The third annual Ignyte Awards, hosted by Brent Lambert, were presented on Saturday, September 17th, 2022.
The Ignyte Awards “seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre.” Voting was open to the public in Spring 2022, resulting in 6935 votes across 1205 submitted ballots.
The Ignyte Awards committee is honored to present the following winners within their respective categories:
BEST NOVEL: ADULT
for novel-length work (40k words) Works intended for an Adult audience
Winner: A Master of Djinn – P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom)
Black Water Sister – Zen Cho (Ace Books)
Light from Uncommon Stars – Ryka Aoki (Tor Books)
Sorrowland – Rivers Solomon (MCD)
The Unbroken – C. L. Clark (Orbit)
BEST NOVEL: YOUNG ADULT
for novel-length (40k+ words) works intended for the young adult audience
Winner: A Snake Falls to Earth – Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
Redemptor – Jordan Ifueko (Harry N. Abrams)
The Wild Ones – Nafiza Azad (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
This Poison Heart – Kalynn Bayron (Bloomsbury YA)
White Smoke – Tiffany D. Jackson (Katherine Tegen Books)
BEST IN MIDDLE GRADE
for works intended for the middle grade audience
Amari and the Night Brothers – B.B. Alston (Balzer & Bray/Harperteen)
Josephine Against the Sea – Shakirah Bourne (Scholastic Inc.)
Winner: Root Magic – Eden Royce (Walden Pond Press)
The Insiders – Mark Oshiro (HarperCollins)
Tristan Strong Keeps Punching – Kwame Mbalia (Rick Riordan Presents)
BEST NOVELLA
for speculative works ranging from 17,500-39,999 words
Winner: And This is How to Stay Alive – Shingai Njeri Kagunda (Neon Hemlock)
Fireheart Tiger – Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
Flowers for the Sea – Zin E. Rocklyn (Tordotcom)
Nothing but Blackened Teeth – Cassandra Khaw (Tor Nightfire)
Philia, Eros, Storge, Agápe, Pragma – R.S.A. Garcia (Clarkesworld)
BEST NOVELETTE
for speculative works ranging from 7,500-17,499 words
“Colors of the Immortal Palette” – Caroline M. Yoachim ( Uncanny)
“The Badger’s Digestion; or the First-Hand Description…of Deneshan Beastcraft” by an Aouwan “Researcher” – Malka Older (Constelacion Magazine)
“The Equations of the Dead” – An Owomyela (Lightspeed Magazine)
Winner: “The Future Library” – Peng Shepherd (Tordotcom)
“The Music of the Siphorophenes” – CL Polk (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
BEST SHORT STORY
for speculative works ranging from 2,000-7,499 words
“The Center of the Universe” – Nadia Shammas (Strange Horizons)
“Delete Your First Memory for Free” – Kel Coleman (FIYAH Literary Magazine)
Winner: “If the Martians have Magic” – P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny Magazine)
“The Fifth Horseman” – Martin Cahill (Fireside Fiction)
“The Tale of Jaja and Canti’ – Tobi Ogundiran (Lightspeed)
BEST IN SPECULATIVE POETRY
“Appeal to the Doppelgänger” – Terese Mason Pierre (Fantasy Magazine)
“Dragonslayer” – Priya Chand (Fantasy Magazine)
“Kuala Lumpur Urban Legends” – Jack Kin Lim (Strange Horizons)
“None of the Star Trek Ships Are Named After Confederate Generals” – Arden Eli Hill (Strange Horizons)
Winner: “Post Massacre Psyche Evaluation” – Abu Bakr Sadiq (Uncanny Magazine)
CRITICS AWARD
for reviews and analysis of the field of speculative literature
Akilah White
Arley Sorg
Thistle & Verse
Winner: Alex Brown
Rich in Color
BEST FICTION PODCAST
for excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction
Escape Pod
Winner: Khōréō Magazine
Gallery of Curiosities
Podcastle
Pseudopod
BEST ARTIST
for contributions in visual speculative storytelling
Tommy Arnold
Paul Kellam
Winner: Morgan Madeline
John Picacio
Raymond Sebastien
BEST COMICS TEAM
for comics, graphic novels, and sequential storytelling
Abbot: 1973 – Saladin Ahmed & Sami Kivelä (Boom! Studios)
Count – Ibrahim Moustafa, Brad Simpson, & Hassan Otsame-Elhaou (Humanoids, Inc.)
Winner: Nubia: Real One – L. L. McKinney & Robyn Smith (DC Comics)
Shadow Life – Hiromi Goto & Ann Xu (First Second)
Squad – Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle (Green Willow Books)
BEST ANTHOLOGY/COLLECTED WORKS
For works related to the field of speculative fiction
Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan – Usman T. Malik (Kitab (Pvt) Ltd.)
Never Have I Ever – Isabel Yap (Small Beer Press)
Reconstruction: Stories – Alaya Dawn Johnson (Small Beer Press)
Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology – Alex Hernandez, Matthew David Goodwin, & Sarah Rafael García, eds. (Mad Creek Books)
Winner: We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020 – C.L. Clark, Charles Payseur, eds. (Neon Hemlock)
BEST CREATIVE NONFICTION
for works related to the field of speculative fiction
“Round Table: The Palestinian Speculative” – Fargo Tbakhi, N.A. Mansour, Rasha Abdulhadi (Strange Horizons)
Winner: “We Are the Mountain: A Look at the Inactive Protagonist” – Vida Cruz (Fantasy Magazine)
“What You Might Have Missed” – Arley Sorg (Uncanny Magazine)
“The Necessity of Slavery Stories” – Troy L. Wiggins (Uncanny Magazine)
“Where Will You Place Us When We Are Dead?” – Monte Lin (Strange Horizons)
THE EMBER AWARD
for unsung contributions to genre
Maurice Broaddus
Winner: Tananarive Due
Malinda Lo
Julia Rios
Sheree Renée Thomas
THE COMMUNITY AWARD
for outstanding efforts in service of inclusion and equitable practice in genre
Anathema: Spec from the Margins: Michael Matheson, Andrew Wilmot, Chinelo Onwualu
dave ring
Khōréō Magazine – Aleksandra Hill, Founder & Editor-in-Chief and Team
Winner: The Submission Grinder – David Steffen
We Need Diverse Books
