The 2024 Bram Stoker Award® Winners
The Horror Writers Association is proud to announce the winners of the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards®. The winners were announced on Saturday, June 14, 2025 […]
Read moreThe 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
Columbus, OH – The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the recipients of its Lifetime Achievement Award. These will be presented on June 14, 2025, during the Bram Stoker Awards® Presentation at StokerCon®2025 in Stamford, CT.
The recipients of the HWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024 are:
Del and Sue Howison, Dame Susan Hill, and David Cronenberg.
Del Howison is an author, journalist, SAG actor including a cameo in the upcoming horror film Big Baby produced by Cher and directed by Spider One. He is a Bram Stoker Award-winning editor of the anthology Dark Delicacies: Original Tales of Terror and the Macabre by the World’s Greatest Horror Writers. He has written articles for Fear.net,Gauntlet Magazine, and Writers Digest among others.Del’s short story Cul-de-Sac appeared in Weird Tales Magazine #369. His western short story The Lost Herd was turned into the premiere (and highest rated) episode, The Sacrifice, for the series Fear Itself. His dark western novel The Survival of Margaret Thomas was shortlisted for the Peacemaker Award given out by the Western Fictioneers. He has been shortlisted for over half a dozen awards including the Shirley Jackson Award and the Black Quill. Del’s retrospective short story compilation of dark tales, What Fresh Hell Is This?,was released in March of 2025. He is the cofounder and owner (with his wife, Sue) of Dark Delicacies, a book and gift store known as “The Home of Horror,” located in Burbank, California. The store won the “Il Posto Nero” award from Italy and has been inducted into the Rondo Hatton Hall of Fame.
Sue Howison is co-creator, with Del Howison, and COO of Dark Delicacies®. She and Del were business partners prior to their marriage. Sue is the main person responsible for deciding what stock to carry; lining up such diverse events as signings, memorials, weddings, and entertainment; as well as handling all charity happenings and donations. Her 30+ years working in horror has left an indelible impression on the genre. She and Del continue to work together in horror to this day.
Dame Susan Elizabeth Hill, Lady Wells DBE is an English author of fiction and non-fiction works. Her novels include The Woman in Black, which has been adapted for stage and screen, The Mist in the Mirror, and I’m the King of the Castle, for which she received the Somerset Maugham Award in 1971. She also won the Whitebread Novel Award in 1972 for The Bird of Night, which was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honors and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honors, both for services to literature.
David Cronenberg is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and the intertwining of the psychological, physical, and technological. Cronenberg is best known for exploring these themes through sci-fi horror films such as Shivers (1975), Scanners (1981),Videodrome(1983) and The Fly (1986), though he has also directed dramas, psychological thrillers and gangster films.
Cronenberg’s films have polarized critics and audiences alike; he has earned critical acclaim and has sparked controversy for his depictions of gore and violence.The Village Voicecalled him “the most audacious and challenging narrative director in the English-speaking world”. His films have won numerous awards, including the Special Jury Prize forCrash at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, a unique award that is distinct from the Jury Prize as it is not given annually, but only at the request of the official jury, who in this case gave the award “for originality, for daring, and for audacity”.
Seven of his films were selected to compete for the Palme d’Or, the most recent beingThe Shrouds(2024), which was screened at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented periodically to an individual whose work has substantially influenced the horror genre. While this award is often presented to a writer, it may also be given for influential accomplishments in other creative fields.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious of all awards presented by HWA. It does not merely honor the superior achievement embodied in a single work. Instead, it is an acknowledgment of superior achievement in an entire career.
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, it now has close to 2000 members around the world and is the oldest and most respected professional organization for creators of horror fiction. The HWA encourages public interest in and appreciation of horror and dark fantasy literature and hosts an annual professional conference, StokerCon. HWA is also dedicated to recognizing and promoting diversity in the horror genre and practices a strict anti-harassment policy at all of its events. Please direct any questions regarding these awards to the Vice President of HWA. For more information about the Horror Writers Association, please visit https://horror.org/. For more information about the Bram Stoker Awards® and our other awards, please visit http://www.thebramstokerawards.com.
The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (http://www.horror.org/) is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/).
Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel, and everyone may refer to them as such immediately after the announcement.
The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot. Notes about the voting process appear after the ballot listing.
If your work appears on this ballot and you would like to offer it to voting members of the HWA in the Internet Mailer to be sent on or around February 26, please see important information following the ballot.
