The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as The Guardian as a "prestigious fantasy prize", and one of the three most prestigious speculative fiction awards, along with the Hugo and Nebula Awards (which cover both fantasy and science fiction). The World Fantasy Award—Novella is given each year for fantasy stories published in English. A work of fiction is eligible for the category if it is between 10,000 and 40,000 words in length; awards are also given out for longer pieces in the Novel category and shorter lengths in the Short Fiction category. The Novella category has been awarded annually since 1982, though between 1975—when the World Fantasy Awards were instated—and 1982 the short fiction category covered works of up to 40,000 words. In 2016, the name of the category was changed from Best Novella to Long Fiction, before reverting to Novella in 2018.
World Fantasy Award nominees and winners are decided by attendees and judges at the annual World Fantasy Convention. A ballot is posted in June for attendees of the current and previous two conferences to determine two of the finalists, and a panel of five judges adds three or more nominees before voting on the overall winner. The panel of judges is typically made up of fantasy authors and is chosen each year by the World Fantasy Awards Administration, which has the power to break ties. The final results are presented at the World Fantasy Convention at the end of October. Winners were presented with a statue in the form of a bust of H. P. Lovecraft through the 2015 awards; more recent winners receive a statuette of a tree.
During the 45 nomination years, 166 authors have had works nominated; 43 of them have won, including ties and co-authors. Only five authors have won more than once: Elizabeth Hand, with three wins out of nine nominations; Richard Bowes, with two wins out of three nominations; K. J. Parker, who also won twice out of three nominations; Ellen Klages, with two wins out of two nominations; and Kij Johnson, also with two wins out of two nominations. Of authors who have won at least once, Hand has the most nominations, followed by George R. R. Martin at five and Ursula K. Le Guin at four. Lucius Shepard has the most nominations without winning and the most overall at ten; he is followed by Kim Newman, who has six nominations without winning.
Winners and nominees In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the work was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a yellow background and an asterisk (*) next to the writer's name have won the award; the other entries are the other nominees on the shortlist.
* Winners + YearAuthorWorkPublisher/publicationRef. 1982 * Ealdwood Donald M. Grant Mythago Wood Whispers III (Doubleday) 1983 * Perpetual Light (Warner Books) * Whispers Different Seasons (Viking Press) Death (Playboy Press) Nightmare Seasons (Doubleday) 1984 * Omni Heroic Visions (Ace Books) (Dodd, Mead and Company) Cheap Street Press 1985 * Interzone Amazing Stories Clive Barker's Books of Blood, Vol. II (Sphere Books) 1986 * Dark Gods (Viking Press) Night Visions 2 (Dark Harvest) Shadows 8 (Doubleday) Imaginary Lands (Ace Books) Asimov's Science Fiction 1987 * Asimov's Science Fiction Asimov's Science Fiction Night Visions 3 (Dark Harvest) Night Moves Axolotl Press Night Cry 1988 * Fantasy & Science Fiction Night Visions 4 (Dark Harvest) Masques II (Maclay & Associates) Liavek: Wizard's Row (Ace Books) (Arbor House) Omni In the Field of Fire (Tor Books) 1989 * Night Visions 5 (Dark Harvest) Viking Kestrel Night Visions 6 (Dark Harvest) Asimov's Science Fiction 1990 * Novelty (Doubleday) Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana Axolotl Press Mark V. Ziesing Asimov's Science Fiction Book of the Dead (Bantam Books) 1991 * Asimov's Science Fiction Lovecraft's Legacy (Tor Books) Black Cocktail Legend Press Asimov's Science Fiction 1992 * (William Morrow and Company) * Axolotl Press Once Upon a Time (Legend Press) Our Lady of the Harbour Axolotl Press Cold Shocks (Avon) Weird Tales 1993 * MetaHorror (Abyss) Fantasy & Science Fiction Fantasy & Science Fiction Fantasy & Science Fiction Unmasking Axolotl Press 1994 * Under the Crust (Wendigo) Full Spectrum 4 (Bantam Spectra) Mefisto in Onyx Mark V. Ziesing Fantasy & Science Fiction Fantasy & Science Fiction 1995 * Fantasy & Science Fiction Borderlands 4 (Borderlands Press) Asimov's Science Fiction Little Deaths (Millennium) (Carroll & Graf Publishers) Love In Vein (HarperPrism) 1996 *Radio Waves|"Radio Waves" Omni Asimov's Science Fiction Fantasy & Science Fiction Full Spectrum 5 (Bantam Spectra) Dark Terrors (Victor Gollancz) Where They Are Hid Charnel House 1997 * Viking Ariel Asimov's Science