Best of the Net Nominee Nala Washington (she/her) is a poet, writer, and educator, completing her MFA at Texas State University. You can find her words currently/forthcoming in Midnight & Indigo Lit, The Hemlock Journal, Mouthful of Salt, The Santa Clara Review, Livina Press, Essay Magazine, Sanctuary Magazine, and more. As a Spoken Word Artist, Nala has competed in the Brave New Voices competition for the D.C. team in 2020, was a featured performer at the Kennedy Center in 2020 for the Arts Across America Series, was the 2023 BIPOC Scholarship winner for the Fine Arts Work Center, was on the Poetry Longlist for the 2025 DISQUIET Literary Prize, placed 4th in The Hemlock Journal’s Writing Contest - Volume 2, and has opened for established poets such as Ebony Stewart and Christopher Michael. Currently, she is a participant of Austin Poetry Slam and EveryWordPoetry. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook at @that.poetgirl to keep up with her publications and performances.