The Washington (DC) Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2026 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction:

• “Bag of Holding” by Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, On Spec, Vol 35., No. 3, Issue #133, Copper Pig Writers’ Society (October 2025), ed. by Diane Walton
• “Billionaire’s Tears,” by Vanessa Ricci-Thode, Escape Pod (July 24, 2025), ed. by Mur Lafferty
• “Blackrock,” by R. M. Olson, Skull X Bones, ed. by David B. Coe and Joshua Palmatier; Zombies Need Brains LLC, (December 2025)
• “Guardians of the Well,” by Rose Strickman, In Another Time Magazine, Issue 3, (June 2025), ed. by Agatha Grimke
• “Half Life,” by Stephen Harper, Skull X Bones, ed. by David B. Coe and Joshua Palmatier, Zombies Need Brains LLC, (December 2025)
• “The Last Mardi Gras,” by Raven Jakubowski, DreamForge Anvil #20, DreamForge Press, LLC (June 1, 2025), ed. by Scot Noel
• “Not a Fish,” by Andrew Dykstal, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #434 (June 12, 2025), ed. by Scott H. Andrews
• “The Teleporting Disaster Fairy,” by Rati Mehrotra, Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67 (November/December 2025), ed. by Michael Damian Thomas

The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction, and showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2025). An unusual feature of the selection process is that the voting is done with the identity of the author and publisher hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.

The winner is chosen by members of the Washington Science Fiction Association (www.wsfa.org), and the award will be presented at their annual convention, Capclave (www.capclave.org), held this year on October 2-4, at the Rockville Hilton & Executive Meeting Center, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD.