The Nommo Awards are literary awards presented by The African Speculative Fiction Society. The awards recognize works of speculative fiction by Africans, defined as "science fiction, fantasy, stories of magic and traditional belief, alternative histories, horror and strange stuff that might not fit in anywhere else."
The Nommo Awards have four categories: Best Novel, Novella, Short Story, and Graphic Novel. They are named after the Nommo, ancestral spirits from Dogon cosmology who take a variety of forms, including appearing on land as fish, walking on their tails.
The African Speculative Fiction Society
The African Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS) promotes science fiction and fantasy by Africans. Its members include writers, editors, artists and publishers. Established August 15, 2016 with 58 charter members, the ASFS and its Nommo Awards is a body for African science fiction/fantasy professionals.
Members nominate and vote on the Nommo Awards for African Speculative Fiction.“The ASFS will provide a place where writers, readers, and scholars can come together to find information, connect with each other, and act as watchdogs for their collective interests.” Chinelo Onwualu, co-founder of Omenana
Logo design
The Nommo Awards logo and ASFS logos were designed in 2016 by Stephen Embleton. The logo is an image of the Nommo in Dogon cosmology, twins who on land can take the form of fish walking on their tails."The Nommo are mythological ancestral spirits (sometimes referred to as deities) worshipped by the Dogon people of Mali. The word Nommos is derived from a Dogon word meaning "to make one drink." The Nommos are usually described as amphibious, hermaphroditic, fish-like creatures. Folk art depictions of the Nommos show creatures with humanoid upper torsos, legs/feet, and a fish-like lower torso and tail. The Nommos are also referred to as “Masters of the Water”, “the Monitors”, and "the Teachers”. Nommo can be a proper name of an individual, or can refer to the group of spirits as a whole. For purposes of this article “Nommo” refers to a specific individual and “Nommos” is used to reference the group of beings."
Winners and short list nominees
Novel
The Novel Award is also known as The Ilube Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel by an African. It is named for and sponsored by Tom Ilube.
YearAuthorNovelPublisherRef. Tade Thompson* Rosewater Orbit A. Igoni Barrett Blackass Graywolf Press Shadreck Chikoti Azotus, The Kingdom Pan African Publishers Nikhil Singh Taty Went West Rosarium Publishing Nick Wood Azanian Bridges NewCon Press Tochi Onyebuchi* Beasts Made of Night Penguin Young Readers Group Gavin Chait Our Memory Like Dust Doubleday Deon Meyer Fever Grove/Atlantic, Inc. Nnedi Okorafor Akata Warrior Penguin Young Readers Group Deji Bryce Olokotun After the Flare The Unnamed Press Masha du Toit The Real CreateSpace Publishing Akwaeke Emezi* Freshwater Grove Press Tomi Adeyemi Children of Blood and Bone Henry Holt and Co Nechama Brodie Knucklebone Pan Macmillan Imraan Coovadia A Spy in Time Rare Bird Books Cat Hellisen Empty Monsters Amazon Masha du Toit The Strange Independently Published Suyi Davies Okungbowa* David Mogo, Godhunter Abaddon Nerine Dorman Sing Down the Stars Tafelberg Masande Ntshanga Triangulum Penguin Random House South Africa & Two Dollar Radio Tochi Onyebuchi War Girls Razorbill Namwali Serpell The Old Drift Hogarth Tade Thompson The Rosewater Insurrection Orbit Akwaeke Emezi* The Death of Vivek Oji Riverhead Stephen Embleton Soul Searching Guardbridge Nikhil Singh Club Ded Luna T.L. Huchu* The Library of the Dead Tor T. J. Benson The Madhouse Penguin South Africa Namina Forna The Gilded Ones Delacorte/Usborne Suyi Davies Okungbowa Son of the Storm Orbit US/Orbit UK Cheryl S. Ntumy They Made Us Blood and Fury Self Published Tade Thompson Far from the Light of Heaven Orbit US/Orbit UK Wole Talabi* Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon DAW Stephen Embleton Bones and Runes Abibiman Publishing Chikodili Emelumadu Dazzling Wildfire Suyi Davies Okungbowa Warrior of the Wind Orbit Ukamaka Olisakwe Don't Answer When They Call Your Name Griots Lounge Eloghosa Osunde Vagabonds! Riverhead Tlotlo Tsamaase*Womb CityKensingtonErhu KomeThe Smoke That ThundersNorton Young ReadersNikhil SinghDakini AtollLuna Press PublishingUmar Abubakar SidiThe Incredible Dreams of Garba DakaskusMasobe2026Marvellous Michael AnsonFirstborn of the SunModupe H. AyindeA Song of Legends LostNkereuwem AlbertThe Bone RiverNnedi OkoraforDeath of the AuthorPaul Olisaeloka AnozieBlack NavelT.L. HuchuSecrets of the First School
