The Pushcart Prize is a literary award in the United States, created by Pushcart Press. It recognizes outstanding poetry, short stories, essays, and other creative writing published by small presses in the past year. Editors from magazines and small book publishers are invited to submit up to six works they have published. Since 1976, collections of these selected works have been released every year. All aspects of this program are managed and supported by volunteers who dedicate their time to the effort.
Editors
The founding editors included Anaïs Nin, Buckminster Fuller, Charles Newman, Daniel Halpern, Gordon Lish, Harry Smith, Hugh Fox, Ishmael Reed, Joyce Carol Oates, Len Fulton, Leonard Randolph, Leslie Fiedler, Nona Balakian, Paul Bowles, Paul Engle, Ralph Ellison, Reynolds Price, Rhoda Schwartz, Richard Morris, Ted Wilentz, Tom Montag, Bill Henderson, and William Phillips.
Many guest editors have served this collection over the years. Nominations for the prize are received from both on-staff contributing editors and independent small-press editors and publishers.
Winners
Each edition of the Pushcart Prize includes a complete index of presses and writers reprinted in the anthology since 1976. More than 2,000 writers and 600 presses have been selected.
Among the writers and poets who have received recognition in Pushcart Prize anthologies are: Kathy Acker, Steven Barthelme, Rick Bass, Charles Baxter, Bruce Boston, Anne Carson, Raymond Carver, Joshua Clover, Junot Diaz, Andre Dubus, William H. Gass, Julian Gough, Suzanne Kamata, Seán Mac Falls, William Monahan, Paul Muldoon, Tim O'Brien, Lance Olsen, Miha Mazzini, Peter Orner, Kevin Prufer, Kay Ryan, Sheema Kalbasi, Mona Simpson, Ana Menéndez, Ladette Randolph, Kaveh Akbar, Matthew Neill Null, and Wells Tower.
Recognition
The Pushcart Prize anthology has received national recognition. Kirkus Reviews called it "must reading for anyone interested in the present and future of America's arts and letters." Pushcart Press was given the 1979 Carey Thomas Prize for Publisher of the Year by Publishers Weekly.
The Pushcart Prize series was honored with the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle in 2005, and the Poets & Writers/Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers award in 2006.