Presenting: The Foofs 2025

Good evening, worms and germs!

Please hold your applause until the end. We have 8 wonderful categories to run through, covering 40 different finalists recognizing some of the best short fiction that was published in the year 2025.

Our aim with The Foofs is to put a spotlight on "the little guy." With hundreds, if not thousands of litmags, out there in the world, only a few ever really get the attention and recognition they deserve. While we are just another one of those tiny mags, we've set out to do our best to recognize our friends, peers, and enemies (you know who you are), who are doing amazing work writing and publishing wonderful stories as the backbone of the literary world.

Without further ado, let's get weird...

First up, our Wisp Award for best 100-word drabble. Here are your nominees:

✨ Wisp

• Basic Ghost Girly by Chris Doty-Dunn
  (Rat Bag Lit)
• Delete by Katie Dee
  (Black Hare Press)
• Green Thumb by Arvee Fantilagan
  (Dragon Soul Press)
• Try Luigi’s Pizza! by Rachel Henderson
  (100 Foot Crow)
• Secret Ingredient by Mike Range
  (Rat Bag Lit)

And the winner is... 🥁

🍕 Try Luigi's Pizza! by Rachel Henderson

Next, is our Glimmer Award for best Flash Fictions story up to 1,000 words. Your final nominees are as followed:

✨ Glimmer

• Darkrooms by Ali McLafferty
  (Flash Frog)
• Bubbe's Last Kugel by Chris Doty-Dunn
  (TL;DR Press)
• One Can Only Wish by Will Kelly
  (Sci-fi Shorts)
• Thicker Than Water by Aeryn Rudel
  (Radon Journal)
• We Were Never Afraid of the Spider by Timothy Fox
  (The Molotov Cocktail)

And the winner is... 🥁

🕷️ We Were Never Afraid of the Spider by Timothy Fox

We now enter the Force Field of Foofaraw for the next two premier categories covering the sweet spot of what we here at Foofaraw publish. AKA these are the stories we are most jealous of not being able to publish ourselves...

First from the Force Field is the Fragment Award for best Short Story between 1,000 - 2,500 words. The nominees for Fragment are:

✨ Fragment

• An Infestation Of Elliotts by Galen Gower
  (Tales Of Galactic Pest Control)
• Nacho Average Sun by Jennifer Peaslee
  (State of Matter)
• Reactor by L.N. Hunter
  (InkdPub)
• The Dead Man by Rachel Henderson
  ((s)crawl)
• The Pain Artist by E. Florian Gludovacz
  (WolfSinger Publications)

And the winner is... 🥁

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 An Infestation Of Elliotts by Galen Gower

Then the second from the Force Field is our Phantasm Award for best Medium-length Short Story between 2,500 - 5,000 words. And the nominees are...

✨ Phantasm

• Blotter Acid by Devin James Leonard
  (Dark Horses)
• His Goose is Cooked by S.C. Mills
  (MetaStellar)
• The Truth Extraction by Carla Ward
  (Tales of the Fantastic)
• Trending Now, Help With Legal Fees For Reluctant Swordsman by Mitchell Shanklin
  (Podcastle)
• What Washes Ashore by Eric Farrell
  (JayHenge)

And the winner is... 🥁

☢️ Blotter Acid by Devin James Leonard

Oh boy! How exciting was that?! Let's take a second to cool off and catch our breathe as we exit the Force Field—but stay buckled in as we are only halfway through!

Next, is our Chronicle Award for best Longer Short Story between 5,000 - 7,500 words. And your nominees:

✨ Chronicle

• Alternate Timeline Fanfic by Eric Del Carlo
  (Fiction on the Web)
• Bone-eater Earth by Emma Burnett
  (Uncharted)
• I Know They Will Be Lavender by Carla Ward
  (Porter House Review)
• Mrs. Virginia's Big Day by Moira Richardson
  (The Writer's Workout)
• The Good, the Bad, and the Balloon Animals by Devin James Leonard
  (Fiction on the Web)

And the winner is... 🥁

🦴 Bone-eater Earth by Emma Burnett

Our last story award is the hefty Magnum Award for best Novelette between 7,500 - 15,000 words. And here are your nominees:

✨ Magnum

• Fox and Troll Bake a Cake by Jeff Reynolds
  (GigaNotoSaurus)
• Jillian, Formerly Known as Frog Girl by Alaina Hammond
  (Home Planet News)
• Margin Walker by Tony Dunnell
  (Fusion Fragment)
• The Clock and the Copernicus by Jay McKenzie
  (JayHenge)
• The Other Side of Fear by Mia Dalia
  (Sky Pony Press)

And the winner is... 🥁

🐸 Jillian, Formerly Known as Frog Girl by Alaina Hammond

Next, is our Federmeister* Award for the editor that was best to work with, as nominated by authors published in 2025. And your nominees:

✨ Federmeister

• Andrew Leon Hudson, Mythaxis
• Anna Reser, Night Shades Magazine
• JP Relph, Trash Cat Lit
• Mallory McCrory, (s)crawl
• Tim James, Neon & Smoke

And the winner is... 🥁

🪶 Andrew Leon Hudson, Mythaxis

And finally, the grand finale, the big shebang: the Wunderkammer** Award for the best magazine of the year, as nominated by short story authors:

✨ Wunderkammer

• Astrolabe
• Mythaxis Magazine
• Radon Journal
• Trollbreath Magazine
• Uncharted

And the winner is... 🥁

🗄️ Radon Journal

Well, that's all folks! It's been an absolute pleasure. Please join us again next year at some point and time so we can do it all again—and keep your eyes peeled for The Foofs: Best of Strange Fiction (2025) anthology featuring the winners and more! Coming to a bookshop near you soon!

Until next time... FOOFIE and THE FLOOF, signing off.

*Federmeister roughly translates to the one who wields the feather; or the master of the pen
**Wunderkammer roughly translates to chamber of wonders; or cabinet of curiosities