Fiction Asimov's Science Fiction Starlight 1 (Tor Books) Dark Terrors 2 (Victor Gollancz) 1998 * Fantasy & Science Fiction (Robinson Publishing) Love In Vein II (HarperPrism) Bending the Landscape: Fantasy (White Wolf Publishing) Dark of the Night (Pumpkin Books) 1999 * Asimov's Science Fiction Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice (Chatto & Windus) Legends (Voyager Books) Legends (Voyager Books) Murder for Revenge (Delacorte Press) 2000 * Fantasy & Science Fiction * Palace Corbie Eight (Merrimack Books) Fantasy & Science Fiction Weird Tales Asimov's Science Fiction Fantasy & Science Fiction 2001 * American Fantasy Press * Blue Kansas Sky (Golden Gryphon Press) Sci Fiction Shadows and Silence (Ash-Tree Press) Black Heart, Ivory Bones (Avon Publications) Dark Terrors 5 (Victor Gollancz) Vanishing Acts (Tor Books) 2002 * (Leisure Books) Redshift (Roc Books) Fantasy & Science Fiction Tales from Earthsea (Harcourt) Fantastic Stories of the Imagination Sci Fiction 2003 * Leviathan 3 (The Ministry of Whimsy Press) Coraline HarperCollins Conjunctions Seven Wild Sisters Subterranean Press PS Publishing 2004 * Trampoline (Small Beer Press) (Tor Books) Sci Fiction Exorcising Angels (Earthling Publications) (Tor Books) 2005 * Fantasy & Science Fiction Flights (Roc Books) My Death PS Publishing Sci Fiction Tainaron: Mail from Another City Prime Books 2006 * Voluntary Committal Subterranean Press Another War Telos Publishing Fantasy & Science Fiction Specimen Days (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Magic for Beginners (Small Beer Press) (Science Fiction Book Club) 2007 * (Golden Gryphon Press) Dark Harvest Cemetery Dance Publications Fantasy & Science Fiction (MonkeyBrain Books) Map of Dreams (Golden Gryphon Press) 2008 * Illyria PS Publishing (MonkeyBrain Books) Fantasy & Science Fiction PS Publishing Fantasy & Science Fiction 2009 * Fantasy & Science Fiction Filter House (Aqueduct Press) Odd and the Frost Giants Bloomsbury Publishing Fantasy & Science Fiction Strange Roads (DreamHaven Books) 2010 * X 6 (Coeur de Lion Publishing) Everland and Other Stories (PS Publishing) Fantasy & Science Fiction Cern Zoo (Megazanthus Press) PS Publishing Subterranean Press 2011 * Stories (William Morrow and Company) Bone and Jewel Creatures Subterranean Press PS Publishing Subterranean Press Warriors (Tor Books) ChiZine Publications 2012 * Subterranean Magazine (Jo Fletcher Books) (Jo Fletcher Books) Ghosts by Gaslight (Harper Voyager) Clarkesworld Magazine 2013 * Subterranean Magazine (Night Shade Books) Tachyon Publications (Subterranean Press) Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press) 2014 * Tor.com * Black Helicopters Subterranean Press Subterranean Magazine Tor.com Six-Gun Snow White Subterranean Press 2015 * We Are All Completely Fine Tachyon Publications Tor.com Subterranean Magazine Fantasy & Science Fiction Tor.com Tor.com 2016 * PS Publishing Fantasy & Science Fiction Horrorology (Jo Fletcher Books) Tor.com Tor.com 2017 * Tor.com Publishing Tor.com Publishing Whispered Echoes (Cemetery Dance Publications) Every Heart a Doorway Tor.com Publishing Tor.com Publishing 2018 * Passing Strange Tor.com Publishing Tor.com Publishing In Calabria Tachyon Publications Mapping the Interior Tor.com Publishing TTA Press 2019 * Clarkesworld Magazine Tor.com Publishing Tor.com Publishing Subterranean Press Beneath the Sugar Sky Tor.com Publishing 2020 * Silver in the Wood Tor.com Publishing Wounds (Saga Press) Saga Press Desdemona and the Deep Tor.com Publishing In an Absent Dream Tor.com Publishing 2021 * Riot Baby Tor.com Publishing Flyaway Tor.com Publishing Tachyon Publications Ring Shout Tor.com Publishing Fantasy & Science Fiction 2022 * And What Can We Offer You Tonight Neon Hemlock Press Never Have I Ever (Small Beer Press) Finches Vernacular Books When Things Get Dark (Penguin Random House) Nothing But Blackened Teeth Nightfire Books 2023 * Pomegranates Absinthe Books Tachyon Publications Even Though I Knew the End Tordotcom Helpmeet Undertow Publications Stelliform Press 2024 * Spin a Black Yarn (Del Rey Books) Tordotcom Mammoths at the Gates Tordotcom White Cat, Black Dog (Random House) Tordotcom (as T. Kingfisher) Thornhedge Tor Books/Titan UK) 2025 * Yoke of Stars Tachyon Publications Crypt of the Moon Spider Nightfire Books/Titan UK Grimdark Magazine Tordotcom Tordotcom/Titan UK 2026 Tordotcom; Arcadia Letters from an Imaginary Country (Tachyon Publications) Uncertain Sons and Other Stories (Undertow Publications) Lethe Press You, Human: An Anthology of Dark Science Fiction, Vol. 2 (Written Backwards) Psychopomp & Circumstance Tordotcom Tordotcom
References
External links World Fantasy Convention official site