The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
● Ajram, Sofia — Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror (Ghoulish Books)
● Costello, Rob — We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures (Running Press)
● Gyzander, Carol and Taborska, Anna — Discontinue If Death Ensues: Tales from the Tipping Point (Flame Tree Publishing)
● Murano, Doug and Bailey, Michael — Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners (Bad Hand Books)
● Ryan, Lindy — Mother Knows Best: Tales of Homemade Horror (A Women in Horror Anthology) (Black Spot Books)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
● Barron, Laird — Not a Speck of Light (Bad Hand Books)
● Enriquez, Mariana — A Sunny Place for Shady People (Penguin)
● Sylvaine, Angela — The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls (Dark Matter Ink)
● Waggoner, Tim — Old Monsters Never Die (Winding Road Stories)
● Yardley, Mercedes M. — Love is a Crematorium and Other Tales (Cemetery Dance)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
● Coles, Donyae — Midnight Rooms (Amistad)
● Drake-Thomas, Jessica — Hollow Girls (Cemetery Dance Publications)
● Kiefer, Jenny — This Wretched Valley (Quirk Books)
● Kim, Monika — The Eyes Are the Best Part (Erewhon Books)
● Ryan, Lindy — Bless Your Heart (Minotaur Books)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
● Ha, Robin (writer/artist) — The Fox Maidens (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
● Hetland, Beth (writer/artist) — Tender (Fantagraphics Books)
● Horvath, Patrick (writer/artist) — Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees (Penguin Random House)
● Tanabe, Gou (writer/artist) — H. P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu (Dark Horse Books)
● Umber, Maggie (writer/artist) — Chrysanthemum Under the Waves (Maggie Umber LLC)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
● Ajram, Sofia – Coup de Grâce (Titan Books)
● Cassidy, Nat – Rest Stop (Shortwave Publishing)
● Chapman, Clay McLeod – Kill Your Darling (Bad Hand Books)
● LaRocca, Eric – “All The Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn” (This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances) (Titan Books)
● Royce, Eden – Hollow Tongue (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Superior Achievement in Long Non-Fiction
● Bogutskaya, Anna — Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us (Faber & Faber)
● Dauber, Jeremy —American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)
● Honeycutt, Heidi — I Spit on Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies (HeadPress)
● Hughes, Emily C. — Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch (Quirk Books)
● Sachar, Cassandra O’Sullivan, ed. — No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes (Vernon Press)
Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel
● Averling, Mary – The Curse of Eelgrass Bog (Razorbill)
● Collings, Michaelbrent – The Witch in the Woods (Shadow Mountain Publishing)
● Cuevas, Adrianna – The No-Brainer’s Guide to Decomposition (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
● Ottone, Robert P. – There’s Something Sinister in Center Field (Cemetery Gates Media)
● Royce, Eden – The Creepening of Dogwood House (Walden Pond Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Superior Achievement in a Novel
● Iglesias, Gabino — House of Bone and Rain (Mulholland Books in US; Titan Books in UK)
● Jones, Stephen Graham — I Was a Teenage Slasher (S&S/Saga Press in US; Titan Books in UK)
● Kiste, Gwendolyn — The Haunting of Velkwood (S&S/Saga Press)
● Malerman, Josh — Incidents Around the House (Del Rey)
● Tremblay, Paul — Horror Movie (William Morrow in US; Titan Books in UK)
Superior Achievement in Poetry
● Hodge, Jamal – The Dark Between the Twilight (Crystal Lake Publishing)
● Iniguez, Pedro – Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future (Space Cowboy Books)
● Murray, Lee – Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud (The Cuba Press)
● Saulson, Sumiko – Melancholia: A Book of Dark Poetry (Bludgeoned Girls Press)
● Wood, L. Marie – Imitation of Life (Falstaff Books)
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
● Beck, Scott and Woods, Bryan — Heretic (A24, Shiny Penny, Beck/Woods)
● Eggers, Robert; Galeen, Henrik; and Stoker, Bram — Nosferatu (Focus Features, Maiden Voyage Pictures, Studio 8)
● Fargeat, Coralie — The Substance (Working Title Film, Good Story, Blacksmith)
● Perkins, Osgood — Longlegs (C2 Motion Picture Group, Cweature Features, Oddfellow Entertainment)
● Schoenbrun, Jane — I Saw the TV Glow (A24, Fruit Tree, Smudge Films)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
● Barron, Laird — “Versus Versus” (Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners) (Bad Hand Books)
● Bolton, Rachel — “And She Had Been So Reasonable” (Apex Magazine Issue 147) (Apex Book Company)
● Brown, Sasha — “To the Wolves” (Weird Horror #9) (Undertow Publications)
● Busby, R. A. — “Ten Thousand Crawling Children” (Nightmare Magazine January 2024) (Adamant Press)
● Jakubowski, Raven — “She Sheds Her Skin” (Nightmare Magazine November 2024) (Adamant Press)
Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction
● Arnzen, Michael — “Screamin’ in the Rain: The Orchestration of Catharsis in William Castle’s The Tingler“ (What Sleeps Beneath)
● Liaguno, Vince — “The Horror of Donna Berzatto and Her Feast of the Seven Fishes” (You’re Not Alone in the Dark) (Cemetery Dance Publications)
● Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew — “Hidden Histories: The Many Ghosts of Disney’s Haunted Mansion” (Disney Gothic: Dark Shadows in the House of Mouse) (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.)
