The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the

British Fantasy Society The British Fantasy Society (BFS) was founded in 1971 as the British Weird Fantasy Society, an offshoot of the British Science Fiction Association. The society is dedicated to promoting the best in the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres. ...

(BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see

August Derleth Award The August Derleth Award is one of the British Fantasy Awards bestowed annually by the British Fantasy Society. The award is named after the American writer and editor August Derleth. It was inaugurated in 1972 for the best novel of the year, was n ...

). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of Swords'' by

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...

) only for novels, the number of award categories increased and in 1976 the BFS renamed them collectively to the British Fantasy Awards. The current award categories are: * Best Fantasy Novel (the

Robert Holdstock Robert Paul Holdstock (2 August 1948 – 29 November 2009) was an English novelist and author best known for his works of Celts, Celtic, Nordic countries, Nordic, Goths, Gothic and Picts, Pictish fantasy literature, predominantly in the fanta ...

Award) * Best Horror Novel (the

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the ...

Award) * Best Novella * Best Short Fiction * Best Anthology * Best Collection * Magazine/Periodical * Best Independent Press * Best Comic/Graphic Novel * Best Artist * Film/Television Production * Best Audio * Best Non-Fiction * Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award) * The

Karl Edward Wagner Karl Edward Wagner (12 December 1945 – 14 October 1994) was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. He ...

Award for "important contribution to the genre or the Society" is given at the discretion of the BFS committee. The membership of the BFS vote to determine the shortlists of the awards, the winners being decided by juries.

Conventional Fiction Writing

¹Previously "Best Short Story", before 2008. ²Was originally presented as a single award known as "Best Novel", the August Derleth Fantasy Award, until split in 2012.

Anthology, Collection, Magazine, and Press

¹Provided as "Small Press" until 2015, when that was ended and replace with "Independent"

Multimedia

¹Was initially conferred 1973-1980 as "Best Comic"; it was revived in 2009 as "Best Comic / Graphic Novel". ²Awarded only to films from 1973-1990, this honor was renewed 2009-2011, (though split into two separate categories), and again starting in 2014 as "Best Film / Television Episode", and then "Best Film / Television Production" from 2016 onward. In the two years 2012-2013, the BFS decided to present for extraordinary contributions to screenplay literature to Woody Allen for ''Midnight in Paris'' (2012) and co-writers Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon for ''Cabin in the Woods'' (2013).

Nominees and winners (other awards)

Award controversy of 2011

In 2011, British writer Sam Stone won the British Fantasy Award but returned it three days later after editor and anthologist Stephen Jones posted a blog entry pointing out that three of the winning entries (and many of the shortlisted works) were published by

Telos Publishing Telos Publishing Ltd. is a publishing company, originally established by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker, with their first publication being a horror anthology based on the television series '' Urban Gothic'' in 2001. The name comes from ...

, a company owned by David Howe. At the time, Howe was also chair of the

, British Fantasy Award coordinator, and partner of Stone.

References

External links

British Fantasy Society AwardsExcerpts and synopses of BFA Award winning and nominated novels
{{Fantasy fiction

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

Awards established in 1971 Novella awards Speculative fiction award-winning novellas 1971 establishments in the United Kingdom Anthology awards Short story collection awards