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 during 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:
Castro, V. – The Queen of the Cicadas (Flame Tree Press)
Hendrix, Grady – The Final Girl Support Group (Berkley)
Pelayo, Cynthia – Children of Chicago (Agora Books)
Wendig, Chuck – The Book of Accidents (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

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

Also nominated:
Martinez, S. Alessandro – Helminth (Omnium Gatherum)
McQueen, LaTanya – When the Reckoning Comes (Harper Perennial)
Miles, Terry – Rabbits (Del Rey)
Quigley, Lisa – The Forest (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
Willson, Nicole – Tidepool (The Parliament House)
*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:
Blake, Kendare – All These Bodies (Quill Tree Books)
Boyle, R.L. – The Book of the Baku (Titan Books )
Lewis, Jessica – Bad Witch Burning (Delacorte Press)
Sutherland, Krystal – House of Hollow (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

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:
Ahmed, Saladin (author) and Kivelä, Sami (artist) – Abbott 1973 (BOOM! Studios)
Garcia, Kami (author); Suayan, Mico (artist); Badower, Jason (artist); and Mayhew, Mike
(artist) – Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity (DC Comics)
Morrison, Grant (author); Child, Alex (author); and Franquiz, Naomi (artist) – Proctor Valley
Road (BOOM! Studios)
Panosian, Dan (author) and Ignazzi, Marianna (artist) – An Unkindness of Ravens (BOOM!
Studios)

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:
Fracassi, Philip – Beneath a Pale Sky (Lethe Press)
Maberry, Jonathan – Empty Graves: Tales of the Living Dead (WordFire Press LLC)
Tuttle, Lisa – The Dead Hours of Night (Valancourt Books)
Wise, A.C. – The Ghost Sequences (Undertow Publications)

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:
Chaisson, C. Henry; Antosca, Nick; and Cooper, Scott – Antlers (Searchlight Pictures)
Dong-hyuk, Hwang – Squid Game, Season 1, Episode 1: “Red Light, Green Light” (Siren
Pictures)
Graziadei, Phil and Janiak, Leigh – Fear Street: Part One – 1994 (Chernin Entertainment)
Peele, Jordan; Rosenfeld, Win; and DaCosta, Nia – Candyman (Universal Pictures)

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:
Olson, Danel – 9/11 Gothic: Decrypting Ghosts and Trauma in New York City’s Terrorism
Novels (Lexington Books)
Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew and Hansen, Regina M. – Giving the Devil His Due: Satan and
Cinema (Fordham University Press)
Wetmore Jr., Kevin J. – Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters
(Reaktion Books)
Woofter, Kristopher – Shirley Jackson: A Companion (Peter Lang Publishing)

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:
Lansdale, Joe R. – Apache Witch and Other Poetic Observations (Independent Legions
Publishing)
McHugh, Jessica – Strange Nests (Apokrupha)
Simon, Marge and Turzillo, Mary – Victims (Weasel Press)
Snyder, Lucy A. – Exposed Nerves (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

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

The Specialty Press Award was given to 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

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 Association
info@horror.org