Awards season is upon us, and the confluence of nominations for both Best of the Net and Best Indie Lit New England being due has given us cause to review our entire past two years’ worth of work. It’s moments like that where you get a real sense of the work you’ve done: Bullying to terrorism, real-life shooting tragedies and superhero fantasies, and everything in between. All of it has graced our digital pages, provided by one of the most amazing collections of writers any editor could hope to work with.

The writers we’ve worked with have been amazingly diverse, cutting across lines of race, gender, sexuality, age, experience and literary style. This has been a blessing in every way possible, to see so many disparate voices echoing across each other, an eclectic symphony of things that very much need to be heard.

It’s always a little staggering to take a deep breath and look back at it all as a whole, to listen again to each of those voices in succession. To realize that all this beauty and human frailty is what we really are. This is the work we do, and we’re immensely proud of it. Thank you for being a part of our madcap journey.

And with that being said, our nominees are …

Best of the Net

My Part in the Musical,” by Daniel McGinn

Genesis 9: A Suite for Those Declaring Themselves to Heaven,” by Hanif Abdurraqib

For Jonylah Watkins, Who Was Shot 5 Times While Her Father Was Changing Her Diaper,” by Fatimah Asghar

Chinky,” by Franny Choi

The Correspondent,” by Mariya Deykute

Eating Black Mucus: Notes on Language, History and Creativity,” by Robert Bohm

On Falling: Action Heroes, Metaphor and Gravity,” by Sam Cha

Best Indie Lit New England

Kevin Convinced Me to Drink,” by Aaron Samuels

The Blood I Can Draw,” by Tony Brown

Family Values,” by Jacqueline Morrill

Conditional,” By Emily O’Neill

Homesong,” by William James

Chinky,” by Franny Choi

The Correspondent,” by Mariya Deykute

Union Dues: Freedom with a small f,” by Jeffrey R. DeRego

Good luck to all of our nominees, and thank you to all of our contributors for making Radius the exciting and unique journal it is. You are all beautiful and fearless, and we’re immensely grateful for your support.

Victor D. Infante
Editor-In-Chief
Radius: Poetry From the Center to the Edge