Novella YearAuthor(s)NovellaPublisherRef. Nnedi Okorafor* Binti Tor.com Publishing Mame Bougouma Diene Hell Freezes Over StoryTime Dilman Dila The Flying Man of Stone StoryTime Muthi Nhlema Ta O'Reva Freeeditorial.com Tade Thompson & Nick Wood The Last Pantheon StoryTime Tade Thompson* The Murders of Molly Southbourne Tor.com Publishing Sofia Samatar Fallow Small Beer Press Nnedi Okorafor Binti: Home Tor.com Publishing Nerine Dorman* The Firebird Amazon Caldon Mull Neid-Fire Amazon Nnedi Okorafor Binti: The Night Masquerade Tor.com Publishing Sofia Samatar Hard Mary Lightspeed Wole Talabi* Incompleteness Theories Incomplete Solutions Kerstin Hall The Border Keeper Tor.com Publishing Caldon Mull Weatherman Self-Published Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki* Ife-Iyoku: The Tale of Imadeyunuagbon Dominion David A. Atta Guardians: The Awakening Makere Dilman Dila A Fledgling Abiba Guardbridge Tochi Onyebuchi Riot Baby Tordotcom Tlotlo Tsamaase The Silence of the Wilting Skin Pink Narcissus Nnedi Okorafor* Remote Control Tordotcom Dilman Dila The Future God of Love Luna Kola Heyward-Rotimi An Exploration of Nicole Otieno’s Early Filmography (1232-1246) Strange Horizons (9/13/21) Erhu Kome Not Seeing is a Flower Eraserhead Nuzo Onoh The Abomination F&SF9 (10/21) Stephen Embleton* Undulation Eugen Bacon Broken Paradise Luna Press Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki & Joshua Uchenna Omenga Land of the Awaiting Birth Moses Ose Utomi The Lies of the Ajungo Tordotcom Suyi Davies Okungbowa*Lost Ark DreamingTor Publishing GroupIvana Akotowaa OforiThe Year of ReturnAndroid PressTobi OgundiranIn the Shadow of the FallTitan BooksSofia SamatarThe Practice, the Horizon, and the ChainTordotcom2026Moses Ose UtomiThe Memory of the OgisiNnedi OkoraforOne Way WitchTobi OgundiranAt the Fount of Creation
Short Story YearAuthorShort StoryPublicationRef. Lesley Nneka Arimah* "Who Will Greet You At Home" Tendai Huchu* "The Marriage Plot" Innocent Immaculate Acan "Sundown" Blaize Kaye "Ndakusuwa" Wole Talabi "Wednesday's Story" Wole Talabi* "The Regression Test" Nerine Dorman "On the Other Side of the Sea" Sibongile Fisher "A Door Ajar" Chinelo Onwualu "Read Before Use" Henrietta Rose-Innes "Snake Story" Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki* "The Witching Hour" Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Stones Tiah Marie Beautement "Momento Mori" Omenana Magazine Tendai Huchu "Njuzu" AfroSFV3 Blaize Kaye "Brand New Ways (to lose you over and over again)" Omenana Derek Lubangakene "Origami Angels" Omenana Biram Mboob "The Luminal Frontier" AfroSFV3 Cristy Zinn "The Girl Who Stared at Mars" AfroSFV3 Chikodili Emelumadu* "Sin Eater" Omenana Magazine Ada Nnadi* "Tiny Bravery" Omenana Ivana Akotowaa Ofori "Principles of Balance" Jalada Suyi Davies Okungbowa "The Haunting of 13 Olúwo Street" Fireside Deji Bryce Olukotun "Between the Dark and the Dark" Lightspeed Wole Talabi "When We Dream We Are Our God" Apex Innocent Chizaram Ilo* "Rat and Finch Are Friends" Strange Horizons (3/2/20) Tlotlo Tsamaase* "Behind Our Irises" Africanfuturism: An Anthology Tiah Marie Beautement "The Bend of Water" Omenana (8/30/20) Tendai Huchu "Corialis" Fiyah (Autumn '19) Tobi Ogundiran "The Goatkeeper’s Harvest" The Dark (9/20) Pemi Aguda* "Masquerade Season" Tor.com (3/24/21) Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpek "O2 Arena" Galaxy's Edge (11/21) Mbozie Haimbre "Shelter" Disruption Shingai Njeri Kagunda "And This Is How to Stay Alive" Fantasy (11/20) Tobi Ogundiran "The Many Lives of an Abiku" Beneath Ceaseless Skies (7/30/20) Makena Onjerika "The Brother" Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World Wole Talabi "An Arc of Electric Skin" Asimov's (9-10/21) Tlotlo Tsamaase "Dreamports" Apex (12/21) Gabrielle Emem Harry* "A Name is a Plea and a Prophecy" Strange Horizons, 2023 Moustapha Mbacké Diop "Blackwater Children" Haven Speculative Fiction, 2022 Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki "Destiny Delayed" Asimov's Science Fiction, 2022 Victor Forna "Kɛrozin Lamp Kurfi" Apex Magazine, 2023 Somoto Iheuze "Like Stars Daring to Shine" Fireside Fiction 2022 and Escape Pod 2023 Solomon Uhiara "Loom" Dark Matter Magazine, 2022 Naomi Eselojor "My Mother's Love" Hexagon, 2022 Chinaza Eziaghighala "Osimiri" British Science Fiction Association’s Fission 2 Vol 1 Anthology. Cheryl S. Ntumy "The Way of Baa'gh" Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Android Press, 2023 Chisom Umeh* "From Across Time" Clarkesworld Plangdi Neple "Bodies of Sand and Blood" Cast of Wonders Mwenya Chikwa "The Future Ancients" WTBAP Damilola Oyedotun "Warning Notes from an Annihilator Machine" Lightspeed2026 Adelehin Ijasan "A Heap of Petrified Gods" Kevin Rigathi "If Memory Serves" Plangdi Neple "Full, Empty Houses" Moustapha Mbacké Diop "Apostasy in Fruit" Somto Ihezue "We Begin Where Infinity Ends " T.L. Huchu "The Cancellation of Michael Z"
Graphic Novel