunting Award

  1. “Front Porch at 4:48” by S.R. Azazel, issue 1: flash fiction
  2. “Asking the Body” by Dawn Levitt, special Valentine’s Day issue: poem – FINALIST
  3. “Personalization” by Paula Macena, issue 2: poem

Best of luck to our nominees!

2026 Best Microfiction Nominations

  1. “Perspective” by Tiff Bartel (special issue 2: health scares)
  2. “Your Teenage Son Brings Flowers to Your Sickbed” by Jenny Stalter (issue 4)

2026 Best Small Fictions Nominations

  1. “Perception” by Katie Collan, issue 2
  2. “At a Crossroads” by Raiya Shaw, issue 2
  3. “Slipping Through the Membrane” by Litsa Dremousis, issue 3
  4. “Landlocked” by Robin Bissett, issue 4
  5. “The Visitor” by Marie-Eve Bernier, special issue 2: health scares

2026 Pushcart Prize Nominations

  1. “Skinned” by Rania Omar, poem, issue 1
  2. “The Fourth Trimester” by Kelley Dundas, CNF, issue 3
  3. “Always Hungry” by Christa Fairbrother, poem, issue 3
  4. “The Symptoms Forecast” by Alex Pellerin, longer flash fiction, issue 4
  5. “For the Little Girl Inside Me” by Chloe Glass, CNF, issue 4
  6. “Bone Spurs and Blueberry Pie” by Olivia J. Bennett, CNF, issue 4