Horror Writers Association Announces Two Awards

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the recipients of this year’s Specialty Press Award and Richard Laymon President’s Award.

The Specialty Press Award winner is Borderlands Press.

Since its founding in 1990 by Elizabeth and Tom Monteleone, Borderlands Press has published more than 100 titles by the most revered and successful writers in the genres of horror, dark fantasy, and suspense, including Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker, Wes Craven, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Dan Simmons, and Peter Straub.

In addition to its publishing activities, the press has sponsored and conducted the Borderlands Press Writers Boot Camp for twelve consecutive years. Held at Towson University’s Conference Center, the Boot Camp has provided instruction and guidance to more than 200 attendees—of whom more than 70% have gone on to see their subsequent work published professionally.

The annual Specialty Press Award recognizes a publisher outside the mainstream New York City publishing community that specializes in dark-themed fiction. The winner is determined by a majority vote of the HWA Board.

The Richard Laymon President’s Award winners are Patrick Freivald and Andrew Wolter, moderators of HWA’s Facebook group.

“Our Facebook group is one of the most trafficked parts of HWA’s online presence,” said HWA’s President Lisa Morton. “Keeping it focused and tidy is a difficult, time-consuming job. Patrick and Andrew put many hours every week into it, reviewing every post to make sure our rules are followed. They do so with good humor and thoughtful discussion, and HWA is lucky to have them.”

Patrick Freivald is an author, high school teacher, and beekeeper. He lives in Western New York with his beautiful wife, two birds, three dogs, too many cats, and several million stinging insects. He is the author of Twice Shy, Bram Stoker Award®-nominated Special Dead, Blood List (with his twin brother Phil), Bram Stoker Award®-nominated Jade Sky, and the sequel Black Tide, as well as the novella Love Bites, a growing legion of short stories, and the Jade Sky graphic novella (with Joe McKinney) for Dark Discoveries magazine.

Seattle resident, Andrew Wolter is the author of the books Seasons in His Abyss, Much of Madness, More of Sin, and Nightfall. He has published over three dozen short stories that have appeared both online and in print anthologies including Raw: Brutality as Art, Enter at Your Own Risk: Fires and Phantoms, and Anthology: Year Three, Distant Dying Ember. An advocate for LGBT rights, Andrew also freelances as a contributing columnist for a nationwide LGBT publication. Under the pseudonym Tristan Wilde, Andrew publishes homoerotic mystery novels.

The award is named in honor of Richard Laymon, who died in 2000 while serving as the HWA’s president. It is given by the HWA’s sitting president to a volunteer who has served in an especially exemplary manner and has shown extraordinary dedication to the organization.

Both awards will be presented at HWA’s inaugural StokerCon in Las Vegas, NV, during the Bram Stoker Awards® ceremony on May 14.