The British Fantasy Awards are administered annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS) and were first awarded in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (The Knight of Swords by Michael Moorcock) only for novels, the number of award categories increased and in 1976 the BFS renamed them collectively the British Fantasy Awards. The current award categories are Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award), Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award), Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Independent Press, Best Artist, Best Anthology, Best Collection, Best Comic/Graphic Novel, Best Non-Fiction, and Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award), while the Karl Edward Wagner 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.
Stephen King, Bag of Bones (Scribner).
Stephen Laws, Chasm
Robert Holdstock, Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn
Jonathan Carroll, Kissing the Beehive
Michael Marshall Smith, One of Us
Charles de Lint, Someplace to be Flying
Graham Joyce, The Stormwatcher
Simon Clark, Vampyrrhic
Stephen Jones and David Sutton, Dark Terrors 4: the Gollancz Book of Horror
Gahan Wilson, The Cleft and Other Odd Tales
Steve Savile, ‘’Scaremongers 2 - Redbrick Eden’’
Richard Ford, ‘’The Granta Book of the American Long Story’’
Robert Silverberg, ‘’Legends : short novels by the masters of modern fantasy’’
Jeff VanderMeer, ‘’Leviathan 2’’
Stephen Jones, ‘’The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 09’’
Bob Covington
Ramsey Campbell, Ghosts and Grisly Things
Avram Davidson, The Avram Davidson Treasury: A Tribute Collection
Brian Lumley, A Coven of Vampires
Ray Bradbury, Driving Blind
Tim Lebbon, Faith in the Flesh
Graham Masterton, Manitou Man
Mike Chinn, The Paladin mandates
Christopher Fowler, Personal Demons
Jo Fletcher, Shadows of Light and Dark
Stephen Laws, The Song My Sister Sang
Charles de Lint, China Doll [Newford]
Ramsey Campbell, Never To Be Heard
Tanith Lee, Jedella Ghost
Andy Cox, The Third Alternative
Diana Wynne Jones
Graham Joyce, Indigo
Stephen Jones, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 10
Les Edwards
Peter Crowther, Lonesome Roads
Tim Lebbon, White
Darren Floyd, Razorblade Press
Anne McCaffrey
The 2004 awards were presented at FantasyCon XXVIII held in 2004 at the Quality Hotel, Bentley, Walsall.
Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler (Doubleday UK) (winner)
Felaheen, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Earthlight)
Lost Boy, Lost Girl, Peter Straub (HarperCollins UK)
Nobody True, James Herbert (Macmillan)
The Poison Master, Liz Williams (Tor UK)
Vampyrrhic Rites, Simon Clark (Hodder & Stoughton)
"American Waitress", Christopher Fowler (Crimewave 7: The Last Sunset) (winner)
"Exorcising Angels", Simon Clark & Tim Lebbon (Exorcising Angels)
"Fear the Dead", Ramsey Campbell (The Fear Within)
"The White Hands", Mark Samuels (The White Hands and Other Weird Tales)
"Wonderland", Mark Chadbourn (Telos)
Told by the Dead, Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing) (winner)
Demonized, Christopher Fowler (Serpent's Tail)
More Tomorrow & Other Stories, Michael Marshall Smith (Earthling Publications)
Things That Never Happen, M. John Harrison (Night Shade Books)
The White Hands and Other Weird Tales, Mark Samuels (Tartarus)
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Fourteen, Stephen Jones, ed. (Robinson) (winner)
Beneath the Ground, Joel Lane, ed. (Alchemy Press)
By Moonlight Only, Stephen Jones, ed. (PS Publishing)
Crimewave 7: The Last Sunset, Andy Cox, ed. (TTA Press)
The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, Jeff VanderMeer & Mark Roberts, eds. (Night Shade Books)
William Hope Hodgson's Night Lands, Volume 1: Eternal Love, Andy W. Robertson, ed. (Wildside)
PS Publishing (Peter Crowther, ed.) (winner)
The Alien Online (Ariel, ed.)
Elastic Press
Scheherazade (Elizabeth Counihan, ed.)
The Third Alternative (Andy Cox, ed.)
Les Edwards (winner)
Dave Bezzina
Deirdre Counihan
Bob Covington
Dominic Harman
Peter Jackson (for The Lord of the Rings films)
The 2005 awards were presented at FantasyCon 2005, held 30 September–2 October 2005 at the Quality Hotel, Bentley Walsall.
