British Fantasy Awards 2025: Shortlist Announced!

After a crowdsourced suggestion list for eligible works, and then a period of public voting, the shortlist for this year’s British Fantasy Awards has now been confirmed.

These works will now be considered by a jury of peers, with the ultimate winners being announced at an awards ceremony at World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, held from 30 October to 2 November.

To be eligible, works had to have been published for the first time in the English language during the calendar year 2024, anywhere in the world, and must contain some speculative element—though we interpret ‘fantasy’ widely. More details in the awards FAQ, here.

British Fantasy Awards Administrator Paul Yates says: “This year has seen a fruitful long list of eligible works and, more importantly, we have had a very healthy amount of votes. There was an unusually high number of juror applications and it has been a happily difficult job to create the juries. The chosen jurors have had a couple of weeks to establish any egregious omissions, and we are now able and happy to announce the final shortlists.”

Chair of the British Fantasy Society, Shona Kinsella, says: “The release of the shortlists is always a moment of great joy for me. What a wonderful breadth of excellent writing we have, and so many more books to add to my towering TBR. Congratulations to all of the nominees and good luck to the jurors!”

The nominees are…

Best Anthology

• Nova Scotia 2, edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J Wilson – Luna Press Publishing
• I Want That Twink Obliterated!, edited by Trip Galey, C.L. McCartney, and Robert Berg – Bona Books
• Fight Like A Girl 2, edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall – Wizard’s Tower Press
• Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon- PS Publishing
• The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023), edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Chinaza Eziaghighala – Caezik SF & Fantasy
• Bury Your Gays – An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, edited Sofia Ajram – Ghoulish Books

Jurors: Kristen Platt, Steven French, Ariana Weldon, Stuart Conover, Jacqui Greaves

Best Artist

• Jenni Coutts
• Kelly Chong
• Greg Chapman
• L N Bayen

Jurors: Sophie Jarrell, Donna Scott, Addison Smith, Ben Moxon, Kate Towner

Best Audio

• Podcastle
• The Tiny Bookcase
• Breaking the Glass Slipper
• Pseudopod

Jurors: Elizabeth Elliott, Marc Bitterli, Jo Ross-Barrett, Edward Partridge, Graham Millichap

Best Collection

• Dirt Upon My Skin – Steve Toase – Black Shuck Books
• Limelight and Other Stories – Lyndsey Croal – Shortwave Publishing
• Mood Swings – Dave Jeffery – Black Shuck Books
• Preaching To The Perverted – James Bennett – Lethe Press
• Elephants in Bloom – Cecile Cristofari – Newcon Press

Jurors: Rosemarie Cawkwell, Heather Valentine, Ed Fortune, Mark Findlater, Rick Danforth

Best Fantasy Novel

• The Green Man’s War – Juliet E. McKenna – Wizard’s Tower Press
• Fathomfolk – Eliza Chan – Orbit
• Long Live Evil – Sarah Rees Brennan – Orbit
• A Shadow Over Haven – David Green – Eerie River Publishing
• Masquerade – O.O. Sangoyomi – Forge Books

Jurors: Rhian Drinkwater, Jackson P. Brown, Suleman Kurd, Mira Manga, Sarah Gray

Best Horror Novel

• Withered Hill – David Barnett – Canelo Horror
• The Ravening – Daniel Church – Angry Robot
• Among The Living – Tim Lebbon – Titan Books
• Bury Your Gays – Chuck Tingle – Titan Books
• My Darling Dreadful Thing – Johanna van Veen – Poisoned Pen Press
• Feast While You Can – Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta – Simon & Schuster

Jurors: Laura Langrish, Tam Moules, Arden Fitzroy, Erin Hardee, Corinne Pollard

Best Independent Press

• Newcon Press
• Black Shuck Books
• Flame Tree Press
• Luna Press Publishing
• Swan River Press

Jurors: Andy Angel, Melanie Bell, Miguel R Peck, Alia McKellar, Bronte Rowan

Best Magazine / Periodical

• ParSec
• Phantasmagoria
• Ginger Nuts of Horror
• Shoreline of Infinity

Jurors: Melissa Ren, Daniel S. Katz, Jonathan Laidlow, Anna Agaronyan, Hero Owen

*Interzone has asked to withdraw from the category as they previously won this award. The jury has replaced them with Shoreline of Infinity.

Best Newcomer

• Eliza Chan – Fathomfolk – Orbit
• Lyndsey Croal – Limelight and Other Stories – Shortwave Publishing
• Frances White – Voyage of the Damned – Penguin Michael Joseph
• L N Bayen – Wingspan of Treason – Bregma Publishing
• J.L Odom – By Blood, By Salt – Azimuth
• Adrian M Gibson – Mushroom Blues

Jurors: Lexie Way, Devindran Jeyathurai, Talia Nusbaum, Nicolas Gonzalez, Alasdair Stuart

Best Non-Fiction

• Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing More Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror – Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan – Luna Press
• Autism and Writing – David Green – BFS Blog
• The Full Lid – Alasdair Stuart, edited by Marguerite Kenner
• Track Changes – Abigail Nussbaum – Briardene Books
• Queer as Folklore: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters – Sacha Coward – Unbound
• Translating, Interpreting, and Decolonizing Chinese Fairy Tales: A Case Study and Ideological Approach (Studies in Folklore and Ethnology: Traditions, Practices, and Identities) – Juwen Zhang – Lexington Books

Jurors: Geoff Holder, Heather Ivatt, Ellis Saxey, Amelia Roberts, Arturo Serrano

Best Novella

• Charlie Says – Neil Williamson – Black Shuck Books
• The Last to Drown – Lorraine Wilson – Luna Press
• What Feasts at Night – T. Kingfisher – Titan Books
• Millionaires Day – Kit Power – French Press

Jurors: Amanda Raybould, Ivor K Hill, Chris Hawton, Glyn Jones, Grace Woods

Best Short Story

• Godskin – CL Hellisen – Strange Horizons
• The Oracle at Dairy – Tiffani Angus – Trembling with Fear via HorrorTree.com
• The Witch’s Pillowbook – Priya Sharma – Bound in Blood: Stories of Cursed Books, Damned Libraries and Unearthly – Titan Books
• Loneliness Universe – Eugenia Triantafyllou – Uncanny Magazine
• Jinx – Carlie St. George – PseudoPod

Jurors: Fran Moldaschl, Andrew Leon Hudson, Santiago Eastman, Abbi Shaw, D Andrews

Join us at World Fantasycon in October to celebrate the year in speculative fiction: get all the details here.

Edited 23/6/25 to correct the publisher for Bury Your Gays (Best Horror Novel) and What Feasts at Night Best Novella); to remove Steve Toase’s short story nomination (story was originally published in 2018 and so is ineligible); and to correct a juror’s name.

Edited 24/6/25 to remove Interzone from the Best Magazine/Periodical category, by their request, replacing it with Shoreline of Infinity. Also edited the publisher for Feast While You Can (Best Horror Novel).