Horror Writers Association Releases 2025 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The HWA announces this year’s nominees for Superior Achievement across twelve categories.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, February 24, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ —

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

New York, NY — The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2025 Bram Stoker Awards^®. The HWA is the premier writers’ organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members worldwide. The Bram Stoker Awards^® have been presented annually since 1987 to recognize Superior Achievement in horror writing.

Works appearing on the Final Ballot are officially Bram Stoker Award ^® Nominees for Superior Achievement in their respective categories (e.g., Novel, First Novel, Anthology) and may be referred to as such immediately following this announcement.

Laura Blackwell, co-chair of the Bram Stoker Awards^® Committee (Administration), said, “This year, the thrill of seeing the Final Ballot comes with a white-knuckle race in First Novel, with a three-way tie delivering seven nominees instead of the usual five in that category. It’s a promising sign not just for whoever takes the trophy in June but for horror readers in years to come.”

The HWA Board of Trustees and the Bram Stoker Awards^® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot.

Winners will be announced during the Bram Stoker Awards^® Presentation at StokerCon^® 2026.

The 2025 Bram Stoker Awards^® Final Ballot

Superior Achievement in an Anthology
• Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett, and Craig Laurance Gidney, eds. — “Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology” (Essential Dreams Press)
• Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, eds. — “The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand” (Gallery Books)
• Kristy Park Kulski, ed. — “Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora” (Bad Hand Books)
• Lee Murray and Dave Jeffery, eds. — “This Way Lies Madness: Stories from the Edge of Darkness” (Flame Tree Publishing)
• Lindy Ryan and Stephanie M. Wytovich, eds. — “HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror” (Black Spot Books)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
• Clay McLeod Chapman — “Acquired Taste” (Titan Books)
• Gemma Files — “Little Horn: Stories” (Shortwave)
• John Langan — “Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions” (Word Horde)
• Hailey Piper — “Teenage Girls Can Be Demons” (Titan Books)
• Sara Tantlinger — “Cyanide Constellations” (Dark Matter INK)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel
• Grace Daly — “The Scald-Crow” (Creature Publishing)
• Bitter Karella — “Moonflow” (Run For It)
• Tanya Pell — “Her Wicked Roots” (Gallery Books)
• Hester Steel — “The Faceless Thing We Adore” (Page Street Horror)
• Kathryn Tennison — “Molting” (Uncomfortably Dark Horror)
• Neena Viel — “Listen to Your Sister” (St. Martin’s Griffin / Titan Books)
• Michael Wehunt — “The October Film Haunt” (St. Martin’s Press)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
• Cullen Bunn (writer) and Danny Luckert (artist) — “Jumpscare” (Dark Horse Comics)
• Sandy King (editor) — “John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight, Volume 11” (Storm King Comics)
• Daniel Kraus (writer) and Dani (artist) — “Athanasia” (VAULT Comics)
• Mike Mignola — “Bowling With Corpses and Other Tales from Lands Unknown” (Dark Horse Comics)
• James Tynion IV (writer), Steve Foxe (writer), and Piotr Kowalski (artist) — “Let This One Be a Devil” (Dark Horse Comics & Tiny Onion Studios)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
• Nathan Ballingrud — “Cathedral of the Drowned” (Tor Nightfire / Titan Books)
• Thomas Ha — “Uncertain Sons” (“Uncertain Sons and Other Stories,” Undertow Publications)
• Sarah Langan — “Squid Teeth” (Reactor)
• Sarah Langan — “Pam Kowolski Is a Monster!” (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• A. C. Wise — “Wolf Moon, Antler Moon” (Reactor)

Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction
• Naomi Simone Borwein, ed. — “Global Indigenous Horror” (University Press of Mississippi)
• Brandon R. Grafius and John W. Morehead, eds. — “The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters” (Oxford University Press)
• Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes — “America’s Most Gothic” (Kensington Publishing)
• Coltan Scrivner — “Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away” (Penguin Random House)
• Becky Siegel Spratford, ed. — “Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction” (Saga Press)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel
• Delilah S. Dawson — “Ride or Die” (Delacorte Press)
• Meg Eden Kuyatt — “The Girl in the Walls” (Scholastic Press)
• Ally Malinenko — “Broken Dolls” (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Ellen Oh — “The House Next Door” (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Ally Russell — “Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave” (Delacorte Press)

