The winners of the 2023 Ignyte Awards were announced October 21st! These awards “seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscape of science fiction, fantasy and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts towards inclusivity within the genre.”
The shortlist is selected by twenty BIPOC+ voters, including FIYAHCON staff and previous winners of the awards; this year, a dozen teen readers were also involved in the middle grade and young adult categories. Voting for the winners was open to all.
Congratulations to the winners and finalists! You can read the full list below.
Best Novel: Adult
for novel-length work (40k words) Works intended for an Adult audience
- Babel – R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)
- Kaikeyi – Vaishnavi Patel (Redhook)
- Siren Queen – Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
- WINNER: The Blood Trials – N. E. Davenport (Harper Voyager)
- The Spear Cuts Through Water – Simon Jimenez (Del Rey)
Best Novel: Young Adult
for novel-length (40k+ words) works intended for the young adult audience
- Ballad & Dagger – Daniel José Older (Rick Riordan Presents)
- WINNER: Bloodmarked – Tracy Deonn (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
- Blood Scion – Deborah Falaye (HarperTeen)
- Lakelore – Anna-Marie McLemore (Feiwel & Friends)
- The Kindred – Alechia Dow (Inkyard Press)
Best in Middle Grade
for works intended for the middle grade audience
- Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion – K. Tempest Bradford (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers)
- The Last Mapmaker – Christina Soontornvat (Candlewick Press)
- The Marvellers – Dhonielle Clayton (Henry Holt & Company)
- WINNER: Witchlings – Claribel Ortega (Scholastic Press)
- You Only Live Once, David Bravo! – Mark Oshiro (HarperCollins)
Best Novella
for speculative works ranging from 17,500-39,999 words
- Bishop’s Opening – R.S.A. Garcia (Clarkesworld)
- Empire of the Feast – Bendi Barrett (Neon Hemlock)
- Even Though I Knew the End – C. L. Polk (Tordotcom Publishing)
- Helpmeet – Naben Ruthnum (Undertow)
- WINNER: Into the Riverlands – Nghi Vo (Tordotcom Publishing)
Best Novelette
for speculative works ranging from 7,500-17,499 words
- WINNER: “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God With the Informal You” – John Chu (Uncanny Magazine)
- “Men, Women, & Chainsaws” – Stephen Graham Jones (Tor.com Originals)
- “Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness” – S. L. Huang (Clarkesworld)
- “The Epic of Qu-Shittu” – Tobi Ogundiran (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
- “To Carve Home in Your Bones” – Aigner Loren Wilson (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
Best Short Story
for speculative works ranging from 2,000-7,499 words
- “Girl Oil” – Grace Fong (Tor.com)
- WINNER: “The Lady of the Yellow Painted Library” – Tobi Ogundiran (Africa Risen, Tordotcom Publishing)
- “The Locked Pod” – Malka Older (The Sunday Morning Transport)
- “The Voice of a Thousand Years” – Fawaz Al-Matrouk (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
- “Wanderlust” – LP Kindred (Anathema: Spec From The Margins)
Best in Speculative Poetry
- “In Stock Images of the Future, Everything is White” – Terese Mason Pierre (Uncanny Magazine)
- “I Shall Not Surrender” – Beatrice Winifred Iker (Anathema: Spec From The Margins)
- “The Recipe for Time Travel” – Monique Collins (FIYAH)
- WINNER: “We Smoke Pollution” – Ai Jiang (STAR*LINE)
- “Year of the Unicorn Kidz” – Jason B. Crawford (Sundress Publications)
Critics Award
for reviews and analysis of the field of speculative literature
- Aigner Loren Wilson
- Bogi Takács
- Charles Payseur
- Christina Orlando
- WINNER: Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together
Best Fiction Podcast
for excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies
- WINNER: Black Women Are Scary
- Good Morning Antioch
- PodCastle
- Pseudopod
Best Artist
for contributions in visual speculative storytelling
- WINNER: Aimee Campbell
- Terri Chieyni
- N’kai DeLauter
- Taj Francis
- Raymond Sebastien
Best Comics Team
for comics, graphic novels, and sequential storytelling
- Changa and the Jade Obelisk #2 – Matteo Illuminat, Loris Ravina, Massimiliano Veltri & Robert Jeffrey II (MVMedia)
- Squire – Nadia Shammas & Sara Alfageeh (HarperCollins)
- WINNER: Where Black Stars Rise – Marie Enger & Nadia Shammas (Tor Nightfire)
Best Anthology/Collected Works
- Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century – Kim Fu (Tin House Books)
- Night of the Living Rez – Morgan Talty (Tin House Books)
- WINNER: Reclaim the Stars – Zoraida Córdova, ed. (Wednesday Books)
- The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer – David Pomerico and Kyle Dargan, eds. (Harper Voyager)
- Voodoonauts Presents (Re)Living Mythology – Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, H.D. Hunter & LP Kindred (Android Press)
Best Creative Nonfiction
for works related to the field of speculative fiction
- “Indigeneity in SFF Gaming: The Ongoing Need for Respectful, Native-Centered Storytelling” – Chesley Oxendine (SFWA)
- “Preliminary Observations From an Incomplete History of African SFF” – Wole Talabi (SFWA)
- WINNER: “The H Word: Horror in a Country that Is Not Afraid of Death” – Dante Luiz (Nightmare Magazine)
- “The Line Between Science Fiction and Fantasy is Blurring and I’m Into It” – Joy Sanchez Taylor (Apex Magazine)
- “When Black Boys Find Magic” – LaDarrion Williams (FIYAH)
The Ember Award
for unsung contributions to genre
- WINNER: Afronauts Podcast
- Alex Brown
- Kate Elliott
- Maurice Broaddus
- Ruoxi Chen
The Community Award
for Outstanding Efforts in Service of Inclusion and Equitable Practice in Genre
- Carl Brandon Society
- Clarion West
- dave ring
- WINNER: Flights of Foundry
- Loyalty Bookstore’s Crowdcast