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton) (winner)
Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, Clive Barker (Voyager)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
The Queen of Sinister, Mark Chadbourn (Gollancz)
The Water Room, Christopher Fowler (Doubleday)
Breathe, Christopher Fowler (Telos Publishing) (winner)
Dead Man's Hand, Tim Lebbon (Necessary Evil Press)
My Death, Lisa Tuttle (PS Publishing)
The Ice Maiden, Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis (Pendragon Press)
Twisted Root of Jaarfindor, Sean Wright (Crowswing Books)
"Black Static", Paul Meloy (The Third Alternative #40) (winner)
"Roads Were Burning", Adam Roberts (Postscripts #1)
"The Problem of Susan" Neil Gaiman (Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy, Roc)
"The Black Phone", Joe Hill (The Third Alternative #39)
"You Will Hear the Locust Sing", Joe Hill (The Third Alternative #37)
Out of His Mind, Stephen Gallagher (PS Publishing) (winner)
Somnambulists, Allen Ashley (Elastic Press)
Darker Ages, Paul Finch (Sarob Press)
Things That Never Happen, M. John Harrison (Gollancz)
Trujillo and Other Stories, Lucius Shepard (PS Publishing)
The Alsiso Project, Andrew Hook (ed.) (Elastic Press) (winner)
Acquainted with the Night, Barbara & Christopher Roden (eds.) (Ash Tree Press)
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume 15, Stephen Jones (ed.) (Robinson/Carroll & Graf)
The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, Jeff Vandermeer & Mark Roberts (eds.) (Tor UK)
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Seventeenth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow & Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant (eds.) (St Martin's Press)
Elastic Press (Andrew Hook) (winner)
The Alien Online (ed. Ariel)
Pendragon Press (ed. Christopher Teague)
Postscripts (Peter Crowther)
PS Publishing (Peter Crowther)
Scheherazade (ed. Elizabeth Counihan)
The Third Alternative (ed. Andy Cox)
Telos Publications (David J. Howe & Stephen James Walker)
Les Edwards / Edward Miller (winner)
John Coulthart
Allen Koszowski
Richard Marchand
David Magitis
Ian Simmons
Nigel Kneale
The 2006 awards were presented at FantasyCon 2006 held 22–24 September 2006 at Britannia Hotel, Nottingham.
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
The Mask Behind the Face, Stuart Young
"Best New Horror", Joe Hill
20th Century Ghosts, Joe Hill
The Elastic Book of Numbers, Allen Ashley
PS Publishing, Peter Crowther
Les Edwards
Stephen Jones
The 2007 awards were presented at FantasyCon XXXI held 21–23 September 2007 at Britannia Hotel, Nottingham.
Dusk, Tim Lebbon (Spectra) (winner)
Breeding Ground, Sarah Pinborough, (Leisure Books)
Bridge of Dreams, Chaz Brenchley, (Ace Books)
Jack of Ravens: Kingdom of the Serpent, Book 1, Mark Chadbourn, (Gollancz)
Nova Swing, M. John Harrison, (Gollancz)
The Devil You Know, Mike Carey, (Orbit Books)
The Face of Twilight, Mark Samuels, (PS Publishing)
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch, (Gollancz)
The Unblemished, Conrad Williams, (Earthling Publications)
Kid, Paul Finch (Choices, Pendragon Press) (winner)
The Memory of Joy, Eric Brown, (Choices, Pendragon Press)
She Loves Monsters, Simon Clark, (Necessary Evil Press)
The Wife's Djinn, Ian McDonald (Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2006)
Rough Cut, Gary McMahon (Pendragon Press)
"Whisper Lane", Mark Chadbourn (BFS: A Celebration, the British Fantasy Society) (winner)
"The Little Drummer Boy", Marion Arnott (Extended Play: The Elastic Book of Music, Elastic Press)
"Puca Muc", Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis (Shrouded by Darkness, Telos Publishing)
"The Disappeared", Sarah Singleton, (Time Pieces, NewCon Press)
"31/10", Stephen Volk (Dark Corners, Gray Friar Press)
"The Veteran", Conrad Williams (Postscripts #6, PS Publishing)
Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman (Headline) (winner)
Lost, The District, and Other Stories, Joel Lane (Night Shade Books)
The Man From the Club Diogenes, Kim Newman (Monkeybrain)
And Other Tales Unbecoming of Horror, Mike O'Driscoll (Elastic Press)
The Ephémère, Neil Williamson (Elastic Press)
Extended Play: The Elastic Book of Music, Gary Couzens (Elastic Press) (winner)
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: 19th Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant (Wed Martin's Press)
Shrouded by Darkness: Tales of Terror, Alison LR Davies (Telos Publishing)
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 17, Stephen Jones (Robinson Publishing)
Choices, Christopher Teague, (Pendragon Press)
PS Publishing, Peter Crowther (winner)
TTA Press, Andy Cox
Elastic Press, Andrew Hook
Telos Publishing, David J. Howe & Stephen James Walker
Pendragon Press, Christopher Teague
Vincent Chong (winner)
Les Edwards / Edward Miller
Dean Harkness
John Picacio
The Days of the Dodo, Allen Ashley (Dodo Press)
Films and the Hellraiser: Their Legacy, Paul Kane (Macfarland & Co.)