● Wetmore, Kevin J., Jr. — “Jackson and Haunting of the Stage” (Journal of Shirley Jackson Studies Vol. 2 No. 1) (Shirley Jackson Society)
● Wood, Lisa — “Blacks in Film and Cultivated Bias” (No More Haunted Dolls: Horror Fiction that Transcends the Tropes) (Vernon Press)
Superior Achievement in a YA Novel
● Cesare, Adam — Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
● Fraistat, Ann — A Place for Vanishing (Delacorte Press)
● Parker, Natalie C. — Come Out, Come Out (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
● Senf, Lora — The Losting Fountain (Union Square & Co.)
● Wellington, Joelle — The Blonde Dies First (Simon & Schuster)
Note to nominees: If you would like to offer your work to voting members during the reading period ending March 15, please send a link to stokerchair@horror.org as soon as possible, no later than February 25. You may post the fact that your work is available to be read for Bram Stoker Award consideration ONCE, and only once, on the HWA Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Horrorwritersassoc/; and on the HWA Discord here: http://discord.gg/qXNWT2MCEK. If you had already posted your work in these places prior to the announcement of the Preliminary Ballot, you are entitled to post it again. The Discord and Facebook page are open to members and nonmembers alike. Nonmembers may also email stokerchair@horror.org for help with this.
February 28: The Final Ballot is dispatched. Please note only Active and Lifetime Members in good standing as of January 31 can vote. If you are an Active or Lifetime Member and do NOT receive your electronic ballot link by March 3, please first check your spam/junk mail filter, make sure your email address is updated in Wild Apricot, and then email ballotmaster@horror.org with a brief message about the issue. Note that ballots are sent to the same email address as the Newsletter and the Internet Mailer. It is the responsibility of each Member to keep their email address up to date in Wild Apricot or by advising the HWA Director at director@horror.org of any issues with their membership account. Late ballots cannot be accepted under any circumstances.
March 15: The 2025 Bram Stoker Recommendation form goes live and the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards Juries open to Submissions. Members should hold any Recommendations for works published in the calendar year 2025 until the form is live.
Members wishing to submit work published in 2025 to the relevant Jury should read the information at the Bram Stoker Awards website at http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/submissions/ before doing so.
March 15: The Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot closes at midnight U.S. Pacific Time. Any ballots received after this cutoff will be discarded.
June 14: The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards will be announced during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet held during StokerCon® 2025 in Stamford, Connecticut.
Bookings and information for StokerCon® are available at: https://www.stokercon2025.com/.
Note: Banquet Tickets are separate from the Convention Membership and will soon be available for purchase at Eventbrite. Click “Tickets” to see the Banquet option as an add-on to your existing registration or an option for a new registration.
Please direct any questions about the ballot to stokerchair@horror.org. Questions about StokerCon should go to info@stokercon.com. Questions about the HWA should go to director@horror.org.
The 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Columbus, OH – The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the recipients of its Lifetime Achievement Award. These will be presented on June 1st, 2024, during the Bram Stoker Awards® Presentation at StokerCon®2024 in San Diego, CA.
Lifetime Achievement Award
The recipients of the HWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2024 are:
Steve Rasnic Tem, Mort Castle, and Cassandra Peterson.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented periodically to an individual whose work has substantially influenced the horror genre. While this award is often presented to a writer, it may also be given for influential accomplishments in other creative fields.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious of all awards presented by HWA. It does not merely honor the superior achievement embodied in a single work. Instead, it is an acknowledgment of superior achievement in an entire career.
