We now have the finalists for the 2026 Ignyte awards. The winners in each category will be decided by public vote, and you can vote here! Voting closes on August 16, 2026.
Congratulations to all!
Outstanding Novel: Adult
- Cursed Daughters – Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)
- Harmattan Season – Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor Books)
- Motheater – Linda H. Codega (Erewhon Books)
- A Song of Legends Lost – M. H. Ayinde (Saga Press)
- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter – Stephen Graham Jones (Saga Press)
Outstanding Novel: Young Adult
- Needy Little Things – Channelle Desamours (Wednesday Books)
- (S)kin – Ibi Zoboi (Versify)
- The Leaving Room – Amber McBride (Feiwel & Friends)
- They Bloom at Night – Trang Thanh Tran (Bloomsbury YA)
- The Transition – Logan-Ashley Kisner (Delacorte Press)
Outstanding Middle Grade
- Afia in the Land of Wonders – Mia Araujo (Scholastic Press)
- Candace, the Universe, and Everything – Sherri L. Smith (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
- Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave – Ally Russel (Delacorte Press)
- The Glade – Naseem Jamnia (Bittersweet Books)
- The Island of Forgotten Gods – Victor Piñeiro (Sourcebooks Young Readers)
Outstanding Novella
- Audition for the Fox – Martin Cahill (Tachyon Publications)
- Descent – Wole Talabi (Clarkesworld)
- Psychopomp & Circumstance – Eden Royce (Tordotcom)
- The Iron Below Remembers – Sharang Biswas (Neon Hemlock)
- The River Has Roots – Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom)
Outstanding Novelette
- “Human Voices” – Isabel J. Kim (Lightspeed Magazine)
- “Never Eaten Vegetables” – H. H. Pak (Clarkesworld)
- “Uncertain Sons” – Thomas Ha (Undertow Publications)
- “We Begin Where Infinity Ends” – Somto Ihezue (Clarkesworld)
- “What I Saw Before the War” – Alaya Dawn Johnson (Reactor)
Outstanding Short Story
- “Autogas Ferryman” – Champ Wongsatayanont (Nightmare Magazine)
- “Because I Held His Name Like A Key” – Aimee Ogden (Strange Horizons)
- “Commensalism, Or the Labyrinth’s Vessels” – Albert Nkereuwem (Will This Be a Problem)
- “Ichthyosis” – M.L. Krishnan (Fantasy Magazine)
- “The Octopus Dreams of Personhood” – Hannah Yang (Diabolical Plots)
Outstanding Speculative Poetry
- “After the Storm” – Ishita Basu Mallik (The Deadlands)
- “In an attempt to seduce Death my sister starts calling him Love” – Karan Kapoor (Strange Horizons)
- “Set It Off (1996) – Fans’ Cut” – Nova Cypress Black (Strange Horizons)
- “The Language of Fireflies” – Angela Liu (The Deadlands)
- “The oblique light at Kakushima (a memory of persimmons)” – Ryu Ando | 安堵 龍 (Strange Horizons)
Critics Award
- Alex Brown
- Gabino Iglesias
- Maria Haskins
- The Skiffy and Fanty Show: Shaun Duke, Daniel Haeusser, Paul Weimer, Trish Matson, Stephen Geigen-Miller, and Cam Coulter
- Vanessa Fogg
Outstanding Fiction Podcast
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Scott H. Andrews, Editor-in-Chief/Producer
- Escape Pod: Mur Lafferty, Valerie Valdes, Kevin Wabaunsee, Phoebe Barton, Tina Connolly, Alasdair Stuart, Summer Brooks, Adam Pracht, Marcus Tsong, Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko, Ewen Ma, Christine Amsden, Rick Danforth, Michael A. Pepin, EA Crawley, Abhijeet, Sarah Loch, Phoenix Alexander and Casey Lawrence
- khōréō Magazine
- Lightspeed Magazine: John Joseph Adams, Stefan Rudnicki, Alison Belle Bews, Alex Barton
- Nightmare Magazine: Wendy N. Wagner, John Joseph Adams, Stefan Rudnicki, Terence Taylor, Alison Belle Bews
Outstanding Anthology/Collective Works
- Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity: ED. Lee Mandelo . CONTRIBUTORS: Esther Alter, Bendi Barrett, Ta-wei Chi translated by Ariel Chu, Colin Dean, Maya Deane, Dominique Dickey, Katharine Duckett, Meg Elison, Paul Evanby, Aysha U. Farah, Sarah Gailey, Ash Huang, Margaret Killjoy, Wen-yi Lee, Ewen Ma, Jamie McGhee, Sam J. Miller, Aiki Mira, translated by CD Covington, Sunny Moraine, Nat X Ray, Neon Yang, Ramez Yoakeim (Erewhon Books)
- As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories: ED. Terese Mason Pierre . CONTRIBUTORS: Chimedum Ohaegbu, Chinelo Onwualu, Terese Mason Pierre, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, francesca ekwuyasi, Trynne Delaney, Lue Palmer, Whitney French, Zalika Reid-Benta, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga (Spiderline)
- Call and Response – Christopher Caldwell (Neon Hemlock)
- The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories: ED. André M. Carrington . CONTRIBUTORS: Nalo Hopkinson, An Owomoyela, Thaddeus Howze, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Jennifer Marie Brissett, Sofia Samatar, Kiini Ibura Salaam, Violet Allen, P. Djèlí Clark, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, N.K. Jemisin, Alex Smith, Justina Ireland, Rion Amilcar Scott, Tochi Onyebuchi, Craig Laurance Gidney, Tara Campbell, Victor LaValle, Maurice Broaddus, Stacey Robinson (Library of America)
- We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope: EDs. Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, Malka Older . CONTRIBUTORS: Charlie Jane Anders, Samit Basu, Tobias S. Buckell, Reo Eveleth, Jaymee Goh, Nicola Griffith, Alejandro Heredia, Vida James, N.K. Jemisin, R.B. Lemberg, Sam J. Miller, Abdulla Moaswes, Laia Asieo Odo, Kelly Robson, Nisi Shawl, Ursula Vernon, Sabrina Vourvoulias, Izzy Wasserstein. Interviewees: adrienne maree brown, Andrea Dehlendorf, Walidah Imarisha, L.A. Kauffman, Scott Gabriel Knowles, Kendra Pierre-Louis (Saga Press)
Outstanding Creative Nonfiction
- A Conjuror’s Manifesto: Notes on the Afrosurreal – Shyheim Williams (Strange Horizons)
- Photon Torpedoes Break the Space Muqarnas: SFF Audiovisuals and Anti-Muslim Violence – Tanvir Ahmed (Strange Horizons)
- Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler – Susana M. Morris (Amistad)
- The Outspoken and the Incendiary – Terry Bisson (PM Press)
- The Secret History of Indian Science Fiction – Gautam Bhatia (Alter Magazine)
The Ember Award
- Arley Sorg
- dave ring
- Karen Lord
- Martha Wells
- Maurice Broaddus
The Community Award
- Augur Magazine/Augur Society
- Jason Sanford’s Genre Grapevine
- Sistah Scifi
- Strange Horizons
- Will This Be A Problem
