The 2023 Trigon Awards were presented at SpiralCon 2 this past weekend at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.

The awards are given by Spiral Tower Press, which publishes the magazines Whetstone and Witch House, and celebrate “the past, present, and future of science fiction, fantasy, and horror”.

Here are the winners plus the citations telling why they were selected.

SCHOLARLY ACHIEVEMENT

• Rusty Burke is the President of the Robert E. Howard Foundation, an organization that fosters a better understanding of the life and works of Robert E. Howard. Burke has edited several editions of Howard’s work for publishers such as Del Rey, Wandering Star, and the Robert E. Howard Press. Burke has published countless articles on Robert E. Howard for academic and fan published. Burke founded The Dark Man: Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies, is a member of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association, and a co-organizer of Howard Days, an annual celebration of the life and art of Robert E. Howard, the creator of sword and sorcery.

LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT

• Old Moon Quarterly describes itself as “an independent magazine devoted to publishing weird sword-and-sorcery fiction set in a historical paranormal setting or a secondary-world, with a focus on well-rounded characters driving strange action.” OMQ’s editorial staff has published new sword and sorcery and dark fantasy work that holds in artful tension (1) pulp genre tradition and (2) the modern, artful, and poignant. This delicate and admirable balancing of editorial priorities is laudable. Also notable and commendable is OMQ‘s fair pay rate of 8 cents-per-word.

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT

• Toni Weisskopf is editor and publisher of Baen Books, a venerable press in the realms of fantasy and science fiction. Weisskopf has been nominated four times for a Hugo Award, is an awardee of the Phoenix Award, the Rebel Award, and the Neffy Award for best editor. Apropos the Trigon Awards, Weisskopf is an unparalleled steward and champion of the pulp genres of sword and sorcery, military science fiction, and epic fantasy.

Toni Weisskopf said in her acceptance remarks:

“I’d like to thank the committee for the Trigon Award: both for awarding me one, and simply for causing such awards to be. I have been a fan of pulp fiction my whole life, and I think it’s fantastic (and Amazing and Astounding) to see the serious attention paid to this vital and vibrant form of literature. I wish the organizers every success with the awards and in spreading the word about the virtues of sword and sorcery and other pulp genres. We at Baen look forward to publishing such fiction for a long time to come.”

[Thanks to Cora Buhlert for the story.]