Announcing the 2026 Ignyte Awards Shortlist

The Ignyte Awards Committee is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2026 Igynte Awards. The 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. To that effect, the committee feels that these creators, creations, entities and perspectives from 2025 present the brightest lights in speculative fiction’s future. We encourage you to seek out the nominees unfamiliar to you on this ballot. Engage with their works of fiction or acts of community, and use those experiences to inform your vote.

OUTSTANDING NOVEL: ADULT

for novel-length work (40k words) Works intended for an adult audience

Cursed Daughters – Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday)
Harmattan Season – Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor Books)
Motheater – Linda H. Codega (Erewhon Books)
A Song of Legends Lost – M. H. Ayinde (Saga Press)
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter – Stephen Graham Jones (Saga Press/Titan Books)

OUTSTANDING NOVEL: YOUNG ADULT

for novel-length (40k+ words) works intended for the young adult audience

Needy Little Things – Channelle Desamours (Wednesday Books)
(S)kin – Ibi Zoboi (Versify)
The Leaving Room– Amber McBride (Feiwel & Friends)
They Bloom at Night – Trang Thanh Tran (Bloomsbury YA)
The Transition – Logan-Ashley Kisner (Delacorte Press)

OUTSTANDING MIDDLE GRADE

for works intended for the middle grade audience

Afia in the Land of Wonders – Mia Araujo (Scholastic Press)
Candace, the Universe, and Everything – Sherri L. Smith (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave – Ally Russell (Delacorte Press)
The Glade – Naseem Jamnia (Bittersweet Books)
The Island of Forgotten Gods – Victor Piñeiro (Sourcebooks Young Readers)

OUTSTANDING NOVELLA

for speculative works ranging from 17,500-39,999 words

Audition for the Fox – Martin Cahill (Tachyon Publications)
Descent – Wole Talabi (Clarkesworld)
Psychopomp & Circumstance – Eden Royce (Tordotcom)
The Iron Below Remembers – Sharang Biswas (Neon Hemlock)
The River Has Roots – Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom)

OUTSTANDING NOVELETTE

for speculative works ranging from 7,500-17,499 words

Human Voices – Isabel J. Kim (Lightspeed Magazine)
Never Eaten Vegetables – H. H. Pak (Clarkesworld)
Uncertain Sons – Thomas Ha (Undertow Publications)
We Begin Where Infinity Ends – Somto Ihezue (Clarkesworld)
What I Saw Before the War – Alaya Dawn Johnson (Reactor)

OUTSTANDING SHORT STORY

for speculative works ranging from 2,000-7,499 words

Autogas Ferryman – Champ Wongsatayanont (Nightmare Magazine)
Because I Held His Name Like A Key – Aimee Ogden (Strange Horizons)
Commensalism, Or the Labyrinth’s Vessels – Albert Nkereuwem (Will This Be a Problem)
Ichthyosis – M.L. Krishnan (Fantasy Magazine)
The Octopus Dreams of Personhood – Hannah Yang (Diabolical Plots)

OUTSTANDING SPECULATIVE POETRY

After the Storm – Ishita Basu Mallik (The Deadlands)
In an attempt to seduce Death my sister starts calling him Love – Karan Kapoor (Strange Horizons)
Set It Off (1996) – Fans’ Cut – Nova Cypress Black (Strange Horizons)
The Language of Fireflies – Angela Liu (The Deadlands)
The oblique light at Kakushima (a memory of persimmons) – Ryu Ando | 安堵龍 (Strange Horizons)

CRITICS AWARD

for reviews and analysis of the field of speculative literature

Alex Brown
Gabino Iglesias
Maria Haskins
The Skiffy and Fanty Show: Shaun Duke, Daniel Haeusser, Paul Weimer, Trish Matson, Stephen Geigen-Miller, and Cam Coulter
Vanessa Fogg

