The results of the 2023 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award for best original fantasy short story were announced September 3. They are:

GRAND PRIZE: 

• “The Hitchhiker on Souls’ Road” by A.A. Nour

SECOND:

• “Fall from Grace” by Melissa Olthoff

THIRD (TIE)

• “Once Given a Name” by Shami Stovall

“The Knight, The Witch, and The Farmboy” by C.H. Hung

Shami Stovall and Mellisa Olthoff were in attendance to receive their awards.

The annual Baen Fantasy Adventure Award contest began in 2014. The award honors stories that best exemplify the spirit of adventure, imagination, and great storytelling in a work of short fiction containing an element of the fantastic, whether epic fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, contemporary fantasy, or historical fantasy. The stories are judged anonymously.

The Grand Prize and Second and Third Place Winners were announced during the Baen Travelling Roadshow at Dragon Con.

Author of the Grand Prize story receives an award trophy, a prize box filled with Baen merchandise, and paid professional rates for first publication rights. The winning story also will be featured on Baen.com main webpage. 

[Thanks to Sean C.W. Korsgaard for the story.]