Superior Achievement in a Novel
• Grady Hendrix — “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” (Berkley)
• Joe Hill — “King Sorrow” (William Morrow)
• Stephen Graham Jones — “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” (Saga Press / Titan Books)
• Silvia Moreno-Garcia — “The Bewitching” (Del Rey)
• Wendy N. Wagner — “Girl in the Creek” (Tor Nightfire)

Superior Achievement in Poetry (Collection and Long Form)
• Linda D. Addison and Jamal Hodge — “Everything Endless” (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Maxwell I. Gold — “Songs of Enough: An Inferno All My Own” (Hippocampus Press)
• Shannon Kearns — “The Uterus Is an Impossible Forest” (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
• Cate Peebles — “The Haunting” (Tupelo Press)
• MarieAnn C. Raguso, PhD — “Allegories of Beauty & Violence: A Collection of Gothic Romance Poems” (Analyze This)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
• Ryan Coogler — “Sinners” (Warner Bros. / Domain / Proximity)
• Zach Cregger — “Weapons” (New Line Cinema / Domain / Subconscious)
• Alex Garland — “28 Years Later” (Sony / Columbia Pictures / TSG Entertainment)
• Drew Hancock — “Companion” (New Line Cinema / BoulderLight Pictures / Vertigo Entertainment)
• Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman — “Bring Her Back” (Causeway Films / Salmira Productions / The South Australian Film Corporation)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
• L. E. Daniels — “Stomata” (“Darkness Most Fowl,” The Godmother of Horror Press)
• R. J. Joseph — “Inheritance” (“Full Throttle: A Dark Dozen Anthology,” Uncomfortably Dark Publishing)
• Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece — “Saint Dymphna’s School for Borderland Girls” (“Weird Horror #10,” Undertow Publications)
• Anna Taborska — “[Ir]reversible” (“Witches and Witchcraft: An Anthology of Stories, Poems, and Essays,” Hippocampus Press)
• Champ Wongsatayanont — “Autogas Ferryman” (“Nightmare Magazine #156,” Adamant Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Nonfiction
• Patrick Barb — “Deathwish Wolf Man: The Tragic Hero at the Heart of the Universal Monster” (“Interstellar Flight Magazine,” Interstellar Flight Press)
• Tananarive Due — “My Long Road to Horror” (“Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction,” Saga Press)
• Stephen Graham Jones — “Why Horror” (“Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction,” Saga Press)
• Mo Moshaty — “Haunted Thresholds: Liminal Horror and the Psychological Disintegration of Women from Postpartum Grief, Trauma, and Religious
Fanaticism” (“Darkest Margins: 24 Essays on Liminality and Liminal Spaces in the Horror Genre,” 1428 Publishing Ltd.)
• Cynthia Pelayo — “My Mother Was Margaret White” (“Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction,” Saga Press)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
• Clay McLeod Chapman — “Shiny Happy People” (Delacorte Press)
• Linda Cheng — “Beautiful Brutal Bodies” (Roaring Brook Press)
• Rin Chupeco — “We’re Not Safe Here” (Sourcebooks)
• Diana Rodriguez Wallach — “The Silenced” (Delacorte Press)
• Madeleine Roux — “A Girl Walks Into the Forest” (Quill Tree Books)

For questions regarding the Final Ballot, press inquiries and more, please visit the Bram Stoker Awards^® website.

About the Horror Writers Association

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is a nonprofit organization of writers and publishing professionals around the world dedicated to promoting dark literature and the interests of those who write it. Founded in the late 1980s, the HWA has grown to include more than 2,000 members worldwide and is the oldest and most respected professional organization for creators of horror and dark fantasy fiction.

The HWA encourages public interest in and appreciation of horror and dark fantasy literature and hosts the annual StokerCon^® convention. The organization is committed to recognizing and promoting diversity within the genre and maintains a strict anti-harassment policy at all official events.

For more information about the Horror Writers Association please visit the HWA website.

Desiree Duffy
Black Chateau
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