OUTSTANDING FICTION PODCAST

for excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction

Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Scott H. Andrews, Editor-in-Chief/Producer
Escape Pod: Mur Lafferty, Valerie Valdes, Kevin Wabaunsee, Phoebe Barton, Tina Connolly, Alasdair Stuart, Summer Brooks, Adam Pracht, Marcus Tsong, Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko, Ewen Ma, Christine Amsden, Rick Danforth, Michael A. Pepin, EA Crawley, Abhijeet, Sarah Loch, Phoenix Alexander and Casey Lawrence
khōréō Magazine
Lightspeed Magazine: John Joseph Adams, Stefan Rudnicki, Alison Belle Bews, Alex Barton
Nightmare Magazine: Wendy N. Wagner, John Joseph Adams, Stefan Rudnicki, Terence Taylor, Alison Belle Bews

OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY/COLLECTED WORKS

Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity: ED. Lee Mandelo . CONTRIBUTORS: Esther Alter, Bendi Barrett, Ta-wei Chi translated by Ariel Chu, Colin Dean, Maya Deane, Dominique Dickey, Katharine Duckett, Meg Elison, Paul Evanby, Aysha U. Farah, Sarah Gailey, Ash Huang, Margaret Killjoy, Wen-yi Lee, Ewen Ma, Jamie McGhee, Sam J. Miller, Aiki Mira, translated by CD Covington, Sunny Moraine, Nat X Ray, Neon Yang, Ramez Yoakeim (Erewhon Books)
As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories: ED. Terese Mason Pierre . CONTRIBUTORS: Chimedum Ohaegbu, Chinelo Onwualu, Terese Mason Pierre, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, francesca ekwuyasi, Trynne Delaney, Lue Palmer, Whitney French, Zalika Reid-Benta, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga (Spiderline)
Call and Response – Christopher Caldwell (Neon Hemlock)
The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories: ED. André M. Carrington . CONTRIBUTORS: Nalo Hopkinson, An Owomoyela, Thaddeus Howze, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Jennifer Marie Brissett, Sofia Samatar, Kiini Ibura Salaam, Violet Allen, P. Djèlí Clark, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, N.K. Jemisin, Alex Smith, Justina Ireland, Rion Amilcar Scott, Tochi Onyebuchi, Craig Laurance Gidney, Tara Campbell, Victor LaValle, Maurice Broaddus, Stacey Robinson (Library of America)
We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope: EDs. Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, Malka Older . CONTRIBUTORS: Charlie Jane Anders, Samit Basu, Tobias S. Buckell, Reo Eveleth, Jaymee Goh, Nicola Griffith, Alejandro Heredia, Vida James, N.K. Jemisin, R.B. Lemberg, Sam J. Miller, Abdulla Moaswes, Laia Asieo Odo, Kelly Robson, Nisi Shawl, Ursula Vernon, Sabrina Vourvoulias, Izzy Wasserstein. Interviewees: adrienne maree brown, Andrea Dehlendorf, Walidah Imarisha, L.A. Kauffman, Scott Gabriel Knowles, Kendra Pierre-Louis (Saga Press)

OUTSTANDING CREATIVE NONFICTION

for works related to the field of speculative fiction

A Conjuror’s Manifesto: Notes on the Afrosurreal – Shyheim Williams (Strange Horizons)
Photon Torpedoes Break the Space Muqarnas: SFF Audiovisuals and Anti-Muslim Violence – Tanvir Ahmed (Strange Horizons)
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler – Susana M. Morris (Amistad)
The Outspoken and the Incendiary – Terry Bisson (PM Press)
The Secret History of Indian Science Fiction – Gautam Bhatia (Alter Magazine)

THE EMBER AWARD

for unsung contributions to genre

Arley Sorg
dave ring
Karen Lord
Martha Wells
Maurice Broaddus

THE COMMUNITY AWARD

for Outstanding Efforts in Service of Inclusion and Equitable Practice in Genre

The short list is derived from 20 BIPOC+ voters made up of FIYAHCON Staff and previous award winners, of varying genders, sexualities, cultures, disabilities, and locations throughout the world. This year's awards also sourced 12 judges ages 12-18 for the Middle Grade and Young Adult categories. The collected judges are referred to as the Ignyte Awards Committee. The Committee was not limited to selections authored or otherwise created by BIPOC. Public voting on the shortlist does not permit write-in nominations. Each year, we ask winners to be part of the subsequent year’s committee to ensure fresh perspectives and to help prevent repeated nominations of the same popular authors as recognized in many other genre awards.

This year’s winners will be announced Saturday, October 3, 2026.