As a BFS committee member was lucky enough to receive multiple nomination this year, we had an independent audit carried out prior to the shortlists being finalised. A long-term member in good standing of the BFS was given access to all voting information along with all systems required to check eligibility of voters. This audit supported the final shortlists as displayed here.
The Awards Process
The British Fantasy Awards are voted on by members of the BFS and attendees at Fantasycon. This process is managed by our awards admin – no other committee member has access to or influence over the votes or their collection.
The shortlists are formed from the (usually 4) most voted-for titles. Juries are then empanelled and given the opportunity to add egregious omissions. After this stage, the final shortlists are made public and the juries start reading. The winner is selected by the jury and communicated to the awards admin.
The jury and egregious omissions stages act as checks and balances to ensure that the final shortlist and ultimate winner are selected as objectively as possible.
The awards admin is the only committee member who has any ability to affect or influence the outcome of the awards, and as such, the awards admin is not eligible to be nominated for any awards. The rest of the committee is in exactly the same position as any other member of the society with regard to the awards, with the exception of the Karl Edward Wagner award.
The BFS committee as a whole votes on the recipient of the Karl Edward Wagner award. Serving committee members are not eligible to receive this award – a change which was made to the constitution by the current Chair and President, to remove a potential conflict of interest.
The BFS is run by volunteers – people who give a great deal of time and effort to this community because they love it. Excluding our volunteers from consideration in awards in which they have no influence or control would serve no practical purpose in safeguarding the awards, but would professionally disadvantage our volunteers, which would likely lead to difficulty in recruiting and retaining volunteers. We are a community built largely of publishing professionals – and as a result our volunteers are largely made up of people professionally involved in the industry too.
We would like to thank our awards admin, Katherine Fowler, for the huge effort she puts into this role year on year. We would also like to thank the jurors who help to make the awards possible. Many congratulations to all of the nominees and we wish you the best of luck.
For those wondering what precisely was the impetus for this announcement, File 770 commenter Spider pointed out that a multiple nominee was also involved in the running of the BFS, and also a juror in an unrelated category. D_Libris on Twitter made similar observations.
A Twitter poll also asked how people felt about these sorts of situations:
Update: A commenter challenged the foregoing statement:
The new directions being taken by the Otherwise Award are discussed in a press release published August 16. The Otherwise Award has been on a pause while the motherboard has been discussing ways to update the award and improve things about the way it works while staying connected to the award’s roots and tradition of honoring and promoting recent works that explore and expand our ideas of gender.
The organization has announced a new streamlined process, and is moving forward with the award for work published in 2024. They are asking the public to send in recommendations. However, the 2022 and 2023 awards are still on hold.
Here is a summary of the new developments.
What is changing
We’re changing our focus somewhat. In particular, we plan to:
Focus less on honoring one specific work, and more on curating a short list of works.
Focus less on presenting an award, and more on having a conversation around recent works.
Focus less on having a celebration at one or two conventions, and more on creating accessible ways for the public to engage with the jury’s thoughts.
We’re reducing the amount of unpaid labor and burnout involved. We plan to:
Reduce the amount of work jury members have to do.
Spread out required work among more people.
Pay more people for doing infrastructure/support work, such as an administrative coordinator to support the jury.
What you’ll get each year
Under the new approach, each year’s jury will create the following:
An honor list of about three to six works, with a description of why the jurors chose each one. (That is, the jury won’t be selecting only one winner.)
Optionally, a “long list” of additional works that the jurors want to call attention to.
A discussion, among the jurors, of the works on the honor list, any trends or general ideas they noticed, and related topics. This usually takes the form of an online video call, recorded for you to watch.
A briefer synthesis/distillation of that discussion, such as a text summary, that we publish for the world to read and reference.
THE 2024 AWARDS. The Otherwise Award jury has been empaneled, chaired by Eugene Fischer, a winner of the 2015 award. They have a paid coordinator who’s working with Fischer to create the first-stage list. They are seeking more recommendations of works published in 2024. The form will be open until mid-November.
They expect to announce the 2024 honor list in late March 2025, and to share a discussion video and a text summary in April or May 2025.
People can now subscribe and unsubscribe themselves. If you want to be on their mailing list, enter your email address in the subscription form.
Finalists for the 2024 Harvey Awards, honoring the life and work of comics creator Harvey Kurtzman,(1924-1993), cartoonist, writer, editor and founder of Mad Magazine, have been revealed.
Nominees for this year’s awards were selected by a curated committee of diverse industry voices including creators, publishing professionals, retailers, educators, and librarians. Voting for the winners is now open to eligible industry professionals.
The annual gala celebrating the Harvey Awards will be livestreamed during New York Comic Con on October 18.
The shortlists for the 2023 British Fantasy Awards have been released, along with the names of the jurors who will decide the winners, which will be announced at FantasyCon in October.
Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel
Jurors: Susan Jeferies, Brian Kinsella, Dante Luiz, Kev McVeigh, Amanda Raybould
A Day of Fallen Night – Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury)
At Eternity’s Gates – David Green (Eerie River Publishing)
Beyond Sundered Seas – David Green (Eerie River Publishing)
Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon – Wole Talabi (Daw Books)
Talonsister – Jen Williams (Titan)
Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award)
Jurors: Rebecca Gault, Rome Godwin, Laura Langrish, Adam Millard, Leanbh Pearson
A House with Good Bones – T. Kingfisher (Titan)
Boys in the Valley – Philip Fracassi (Orbit)
Don’t Fear the Reaper – Stephen Graham Jones (Titan)
How to Sell a Haunted House – Grady Hendrix (Titan)
Looking Glass Sound – Catriona Ward (Viper)
One Life Left – David Green (Eerie River Publishing)
Best Novella
Jurors: Gagan Kaur, Jonathan Laidlow, Pauline Morgan, Melissa Ren, Kate Towner
The Darkness in the Pines – David Green (Eerie River Publishing)
The Last Day and the First – Tim Lebbon (PS Publishing)
The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar – Indra Das (Subterranean Press)
They Shut Me Up – Tracy Fahey (PS Publishing)
Thornhedge – T. Kingfisher (Titan)
Untethered Sky – Fonda Lee (Tordotcom)
Best Short Fiction
Jurors: Andrew Freudenberg, Stephen Kotowych, Stephen McGowan, Abbi Shaw
“Professor Flotsam’s Cabinet of Peculiarities” – Shona Kinsella (Great British Horror 8)
“The Brazen Head of Westinghouse” – Tim Major (IZ Digital)
“The Pilfered Quill” – Rachel Rener & David Green (From the Arcane)
“The Ripe Fruit in the Garden” – C.A. Yates (Great British Horror 8)
“Turn Again, O My Sweetness” – C.A. Yates (At the Lighthouse)
Best Collection
Jurors: Steven French, Heather Ivatt, Penny Jones, Graham Millichap, Stephen Theaker
A Curious Cartography – Alison Littlewood (Black Shuck Books)
Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic – Tobi Ogundiran (Undertow Publications)
No Happily Ever After – Phil Sloman
No One Will Come Back for Us – Premee Mohamed (Undertow Publications)
The House on the Moon – Georgina Bruce (Black Shuck Books)
At the Lighthouse, ed. Sophie Essex (Eibonvale Press)
Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, ed. Wole Talabi (Android Press)
Never Whistle at Night, ed. Shane Hawk (Vintage)
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, ed. Jordan Peele (Random House)
Something Peculiar: Great British Horror 8, ed. Steve J. Shaw (Black Shuck Books)
The Other Side of Never: Dark Tales from the World of Peter & Wendy, eds. Marie O’Regan & Paul Kane (Titan)
Best Independent Press
Jurors: Andy Angel, Andrew Freudenberg, Morgan Greensmith, Corinne Pollard
Angry Robot
Black Shuck Books
Eibonvale Press
Flame Tree Press
Luna Press Publishing
Newcon Press
Best Non-Fiction
Jurors: Jessica Lévai, Susan Maxwell, TJ Moules, Eleanor Pender
Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror – Tiffani Angus & Val Nolan (Luna Press Publishing)
The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts – Delyth Badder & Mark Norman (Calon)
The Full Lid – Alasdair Stuart, ed. Marguerite Kenner
Writing the Future, eds. Dan Coxon & Richard V. Hirst (Dead Ink)
Best Magazine / Periodical
Jurors: Carla Bataller Estruch, Arden Fitzroy, Adam McDowall, Siân O’Hara
Hellebore
Interzone (IZ Digital)
khōréō
Occult Detective Magazine
Shoreline of Infinity
Best Artist
Jurors: David Green,Stephen Kotowych, Stephen McGowan, Kate Towner, Paul Yates
Jenni Coutts
Vince Haig
David Rix
Asya Yordonova
Best Audio
Jurors: Eugen Bacon, Robin CM Duncan, Ann Landmann, Caroline Mersey
Cast of Wonders (Escape Artists)
The Penumbra Podcast – Harley Takagi Kaner, Kevin Vibert, Ginny D’Angelo, Alice C. LeBeau, Noah Simes
PodCastle (Escape Artists)
PseudoPod (Escape Artists)
Simultaneous Times Podcast (Space Cowboy Books)
The Tiny Bookcase – Nico Rogers & Ben Holroyd-Dell
Although the article is somewhat misleading about where the event took place, the text of a WeChat message forwarded to me the previous day indicates it took place on Monday morning at the Radisson Red hotel near to the SEC venue, but outside the actual convention area. I believe this is the same location where Dave McCarty had a notable encounter with a hat-wearing lady. Given that Dave has been seen in photos in the company of some of the people mentioned in this piece, and was front and centre at the original Tianwen launch at the Chengdu Worldcon, that may not be a complete coincidence.
