The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) announced on October 1 that Steven Harper is the winner of the 2022 WSFA Small Press Award for best short fiction published by a small press in 2021. Harper’s honor was revealed during Capclave in Rockville, MD.

“Eight Mile and the City” by Steven Harper, from When Worlds Collide, ed. by S. C. Butler & Joshua Palmatier, Zombies Need Brains, LLC (July 2021), is the winning story.

The award was announced by Capclave Guest of Honor Ursula Vernon, the only 3-time winner of the WSFA Small Press Award.

The other finalists for the 2021 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction were:

• “The Birdsong Fossil” by DK Mok, Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures, (April 2021) World Weaver Press ed. by Christoph Rupprecht, Deborah Cleland, Norie Tamura, Rajat Chaudhuri, and Sarena Ulibarri;
• “Dress of Ash” by Y. M. Pang, Seasons Between Us: Tales of Identities and Memories, ed. by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law, Laksa Media Groups Inc. (2021);
• “Fisherman’s Soup” by Kristina Ten, Mermaids Monthly, (May 26, 2022) ed. by Julia Rios, Meg Frank, and Ashley Deng;
• “From the Ashes Flew the Ladybug” by Alexandra Seidel, The Deadlands, Issue 7 (November 2021) ed. by E. Catherine Tobler;
• “Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo, The Dark Magazine, Issue 69 (February 2021) ed by Sean Wallace;
• “Space Pirate Queen of the Ten Billion Utopias” by Elly Bangs, Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 138 (November 2021) ed. by John Joseph Adams;
• “Standing Orders” by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Derelicts, ed. by David B. Coe and Joshua Palmatier, Zombies Need Brains, LLC (July 2021); 
• “A Stranger Goes Ashore” by Adam R. Shannon, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 328 (April 22, 2021) ed. by Scott H. Andrews; and
• “A Universe All to Himself” by Ryan Priest, Metaphorosis, (April 2021) ed. by B. Morris Allen.