Horror Writers Association’s 2017 Service Awards

The Horror Writers Association has announced the winners of the 2017 Mentor of the Year Award, the Silver Hammer Award, and the Richard Laymon President’s Award. The awards will be presented at StokerCon™ 2018, March 1-4.

MENTOR OF THE YEAR. The Mentor of the Year Award was established in 2016 to recognize a writer who has offered extraordinary service to the HWA’s Mentor Program, which pairs newer writers with more established writers. This year, Mentor Program Chair, Brian Hatcher, has chosen Angel Leigh McCoy as the 2017 Mentor of the Year.

Angel Leigh McCoy is a writer, audiobook narrator, editor, video game designer, and the HWA webmaster. Her novelette, “Charlie Darwin, or the Trine of 1809” was published by Nevermet Press, and she has had short stories appear in Strange Aeons, Necrotic Tissue, and Ravens in the Library by QuietThunder. As a game writer, she has worked on Guild Wars 2, various Microsoft game projects, White Wolf’s World of Darkness, and Forgotten Realms among many others. Aside from a storied twenty-five-year career, she makes time for her cats, Boo, Simon, and Lappyloo, who make her world cozy.

SILVER HAMMER AWARD. The HWA presents the Silver Hammer Award in recognition of extraordinary volunteerism by a member who dedicates valuable time and effort to the organization. The award is determined by HWA’s Board of Trustees.

This year’s recipient is Kenneth W. Cain, who serves as a key member of HWA’s Membership Committee. His duties include officially welcoming and assisting new members, and consulting on membership approval and qualification issues, tasks which he has performed for several years.

Kenneth W. Cain is the author of four novels, The Saga of I trilogy and United States of the Dead, and four short story collections, These Old Tales, Fresh Cut Tales, Embers, and the forthcoming Darker Days. He is also the editor for Crystal Lake Publishing’s Tales From The Lake Volume 5. Early on, shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and One Step Beyond created a sense of wonder for the unknown that continues to fuel his writing today. He resides in Chester County, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

RICHARD LAYMON PRESIDENT’S AWARD. The Richard Laymon President’s Award is named in honor of Richard Laymon, who died in 2001 while serving as the HWA’s President. As the name implies, it is given by the HWA’s sitting President. The award is presented to a volunteer who has served HWA in an especially exemplary manner and has shown extraordinary dedication to the organization.

HWA President Lisa Morton has chosen Greg Chapman to receive the 2017 Richard Laymon Award. As a graphic designer, Chapman has served the HWA for many years, providing everything from book covers to website graphics to convention banners. “Greg’s extraordinary gifts as a graphic artist have been crucial in bringing HWA into the 21st century in terms of our visual impact and overall branding,” said Morton. “His skills as a writer ensure that his art always tells a compelling story. We’re very lucky to have such a talented – and fast! – craftsman in our ranks.”

Greg Chapman is a horror author from Australia. He is the author of the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated and Australian Shadows Award-nominated novel Hollow House, the novel The Noctuary: Pandemonium and the novellas: Torment, Vaudeville, The Last Night of October and The Eschatologist. He is also an artist and illustrated the Bram Stoker Award®-winning graphic novel Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times, written by Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton.

[Based on a press release.]