Here are some extracts (via Google Translate, with some clean-up editing) from the article. I’ve also included a couple of photos from an earlier Red Star News article from the 10th, which is more about the Glasgow Worldcon in general than Tianwen.
As one of the highlights of this year’s Worldcon, the first “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition Overseas Promotion Conference was held in Glasgow on the 12th. “Tianwen” is like a bright new star, not only illuminating the journey of Chinese science fiction literature to the world, but also attracting the enthusiastic attention of science fiction fans around the world.
This science fiction literary competition originates from Chengdu and is open to the world. It has nine permanent award categories with a total prize fund of over one million yuan [approximately $140k USD]…
Back in October 2023, the 81st Worldcon was successfully concluded at the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum. The afterglow of this science fiction feast is still there, and the “gravitational wave” effect is forming. The emergence of the “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition is one of the “results”…
Renowned science fiction writer [and 2024 Hugo finalist] Han Song once said in an interview with Red Star News that the special significance of the first “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition is that it is an award jointly initiated by the Chengdu Municipal Government and the China Writers Association.
On August 9, the “Tianwen Delegation” from Chengdu arrived in Glasgow. The 82nd World Science Fiction Convention had just opened…
The Tianwen Delegation, or perhaps a part thereof. They include Chengdu co-Hugo Administrator Joe Yao/Yao Chi (leftmost), 2023 and 2024 Hugo finalist Yang Feng (middle in light-brown coat), first editor of Science Fiction World Tan Kai (wearing baseball cap) and 2024 Hugo finalist He Xi (rightmost)
At the promotion meeting of the “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition on August 12th… Wang Yating [aka Tina Wang/Wong], a nominee for this year’s Hugo Award and the host of the science fiction video program “Hugo X Interview” [aka Discover X], shared her imagination of science fiction literature while reviewing the course and achievements of Chinese science fiction in the past decade with Chinese science fiction writers such as He Xi, Qi Yue [‘July’], and Gu Shi; former editor-in-chief of “Science Fiction World” Tan Kai; Eight Light Minutes Culture CEO Yang Feng, and other industry insiders…
The table at the promotion meeting. From left to right: Yang Feng, Tan Kai, He Xi, author Qi Yue (‘July’)
The “Tianwen” Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition has nine permanent award categories with a total prize fund of over one million yuan. There are 6 literary categories:
Best science fiction novel,
Best science fiction novella,
Best science fiction short story,
Best science fiction film and television script
Best science fiction game script
Best science fiction comic work
and 3 institutional and individual categories:
Best science fiction literature institution
Best new science fiction writer
Best youth science fiction writer
[Note that on one of the pop up banners, the middle triad are instead described as “Industry awards”. Note also that the banners display the logo of the Chengdu Science Fiction Society (CSFC), the body that was responsible for organizing the Chengdu Worldcon.]
He Xi and Qi Yue in front of a Tianwen informational banner
…author Qi Yue [‘July’] said that “Tianwen” is a brand new voice for the science fiction community and a welcome thing for science fiction writers. In addition, film and television practitioners can also pay attention to works they are interested in through this award, “finding a clear thread for marketization and commercialization, so that this circle can form a positive cycle.”
For Chinese and foreign science fiction fans, the “Tianwen” Science Fiction Literature Competition is more like a bridge, allowing creators and fans from different countries and regions to share their works, views and creativity. Yang Feng, founder of Chengdu company Eight Light Minutes and editor-in-chief of the Chinese version of “Galaxy Edge”, believes that the overseas expansion of the “Tianwen” competition will help build a network of global science fiction communities. “Through online and offline exchange activities, it will promote international cooperation in SF creation and industry, enhance the international influence of Chinese SF and contribute important forces to the prosperity and development of global SF culture” [she said].
Neil Clarke, editor-in-chief of Clarkesworld, believes that promoting excellent science fiction works around the world is very valuable… [He said] “Science fiction always brings surprises to people. I saw the beginning of these surprises from “Tianwen”. I believe that more surprises will be discovered through “Tianwen” in the future.”
Neil Clarke being interviewed at Glasgow 2024.
Carolina Gómez Lagerlöf, chair of the European Science Fiction Association, hopes that more works from non-English speaking countries will become known to more people through Tianwen in the future… Representatives of the 2025 Seattle Worldcon said that Tianwen is a supplement to world SF literature [and she said that] “Through Tianwen, people in the worldwide community around the world can broaden their horizons and learn more about excellent non-English language SF works.”
Carolina Gómez Lagerlöf being interviewed by Joe Yao at Glasgow 2024.
