The 2021 Bram Stoker Awards® Winners

Denver, Colorado, May 16, 2021


The Horror Writers Association (HWA), the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy, announces this year’s Bram Stoker Awards® winners at its first in person ceremony since 2019during StokerCon™ at Denver, Colorado’s Curtis Hotel. “The horror genre continues its amazing renaissance. We are truly in a golden period, with every category overflowing with tremendous works,” said John Palisano, HWA President. “The winners and finalists show a diverse group of amazing voices from new and veteran creators. Our HWA members and awards juries have shown dedication and objectivity to the selection process for outstanding works of literature, cinema, non-fiction, and poetry.”

We proudly provide the list of talented winners along with the finalist nominees. In addition, awards for the Final Frame Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement and HWA’s service awards were also given. The full list is below.

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Winner: Stephen Graham Jones – My Heart is a Chainsaw (Gallery/Saga Press)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Winner: Hailey Piper – Queen of Teeth (Strangehouse Books)

Also nominated:

*Due to a tie in fifth place, there are six nominees in this category.

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Winner: Erica Waters – The River Has Teeth (HarperTeen)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Winner: Alessandro Manzetti (author) and Stefano Cardoselli (author and artist) – The
Inhabitant of the Lake (Independent Legions Publishing)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Winner: Jeff Strand – “Twentieth Anniversary Screening” (Slice and Dice) (Independently
published)
Also nominated:

  • Castro, V. – Goddess of Filth (Creature Publishing, LLC)
  • Khaw, Cassandra – Nothing But Blackened Teeth (Tor Nightfire)
  • LaRocca, Eric – Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (Weirdpunk Books)
  • Piper, Hailey – “Recitation of the First Feeding” (Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy) (The Seventh Terrace)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Winner: Lee Murray – “Permanent Damage” (Attack From the ’80s) (Raw Dog Screaming
Press)

Also nominated:

  • Gyzander, Carol – “The Yellow Crown” (Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign) (Hippocampus Press)
  • O’Quinn, Cindy – “A Gathering at the Mountain” (The Bad Book) (Bleeding Edge Books)
  • Taborska, Anna -“Two Shakes Of A Dead Lamb’s Tail” (Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands) (Telos Publishing)
  • Ward, Kyla Lee – “A Whisper in the Death Pit” (Weirdbook #44) (Wildside Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Winner: Gemma Files – In That Endlessness, Our End (Grimscribe Press)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Winner: Mike Flanagan; James Flanagan; and Jeff Howard – Midnight Mass, Season 1,
Episode 6: “Book VI: Acts of the Apostles” (Intrepid Pictures)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Winner: Ellen Datlow – When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (Titan
Books)

Also nominated:

  • Chambers, James – Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign (Hippocampus Press)
  • French, Aaron J. and Landry, Jess – There is No Death, There are No Dead (Crystal Lake Publishing)
  • Guignard, Eric J. – Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (Dark Moon Books)
  • Johnson, Eugene – Attack From the 80’s (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Winner: Michael Knost – Writers Workshop of Horror 2 (Hydra Publications)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Winner: Angela Yuriko Smith – “Horror Writers: Architects of Hope” (The Sirens Call,
Halloween 2021, Issue 55) (Sirens Call Publications)

Also nominated:

  • Ognjanović, Dejan – “The Three Paradigms of Horror” (Vastarien Vol. 4, Issue 2) (Grimscribe Press)
  • O’Quinn, Cindy – “One and Done” (Were Tales: A Shapeshifter Anthology) (Brigids Gate Press)
  • Verona, Emily Ruth – “A Horror Fan’s Guide to Surviving Womanhood” (thefinalgirls.co.uk)
  • Wetmore Jr., Kevin J. – Devil’s Advocates: The Conjuring (Auteur Publishing/Liverpool University Press)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Winner: Christina Sng; Angela Yuriko Smith; Lee Murray; and Geneve Flynn – Tortured
Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. (Yuriko Publishing)

Also nominated:


HWA Liftetime Achievement Awards were given to Nancy Holder, Koji Suzuki and Jo Fletcher.


The Specialty Press Award was given to James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle of Valancourt Books.


The Richard H. Laymon President’s Award was given to Sumiko Saulson.


The Silver Hammer Award for service was given to Kevin J. Wetmore.


The Mentor of the Year Award was given to Michael Knost.


The Seventh Annual FINAL FRAME Horror Short Competition winners are:


BEST WRITING IN A SHORT FILM:
“Becoming Emma Braintree”
Written and Directed by Joshua Koske
Based on a short story by Aaron Dries

SECOND RUNNER-UP to Grand Prize:
“Every Time We Meet For Ice Cream Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes”
Written and Directed by Anthony Cousins
Based on a short story by Carlton Mellick III

FIRST RUNNER-UP to Grand Prize
“The Thing That Ate The Birds”
Written and Directed by: Sophie Mair and Dan Gitsham

GRAND PRIZE WINNER
“Inheritance”
Written and Directed by: Annalise Lockhart

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Named in honor of the author of the seminal horror novel Dracula, the Bram Stoker Awards® are
presented annually for superior writing in eleven categories including traditional fiction of various
lengths, poetry, screenplays and non-fiction. Previous winners include: Jordan Peele, Anne Rice,
Stephen King, Ellen Datlow, George R. R. Martin, Joyce Carol Oates, George A. Romero, Nancy
Holder, Linda D. Addison, and Neil Gaiman.


Active and Lifetime members of the organization are eligible to vote for the winners in all categories.


For more on the Horror Writers Association, please visit www.horror.org.


For More Information Contact:
Horror Writers Associati