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.”

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)
- Hall, Polly—The Taxidermist’s Lover (CamCat Publishing, LLC)
- Harrison, Rachel—The Return (Berkley)
- Jeffery, Ross—Tome (The Writing Collective)
- Reed Petty, Kate—True Story (Viking)
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:
- Kraus, Daniel—Bent Heavens (Henry Holt and Company/Macmillan)
- Snyman, Monique—The Bone Carver (Vesuvian Books)
- Thomas, Aiden—Cemetery Boys (Swoon Reads/Macmillan)
- Waters, Erica—Ghost Wood Song (HarperTeen)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Winner: Stephen Graham Jones—Night of the Mannequins (Tor.com)
Also nominated:
- Iglesias, Gabino—Beyond the Reef (Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press)
- Kiste, Gwendolyn—The Invention of Ghosts (Nightscape Press)
- Landry, Jess—I Will Find You, Even in the Dark (Dim Shores Presents Volume 1) (Dim Shores)
- Pinsker, Sarah—Two Truths and a Lie (Tor.com)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Winner: Josh Malerman—“One Last Transformation” (Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors) (Written Backwards)
Also nominated:
- Arcuri, Meghan—“Am I Missing the Sunlight?” (Borderlands 7) (Borderlands Press)
- Fawver, Kurt—“Introduction to the Horror Story, Day 1” (Nightmare Magazine Nov. 2020 [Issue 98])
- O’Quinn, Cindy—“The Thing I Found Along a Dirt Patch Road” (Shotgun Honey Presents Volume 4: Recoil) (Down and Out Books)
- Ward, Kyla Lee—“Should Fire Remember the Fuel?” (Oz is Burning) (B Cubed Press)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Winner: Lee Murray—Grotesque: Monster Stories (Things in the Well)
Also nominated:
- Koja, Kathe—Velocities: Stories (Meerkat Press)
- Langan, John—Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies (Word Horde)
- Lillie, Patricia—The Cuckoo Girls (Trepidatio Publishing)
- Taborska, Anna—Bloody Britain (Shadow Publishing)
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:
- Manzetti, Alessandro—Whitechapel Rhapsody: Dark Poems (Independent Legions Publishing)
- McHugh, Jessica—A Complex Accident of Life (Apokrupha)
- Pelayo, Cynthia—Into the Forest and All the Way Through (Burial Day Books)
- Tantlinger, Sara—Cradleland of Parasites (Rooster Republic Press)
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Winner: Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn—Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (Omnium Gatherum Media)
Also nominated:
- Bailey, Michael and Murano, Doug—Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors (Written Backwards)
- Kolesnik, Samantha—Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror (Grindhouse Press)
- Tantlinger, Sara—Not All Monsters: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women of Horror (Rooster Republic Press)
- Yardley, Mercedes M.—Arterial Bloom (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Winner: Tim Waggoner—Writing in the Dark (Guide Dog Books/Raw Dog Screaming Press)
- Florence, Kelly and Hafdahl, Meg—The Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects, Stunts, and True Stories Behind Your Favorite Fright Films (Skyhorse)
- Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra—1000 Women in Horror (BearManor Media)
- Keene, Brian—End of the Road (Cemetery Dance Publications)
- Peirse, Alison—Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre (Rutgers University Press)
- Wetmore, Jr. Kevin J.—The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaption (McFarland)
Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction
Winner: Tim Waggoner—“Speaking of Horror” (The Writer)
Also nominated:
- Jackson Joseph, Rhonda—“The Beloved Haunting of Hill House: An Examination of Monstrous Motherhood” (The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaptation) (McFarland)
- Pelayo, Cynthia—“I Need to Believe” (Southwest Review Volume 105.3)
- Robinson, Kelly—“Lost, Found, and Finally Unbound: The Strange History of the 1910 Edison Frankenstein” (Rue Morgue Magazine, June 2020)
- Sng, Christina—“Final Girl: A Life in Horror” (Interstellar Flight Magazine, October 2020)