It is worth mentioning that “Tianwen” will also be present at the Seattle Worldcon next year… At this 2024 Worldcon, the “Tianwen Delegation” also held a party, inviting writers, publishing organizations and senior SF fans to share the fun. The Chinese science fiction exhibits and the diverse “theme booths” became highlights of the event.
The “Tianwen Delegation” party mentioned in the final paragraph above appears to be the same thing as the “Chengdu Thank You Party”, seen on the banner behind Carolina Gómez Lagerlöf, and also promoted by Dave McCarty from his Facebook account. I can’t say I was checking that closely, but I don’t recall seeing any photos from that party whilst I was trawling Weibo and Xiaohongshu for posts of interest. I wonder if anyone reading this attended that party, or perhaps only a select elite were considered senior enough to hobnob with Dave and co?
For anyone wondering where the money for all of this is coming from, an earlier Red Star News article – which was briefly mentioned in a late July Scroll – stated that:
This dream-filled goal is inseparable from the joint efforts of various science fiction-related industries. Mu Tao, Chairman of Chengdu Media Group [the parent of Chengdu Business Daily] and Vice Chairman of the Competition Organizing Committee, signed relevant cooperation agreements on the “Tianwen” Science Fiction Literature Competition with Air China, Sichuan Energy Investment AsiaInfo, and Three-Body Universe at the press conference.
And as a reminder, that article also noted that the committee for the Tianwen award would include “relevant members of the World Science Fiction Association Mark Protection Committee”. At present it seems that we can only speculate on the identity of these MPC members (or possibly just member singular).
Note: for an alternative perspective on this news, SF Lightyear put out a Chinese-language Weibo post just as I was starting this write-up earlier today.
The 2024 winners of the Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were announced at Glasgow 2024, A Worldcon for Our Futures on August 12 following a panel discussion of Alternate History.
SHORT FORM
Rosemary Smith, “Apollo in Retrograde,” Analog, November/December 2023
LONG FORM
Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz, Faber & Faber, October 2023
In 2024, the jury members for the award were Matt Mitrovich, Olav Rokne, Kurt Sidaway, and Steven Silver.
The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were conceived in late 1995 to honor the best “genre” publications of the year. The award takes its name from Murray Leinster’s 1934 short story “Sidewise in Time,” which explores a world in which a strange storm allows people to travel between alternate worlds. The first Sidewise Awards were announced in Summer 1996 at L.A.Con III.
Each year, two awards are given. The Best Long Form Award is presented to the best novel or complete series. The Best Short Form Award is given to the best work under 60,000 words. In addition, at the discretion of the judges, a Special Achievement Award may be presented for a significant body of work or a specific novel or story which was published prior to the inception of the award. A complete list of past winners may be found here.
The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) today announced the winners of the 2024 Aurora Awards for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror in an online awards ceremony hosted by Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz Anderson.
BEST NOVEL
The Valkyrie, Kate Heartfield, HarperVoyager
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, Cherie Dimaline, Tundra Books
BEST NOVELETTE/NOVELLA
Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee, Tordotcom
BEST SHORT STORY
“At Every Door A Ghost”, Premee Mohamed, Communications Breakdown, MIT Press
The 2024 Hugo Award winners were announced in person at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon today. Almost 700 also viewed the ceremony on the YouTube livestream.
Full voting statistics for both the nominating and final ballots can be found on the Glasgow 2024 website.
BEST NOVEL
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)
BEST NOVELLA
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK)
BEST NOVELETTE
“The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023)
BEST SHORT STORY
“Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023)
BEST SERIES
Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)
BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC
Saga, Vol. 11 written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
BEST RELATED WORK
A City on Mars by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith (Penguin Press; Particular Books)
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, screenplay by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Michael Gilio, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Paramount Pictures)
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM
The Last of Us: “Long, Long Time”, written by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, directed by Peter Hoar (Naughty Dog / Sony Pictures)
BEST GAME OR INTERACTIVE WORK
Baldur’s Gate 3, produced by Larian Studios
BEST EDITOR SHORT FORM
Neil Clarke
BEST EDITOR LONG FORM
Ruoxi Chen
BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
Rovina Cai
BEST SEMIPROZINE
Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective
BEST FANZINE
Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together, editors Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer; senior editors Joe Sherry, Adri Joy, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla.
BEST FANCAST
Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty
BEST FAN WRITER
Paul Weimer
BEST FAN ARTIST
Laya Rose
LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YA BOOK
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)
ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (sponsored by Dell Magazines)
Xiran Jay Zhao
The committee reports 3,813 final ballots (3,808 electronic and 5 paper) were received and counted from the members of Glasgow 2024. As previously announced, they disqualified 377 of these which were not cast by natural persons. The remaining 3,436 (3,431 electronic, 5 paper) votes were counted.
