Best of the Net Nominees

One of my goals for 2026 was to nominate poems for more awards. While we have sent Touchstone nominations since the beginning, I wanted to get the work in this journal in front of people outside the haiku world. While I have mixed feelings about trying to push haiku into the American poetic mainstream (a subject for another time), it certainly doesn't hurt anything to nominate the work in this journal for awards aimed at poetry in general. The two awards we added to our nomination list are Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize.

Best of the Net considers poems published from July 1st in one year to June 30th the following year, meaning our nominees included a selection of 2025 and 2026 poets. I solicited nominations from guest editors, and then Richa and I narrowed down the list to six poems, the maximum we are allowed to submit.

Without further ado, here are the Best of the Net nominees for 2026:

open air concert
the conductor cues
the silent stars

Barrie Levine
August 3rd, 2025

*

hot spell
the fan stirs
nothing

C.X. Turner
August 8th, 2025

*

bearded iris
amongst all the pink ladies
dad's garden club

Eavonka Ettinger
June 30th, 2026

*

not seeking
another companion
last firefly

Ruth Holzer
September 1st, 2025

*

bridal sari
raining blooms
of the flame tree

Sangita Kalarickal
July 1st, 2025

*

extra innings
advancing along the baseline
the buck moon

Sari Grandstaff
July 4th, 2025