The winner of the 2024 Dell Magazines Award For Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing was announced on February 15. The award goes to the best unpublished and unsold science fiction or fantasy short story submitted by a full-time undergraduate college student.

Winner: “Lolo’s Last Run” by Emma Kerkman from Hamilton College

First Runner-up: “The Waves of Light” by Liam Betts from Vanderbilt University

(Tie) Second Runner-up: “Red Roots” by Wren Chan from Oberlin College

(Tie) Second Runner-up: “My Mother’s Daughter” by Rona Wang from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Honorable Mention: “Kodak Gold” by Emma Kerkman from Hamilton College

Honorable Mention: “Armageddon.txt” by Dylan Halsted from Goucher College

The winner receives a $500 award and will be invited to the IAFA annual International Conference on the Fantastic in mid-March in Orlando, FL. The winning story will be published in print or online by Asimov’s Science Fiction. (The Dell Award was formerly known as the Isaac Asimov Award.)

The award was started in 1992 by Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine editor Sheila Williams and science fiction writer and journalism professor Rick Wilber who are the co-judges. It is co-sponsored by Dell Magazines and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and supported by the Graduate Program in Creative Writing: Low-Residency MA/MFA in Genre Fiction at Western Colorado University.