Cinema Macabre, Mark Morris (PS Publishing)
Into the Unknown: The Life of Fantastic Nigel Kneale, Andy Murray (Headpress)
James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, Julie Phillips (Wed Martin's Press)
Joe Hill (winner)
Ellen Datlow
The 2008 awards were presented at FantasyCon 2008 held at Britannia Hotel, Nottingham.
The Grin of the Dark, Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing)
The Scalding Rooms, Conrad Williams (PS Publishing)
"My Stone Desire", Joel Lane (Black Static #1, TTA Press)
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18, Stephen Jones (Robinson)
Old Devil Moon, Christopher Fowler (Serpents Tail)
Scott Lynch
Ray Harryhausen
Whispers of Wickedness Reviews (website), Peter Tennant (ed.)
Vincent Chong
PS Publishing, Peter Crowther
The 2009 awards were presented at FantasyCon 2009 held at Britannia Hotel, Nottingham.
Memoirs of a Master Forger, William Heaney (aka Graham Joyce) (Gollancz)
The Reach of Children, Tim Lebbon (Humdrumming)
"Do You See", Sarah Pinborough from Myth-Understandings, ed. by Ian Whates (Newcon Press)
Bull Running for Girls, Allyson Bird (Screaming Dreams)
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 19, ed. Stephen Jones (Constable & Robinson)
Elastic Press (Andrew Hook)
Basil Copper: A Life in Books, Basil Copper ed. Stephen Jones (PS Publishing)
Postscripts, ed. Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers (PS Publishing)
Vincent Chong
Locke & Key, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW Publishing)
Doctor Who, head writer Russell T Davies (BBC Wales)
The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros.)
Joseph D'Lacey, for Meat (Bloody Books)
Hayao Miyazaki
The 2010 awards were presented at FantasyCon 2010 held 17–19 September 2010.
One, Conrad Williams (Virgin Horror)
The Language of Dying, Sarah Pinborough (PS Publishing)
"What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night", Michael Marshall Smith (Nightjar)
Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical, Robert Shearman (Big Finish)
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 20, ed. Stephen Jones (Constable & Robinson)
Telos Publishing, David Howe and Stephen James Walker
Ansible, David Langford
Murky Depths, edited and published by Terry Martin
Vincent Chong, for work including covers for The Witnesses Are Gone (PS Publishing) and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 20 (Constable & Robinson)
Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert (DC Comics/Titan Books) (winner)
Doctor Who, head writer: Russell T Davies (BBC Wales)
Let The Right One In, directed by Tomas Alfredson (EFTI)
Kari Sperring for Living With Ghosts (DAW)
Robert Holdstock
Terry Pratchett
No award. (Winner announced as Demon Dance by Sam Stone (House Of Murky Depths), but Stone returned the award.)
Humpty’s Bones by Simon Clark (novelist) Telos Publishing
"Fool's Gold" by Sam Stone, from The Bitten Word, Ed. Ian Whates (Newcon Press)
Back From The Dead: The Legacy of the Pan Book Of Horror Stories, Johnny Mains (Ed.) (Noose & Gibbet)
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
Altered Visions: The Art Of Vincent Chong Telos Publishing
Vincent Chong
At The Mountains Of Madness: A Graphic Novel, Ian Culbard (Selfmadehero)
Black Static, Andy Cox (Ed.) (TTA Press)
Telos Publishing
Inception
Sherlock
Robert Jackson Bennet, for Mr Shivers (Orbit)
The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Among Others by Jo Walton
Gorel and the Pot Bellied God by Lavie Tidhar
The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter by Angela Slatter
The Weird edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer
Everyone's Just So So Special by Robert Shearman
Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen
Black Static edited by Andy Cox and TTA Press
Locke and Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
Chomu Press, Quentin S. Crisp
Daniele Serra
Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Super Hero by Grant Morrison
Last Days by Adam Nevill
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce
The Nine Deaths of Dr. Valentine by John Llewellyn Probert
Shark! Shark! by Ray Cluley
Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane edited by Jonathan Oliver
Remember Why You Fear Me: The Best Dark Fiction of Robert Shearman by Robert Shearman
The Cabin in the Woods by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
ChiZine Publications, Brett Alexander Savory and Sandra Kasturi
Sean Phillips
Pornokitsch by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin
Iain M. Banks
Hair Side, Flesh Side by Helen Marshall
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
Beauty by Sarah Pinborough
Signs of the Times by Carole Johnstone
End of the Road edited by Jonathan Oliver
Monsters in the Heart by Stephen Volk
Game of Thrones: The Rains of Castamere written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss
Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace and Kate Baker
Demeter by Becky Cloonan
The Alchemy Press, Peter Coleborn
Joey Hi-Fi
Speculative Fiction 2012 edited by Justin Landon and Jared Shurin
Farah Mendlesohn
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
The 2015 winners were presented on Oct 25, 2015 at FantasyCon 2015 in Nottingham.
