SF authors, small press publishers and WSFA members have until April 2 to nominate stories for the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award

Eligible nominees are works of short fiction up to 17,500 words long in the sf, horror and fantasy genres, published by a small press in book or periodical form.

• Book: A small press is defined as a hard copy print or web publication house releasing no more than 45 titles in the year that the story is published.
• Periodical: Small press periodicals are paper publications with a circulation of fewer than 10,000 paper copies, or web publications with fewer than 10,000 subscriptions. Periodicals must compensate authors in some manner, and authors must not contribute financially to the publications.

The winner will be chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association. Blind voting is done using texts with the identity of the author and publisher stripped.

According to The Rules: “A single representative of a small press or periodical may nominate no more than three (3) stories, which may include stories published by the press/periodical or others. This representative may be the publisher, editor, or an official designee. An author may nominate one (1) story, published by themselves or others. A WSFA member may nominate one (1) story.” Then five members of WSFA screen the submissions and produce the list of finalists.

Members of the WSFA Small Press Award Committee are Roger Burns, Cathy Green, Charity Helton, Sam Lubell, and Carolyn Frank (Administrator).

The award, consisting of a small acrylic trophy, and a monetary prize of $500, will be presented at WSFA’s annual convention, Capclave, held October 6-8 in Gaithersburg, MD. Certificates of recognition will be presented to the other finalists.

SF authors, small press publishers and WSFA members have until March 31 to nominate stories for the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award for short fiction, now in its tenth year. The award honors the accomplishments of small presses in promoting and preserving sf.

Eligible nominees are works of short fiction up to 17,500 words long in the sf, horror and fantasy genres, published by a small press in book or periodical form.

• Book: A small press is defined as a hard copy print or web publication house releasing no more than 45 titles in the year that the story is published.
• Periodical: Small press periodicals are paper publications with a circulation of fewer than 10,000 paper copies, or web publications with fewer than 10,000 subscriptions. Periodicals must compensate authors in some manner, and authors must not contribute financially to the publications.

The winner will be chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association. Blind voting is done using texts with the identity of the author and publisher stripped.

According to The Rules: “A single representative of a small press or periodical may nominate no more than three (3) stories, which may include stories published by the press/periodical or others. This representative may be the publisher, editor, or an official desgnee. An author may nominate one (1) story, published by themselves or others. A WSFA member may nominate one (1) story.” Then five members of WSFA screen the submissions and produce the list of finalists.

Members of the WSFA Small Press Award Committee are Roger Burns, Cathy Green, Charity Helton, Sam Lubell, Sarah Mitchell and Carolyn Frank (Administrator).

The award, consisting of a small acrylic trophy, and a monetary prize of $500, will be presented at WSFA’s annual convention, Capclave, held October 7-9 in Gaithersburg, MD. Certificates of recognition will be presented to the other finalists.

“Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon, published in Apex Magazine # 56 (January 2014) is the winner of the 2015 WSFA Small press Award sponsored by the Washington Science Fiction Association.

The award was presented by last year’s winner, Alex Shvartsman, at a ceremony during the Capclave 2015 in Gaithersburg Maryland.

Paul Haggerty, chair of the WSFA Small Press Award committee, accepted the award on behalf of Ursula Vernon and delivered her acceptance speech —

Thank you all. I’m very honored to have been nominated, and to have my story standing shoulder-to-shoulder with such amazing work.

I would like to thank the WSFA for supporting small presses this way. Large chunks of my career have been built on the back of small presses, and without their hard work, I wouldn’t have had anywhere for my stories to go. Apex Magazine, who published Jackalope Wives, was not just the publisher. Sigrid Ellis, the editor at the time, actually commissioned the story, at a time when I didn’t think of myself as being able to write short stories–I thought I was writing weird little fictional blog posts with a beginning, middle and end, and it was Sigrid who said “That’s a short story and you will write me one!” It seems to have worked out well. I would also like to thank Jason Sizemore, the current editor of Apex, who has worked so tirelessly to promote my work, and the various other editors who had followed Sigrid’s lead over the last year or two and grabbed me by the collar and said “You will write us a thing!” This is a very haphazard way to run a career, and without the amazing people running small presses, it would not work at all.

There are a bunch of other people I could thank and who will probably silently judge me for not having thanked them, but I am currently on book tour, so my brain is not what it was a week ago. I wish I could be there in person to accept. Believe me. I am currently talking to auditoriums full of third-graders, usually two or three hundred at a time, so I REALLY wish I was there to accept in person.

Thank you.

The WSFA Small Press Award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year. Members of the Washington Science Fiction Association select the winner. All voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.

SF authors, small press publishers and WSFA members have until March 31 to nominate stories for the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award for short fiction, now in its ninth year. The award honors the accomplishments of small presses in promoting and preserving sf.

Eligible nominees are works of short fiction up to 17,500 words long in the sf, horror and fantasy genres, published by a small press. A small press is defined as a hard copy print or web publication house releasing no more than 45 titles in the year that the story is published.

The winner will be chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association. Blind voting is done using texts with the identity of the author and publisher stripped.

According to The Rules: “Small press publishers and periodicals may nominate up to three (3) stories, published by themselves or others. A writer may nominate one (1) story, published by herself/himself or others. A WSFA member may nominate one (1) story.” Then five members of WSFA screen the submissions and produce the list of finalists.

This year’s WSFA Small Press Award Committee is: Cathy Green, Paul Haggerty, Charity Helton, Sarah Mitchell, Gayle Surrette, and Carolyn Frank (Administrator)

The award will be presented at Capclave 15 over the October 9-11 weekend.

Alex Shvartsman’s “Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma” is the winner of the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award. The story was published in Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert.

Shvartsman was presented the award by Tom Doyle, the 2008 winner, during Capclave 2014 this past weekend.

[Via SF Site News.]

SF authors, small press publishers and WSFA members have until April 5 to nominate stories for the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award for short fiction, now in its eighth year.

The award honors the accomplishments of small presses in promoting and preserving sf. Eligible nominees are works of short fiction up to 17,500 words long in the sf, horror and fantasy genres, published by a small press.

The winner will be chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association. Blind voting is done using texts with the identity of the author and publisher stripped.

According to The Rules: “Small press publishers and periodicals may nominate up to three (3) stories, published by themselves or others. A writer may nominate one (1) story, published by herself/himself or others. A WSFA member may nominate one (1) story.” Then five members of WSFA screen the submissions and produce the list of finalists.

This year’s WSFA Small Press Award Committee is: Paul Haggerty, Charity Helton, Sarah Mitchell, Jimmy Rogers, Gayle Surrette, and Carolyn Frank (Administrator)

The award will be presented at Capclave 14 over the October 10-12 weekend.

[Thanks to Michael J. Walsh for the story.]