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Here Are the Winners of the 2020 British Fantasy Awards

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Published on February 22, 2021

Image: British Fantasy Society
BFS, British Fantasy Society logo British Fantasy Award
Image: British Fantasy Society

The British Fantasy Society has announced the winners of the 2020 British Fantasy Awards.

The award is handed out annually by the BFS beginning in 1972 (first named The August Derleth Fantasy Awards until 1976), with the society’s membership deciding on the initial shortlist, before turning the nominees over to juries for a final deliberation.

Here’s the full list of winners (in bold):

Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award)

Jury: Martha Bradley, Stewart Hotston, Hazel Impey, Edward Partridge, Abbi Shaw.

  • The Bone Ships – RJ Barker (Orbit)
  • The Migration – Helen Marshall (Titan)
  • The Poison Song – Jen Williams (Headline)
  • The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E Harrow (Orbit)

Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award)

Jury: Ben Appleby-Dean, Gabino Iglesias, Siobhan O’Brien Holmes, Ross Warren, Susan York.

  • The Reddening – Adam Nevill (Ritual Limited)
  • The Institute – Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
  • The Migration – Helen Marshall (Titan)
  • Mistletoe – Alison Littlewood (Jo Fletcher Books)
  • The Plague Stones – James Brogden (Titan)
  • The Twisted Ones – T. Kingfisher (Titan)

Best Newcomer (the Sydney J Bounds Award)

Jury: Barbara Barrett, Danny Hussain, Steven Poore, Natalie Ross, João F Silva.

  • Ta-Nehisi Coates, for The Water Dancer (Penguin)
  • Alix E Harrow, for The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Orbit)
  • Penny Jones, for Suffer Little Children (Black Shuck Books)
  • Tamsyn Muir, for Gideon the Ninth (Tordotcom)
  • Nina Oram, for The Joining (Luna Press)

Best Novella

Jury: Rachel Aitken, Abigail Baumbach, Steve Howarth, Gagandeep Kaur, Mark West.

  • Ormeshadow – Priya Sharma (Tordotcom)
  • The Ascent to Godhood – Neon Yang (Tordotcom)
  • Butcher’s Table – Nathan Ballingrud (Gallery / Saga Press)
  • The Deep – Rivers Solomon (Gallery / Saga Press)
  • Ragged Alice – Gareth L Powell (Tordotcom)
  • The Survival of Molly Southbourne – Tade Thompson (Tordotcom)

Best Short Fiction

Jury: G.V. Anderson, Charlotte Bhaskar, Niamh Brown, Peter Haynes, Devin Martin.

  • “The Pain-Eater’s Daughter” – Laura Mauro (Undertow)
  • “Dendrochronology” – Penny Jones (Hersham Horror)
  • “I Say, I Say, I Say” – Robert Shearman (The Shadow Booth)
  • “Tomorrow, When I Was Young” – Julie Travis (Eibonvale Press)

Best Anthology

Jury: Rosemarie Cawkwell, Elaine Gallagher, Peter Green, Ian Hunter, Caroline Mersey. 

  • New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction for People of Color, ed. Nisi Shawl (Solaris)
  • A Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Gods, ed. Jennifer Brozek (Pulse Publishing)
  • The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, ed. Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (Vintage)
  • Once Upon a Parsec: The Book of Alien Fairy Tales, ed. David Gullen (NewCon)
  • Wonderland, ed. Marie O’Regan & Paul Kane (Titan)
  • The Woods, ed. Phil Sloman (Hersham Horror)

Best Collection

Jury: Samantha Martin, Henrietta Rose-Inned, Kyle Tam, Heather Valentine, Neil Williamson.

  • Sing Your Sadness Deep – Laura Mauro (Undertow)
  • The Boughs Withered When I Told Them My Dreams – Maura McHugh (NewCon)
  • Growing Things – Paul Tremblay (Titan)
  • This House of Wounds – Georgina Bruce (Undertow)
  • Of Wars, And Memories, And Starlight – Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean Press)

Best Non-Fiction

Jury: Lee Fletcher, Kat Kourbeti, Kevin McVeigh, Samuel Poots, Kelly Richards.

  • The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games – Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (New York University Press)
  • Coffinmaker’s Blues: Collected Writings on Terror – Stephen Volk (PS Publishing)
  • The Full Lid – Alasdair Stuart
  • Joanna Russ (Modern Masters of SF) – Gwyneth Jones (University of Illinois Press)
  • Notes from the Borderland – Lynda E Rucker, for Black Static (TTA Press)
  • The Pleasant Profession of Robert E Heinlein – Farah Mendlesohn (Unbound)

Best Independent Press

Jury: Dave Brzeski, Adri Joy, Kate Macdonald, Eleanor Pender, Alasdair Stuart.

  • Rebellion Publishing
  • Aqueduct Press
  • Black Shuck Books
  • Luna Press
  • NewCon Press
  • Undertow Publications

Best Magazine / Periodical

Jury: Phoebe Barton, Louise Carey, Charles Christian, Lila Garrott, Yilin Wang.

  • Fiyah
  • Black Static
  • The Dark
  • F&SF
  • Gingernuts of Horror
  • Shoreline of Infinity

Best Audio

Jury: Eunice Hung, Catherine Mann, Nemo Martin, Tam Moules, Lucy Whiteley.

  • PodCastle
  • Breaking the Glass Slipper
  • PseudoPod
  • Speculative Spaces

Best Comic / Graphic Novel

Jury: Hannah Barton, Jay Faulkner, Sarah Hale, Christopher Napier, Jessica Steiner.

  • DIE – Kieron Gillen & Stephanie Hans (Image)
  • 2000AD, ed. Matt Smith (Rebellion)
  • Basketful of Heads #1 – Joe Hill (DC)
  • B.P.R.D. The Devil You Know, Vol. 3: Ragna Rok – Mike Mignola, Scott Allie, Laurence Campbell et al. (Dark Horse)
  • DCeased #1-6 – Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano et al. (DC)
  • The Ozone Diary – Pentti Otsamo & Tero Mielonen (Luna Press)

Best Artist

Jury: Amy Brennan, Amber Culley, Ana Miljanić, Babs Nienhuis, Christie Walsh.

  • Ben Baldwin
  • Vince Haig
  • Jackie Morris
  • David Rix

Best Film / Television Production

Jury: Ifeanyi Barbara Chidi, Jackie Fallis, James T Harding, Katherine Inskip, Aaron Jones.

  • Us – Jordan Peele (Monkeypaw Productions et al.)
  • Game of Thrones, “The Long Night” – David Benioff & DB Weiss (HBO / Sky Atlantic)
  • Watchmen, “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice” – Damon Lindelof (HBO / Sky Atlantic)
  • The Witcher, “Rare Species” – Haily Hall (Netflix)

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Andrew Liptak

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