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2020 Bram Stoker Award Winners Announced

Stephen Graham Jones Takes The Night With Two Awards

"Raven" by John-Morgan is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Last night, the Horror Writers Association and their emcee, suspense author Jonathan Maberry, presented the winners of the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards during StokerCon. The virtual ceremony was streamed live and is available to watch for free on YouTube from the Horror Writers Association YouTube account. Blackfeet Native American author Stephen Graham Jones took the night with two awards, one for Superior Achievement in a Novel for his 2020 work The Only Good Indians and the other for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction for “Night of the Mannequins.”

Photograph of author Stephen Graham Jones wearing dark aviator shades with an axe slung over shoulder.
Image by Anthony Camera, courtesy of Stephen Graham Jones.

Other winners of 2020 Bram Stoker Awards include EV Knight, Adam Cesare, and Tim Waggoner, who also took away two awards yesterday evening—one for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction and the other for Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction. The well-established poet, writer, and artist Christina Sng won Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection for her latest, A Collection of Dreamscapes. Josh Malerman, who has previously adapted his own short story for one of Creepshow Season 1’s premiere skits, “House of Head,” this year won Superior Achievement in Short Fiction for his story “One Last Transformation.”

Horror Writers Association president John Palisano stated,

This year’s winners reflect a deep range of works from a competitive field. The winners and finalists truly represent a broad spectrum of titles in horror and dark fantasy. HWA members and awards juries have shown dedication and objectivity to the selection process for outstanding works of literature, cinema, non-fiction, and poetry.

A full list of awards, winners, finalist nominees, and links to their works can be found below. Congratulations to all the 2020 Bram Stoker Award winners and finalists! 2020 was a great year for horror.


Superior Achievement in a Novel

Winner: Stephen Graham Jones—The Only Good Indians (Gallery/Saga Press)

Also nominated:

  • Katsu, Alma—The Deep (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • Keisling, Todd—Devil’s Creek (Silver Shamrock Publishing)
  • Malerman, Josh—Malorie (Del Rey)
  • Moreno-Garcia, Silvia—Mexican Gothic (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Winner: EV Knight—The Fourth Whore (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Winner: Nancy Holder (author), Chiara Di Francia (artist), and Amelia Woo (artist)—Mary Shelley Presents (Kymera Press)

Also nominated:

  • Archer, Steven (author/artist)—The Masque of the Red Death (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
  • Brody, Jennifer (author) and Rivera, Jules (artist)—Spectre Deep 6 (Turner)
  • Douek, Rich (author) and Cormack, Alex (artist)—Road of Bones (IDW Publishing)
  • Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author)—Her Life Matters: (Or Brooklyn Frankenstein) (Independent Legions Publishing)
  • Niles, Steve (author), Simeone, Salvatore (author), and Kudranski, Szymon (artist)—Lonesome Days, Savage Nights (TKO Studios)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Winner: Adam Cesare—Clown in a Cornfield (HarperTeen)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Winner: Stephen Graham Jones—Night of the Mannequins (Tor.com)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Winner: Josh Malerman—“One Last Transformation” (Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors) (Written Backwards)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Winner: Lee Murray—Grotesque: Monster Stories (Things in the Well)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Winner: Leigh Whannell—The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Goalpost Pictures, Nervous Tick Productions)

Also nominated:

  • Amaris, Scarlett and Stanley, Richard—Color Out of Space (SpectreVision)
  • Green, Misha—Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 1: “Sundown” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)
  • Green, Misha and Ofordire, Ihuoma—Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 8: “Jig-a-Bobo” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)
  • LaManna, Angela—The Haunting of Bly Manor, Season 1, Episode 5: “The Altar of the Dead” (Intrepid Pictures, Amblin Television, Paramount Television Studios)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Winner: Christina Sng—A Collection of Dreamscapes (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Winner: Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn—Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (Omnium Gatherum Media)

Also nominated:

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Winner: Tim Waggoner—Writing in the Dark (Guide Dog Books/Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Winner: Tim Waggoner—“Speaking of Horror” (The Writer)

Also nominated:

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Written by Rebecca Saunders

Rebecca is a consulting editor at Horror Obsessive. She is a librarian with a background in literary studies, comparative literature, and film studies.

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