No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
Cuckoo Song, by Frances Hardinge
"Newspaper Heart" by Stephen Volk (in The Spectral Book of Horror Stories)
"A Woman’s Place" by Emma Newman (in Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets)
Lightspeed: Women Destroy Science Fiction Special Issue, edited by Christie Yant
Nick Nightmare Investigates by Adrian Cole
Guardians of the Galaxy
Holdfast Magazine, edited by Laurel Sills & Lucy Smee
Through the Woods, by Emily Carroll
Fox Spirit Books
Karla Ortiz
Letters to Arkham: The Letters of Ramsey Campbell and August Derleth, 1961-1971, edited by S. T. Joshi
Juliet E. McKenna
The Three by Sarah Lotz
The 2016 BFAs were awarded on September 25, 2016, at the FantasyCon 2016, "FantasyCon by the Sea", in the Grand Hotel, Scarborough.
The Doll Collection, ed. Ellen Datlow (winner)
African Monsters, ed. Margrét Helgadóttir and Jo Thomas
Aickman's Heirs, ed. Simon Strantzas
Best British Horror 2015, ed. Johnny Mains
The 2nd Spectral Book of Horror Stories, ed. Mark Morris
Julie Dillon (winner)
Ben Baldwin
Vincent Chong
Evelinn Enoksen
Sarah Anne Langton
Jeffrey Alan Love
Ghost Summer: Stories, Tananarive Due (winner)
Monsters, Paul Kane
Probably Monsters, Ray Cluley
Scar City, Joel Lane
Skein and Bone, V.H. Leslie
The Stars Seem So Far Away, Margrét Helgadóttir
Bitch Planet, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, Robert Wilson IV and Cris Peter (winner)
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why, G. Willow Wilson, Jacob Wyatt and Adrian Alphona
Nimona, Noelle Stevenson
Red Sonja, Gail Simone and Walter Geovani
Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The Sandman: Overture, Neil Gaiman, J.H. Williams III and Dave Stewart
Uprooted, Naomi Novik (winner)
Half a War, Joe Abercrombie
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho
Signal to Noise, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Guns of the Dawn, Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Iron Ghost, Jen Williams
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Peter Harness (winner)
Inside No. 9: The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton
Jessica Jones: AKA WWJD?, Scott Reynolds
Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris
Midwinter of the Spirit, Stephen Volk
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, by Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt
Rawblood, Catriona Ward (winner)
A Cold Silence, Alison Littlewood
The Death House, Sarah Pinborough
Lost Girl, Adam Nevill
The Silence, Tim Lebbon
Welcome to Night Vale, Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
Angry Robot (Marc Gascoigne) (winner)
The Alchemy Press (Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards)
Fox Spirit Books (Adele Wearing)
Newcon Press (Ian Whates)
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, ed. Scott H. Andrews (winner)
Black Static, ed. Andy Cox
Holdfast Magazine, ed. Laurel Sills and Lucy Smee
Interzone, ed. Andy Cox
Strange Horizons, ed. Niall Harrison
Zen Cho, for Sorcerer to the Crown (winner)
Becky Chambers, for The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
Peter Newman, for The Vagrant
Steven Poore, for The Heir to the North
Marc Turner, for When the Heavens Fall
Letters to Tiptree, ed. Alexandra Pierce and Alisa Krasnostein (winner)
The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History, ed. Stephen Jones
Fantasy-Faction, ed. Marc Aplin and Jennie Ivins
Ginger Nuts of Horror, ed. Jim Mcleod
King for a Year, ed. Mark West
Matrilines, Kari Sperring
The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn, Usman T. Malik (winner)
Albion Fay, Mark Morris
Binti, Nnedi Okorafor
The Bureau of Them, Cate Gardner
Witches of Lytchford, Paul Cornell
Fabulous Beasts, Priya Sharma (winner)
The Blue Room, V.H. Leslie
Dirt Land, Ralph Robert Moore
Hippocampus, Adam Nevill
Strange Creation, Frances Kay
When The Moon Man Knocks, Cate Gardner
the FantasyCon Redcloaks, Past and Present
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, a company owned by David Howe. At the time, Howe was also chair of the British Fantasy Society, British Fantasy Award coordinator, and partner of Stone.