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, it now has close to 2000 members around the world and is the oldest and most respected professional organization for creators of horror fiction. The HWA encourages public interest in and appreciation of horror and dark fantasy literature and hosts an annual professional conference, StokerCon. HWA is also dedicated to recognizing and promoting diversity in the horror genre and practices a strict anti-harassment policy at all of its events. Please direct any questions regarding these awards to the Vice President of HWA. For more information about the Horror Writers Association, please visit https://horror.org/. For more information about the Bram Stoker Awards® and our other awards, please visit http://bramstokerawards.horror.org.
MORT CASTLE – A former stage hypnotist, folksinger, and teacher (every level from grade to grad school), Mort Castle has been a publishing writer since 1967, with hundreds of stories, articles, comics, and books published in a dozen languages. Castle has won three Bram Stoker Awards®, two Black Quill awards, the Golden Bot (Wired Magazine), and has been nominated for The Audie, The Shirley Jackson award, the International Horror Guild award and the Pushcart Prize. In 2000, the Chicago Sun-Times News Group cited him as one of Twenty-One “Leaders in the Arts for the 21st Century in Chicago’s Southland.” Poland’s, Newsweek magazine listed his The Strangers (Obcy) in the “Top Ten Horror / Thriller Novels of 2008” and there will a 40th anniversary edition of the book this year in Spain, Poland, Germany, and the USA. Castle and his wife Jane will celebrate their 53nd wedding anniversary this July. They live in Crete, Illinois.
Photo credit: Michelle Pretorious
CASSANDRA PETERSON – From the top of her beehive hairdo to the bottom of her stiletto heels, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark personifies the horror genre in one spooky, sexy, funny package.
As Queen of Halloween, her reign has now spanned 40 years and includes her long-running nationally syndicated television series, Movie Macabre and two feature films: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Elvira’s Haunted Hills.She has appeared in National ad campaigns for Pepsi and Coors, recorded five record albums and has written a line of young adult novels, a “Coffin Table” photo retrospective,and most recently, her memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira from Hachette Book Group.
The worldwide Elvira brand has generated thousands of products, including three pinball machines, four slot machines, eight Funko POP!’s, four comic book series, a line of NECA action figures, a Chia Pet, a Living Dead doll, a Monster High Skullector doll from Mattel, and the best-selling female costume of all time.
Elvira has appeared on hundreds of television shows including Happy Halloween Scooby Doo, Elvira’s 40th Anniversary Very Scary, Very Special Special for the Shudder Channel, and the Netflix & Chills Halloween ad campaign.
Played by actress-writer Cassandra Peterson, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark has carved out a niche in popular American culture that is sure to endure for decades to come.
Instagram @therealelvira
Facebook @therealelvira
STEVE RASNIC TEM – Steve Rasnic Tem’s writing career spans over 45 years, including more than 500 published short stories, 17 collections, 8 novels, misc. poetry and plays, and a handbook on writing, Yours to Tell: Dialogues on the Art & Practice of Fiction, written with his late wife Melanie Tem. His collaborative novella with Melanie, The Man On The Ceiling, won the World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and International Horror Guild awards in 2001. He has also won the Bram Stoker, International Horror Guild, and British Fantasy Awards for his solo work, including Blood Kin, winner of 2014’s Bram Stoker for novel. Originally from the Appalachian region of Southwest Virginia, he now lives in Centennial Colorado. www.stevetem.com
The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Winners
The 2023 Bram Stoker Award winners were announced on June 1 during the Annual Bram Stoker Awards Banquet at StokerCon™ 2024 in San Diego.
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Aquilone, James – Shakespeare Unleashed (Crystal Lake Publishing, Monstrous Books)
Golden, Christopher, and Keene, Brian – The Drive-In: Multiplex (Pandi Press)
Hawk, Shane and Van Alst, Jr., Theodore C. – Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (Vintage)
Peele, Jordan, and Adams,John Joseph – Out There Screaming (Random House) – WINNER
Rowland, Rebecca – American Cannibal (Maenad Press)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Files, Gemma – Blood from the Air (Grimscribe Press) – WINNER
Keisling, Todd – Cold, Black, & Infinite (Cemetery Dance)
Malerman, Josh – Spin A Black Yarn (Del Rey)
Nogle, Christi – The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future (Flame Tree Press)
Read, Sarah – Root Rot & Other Grim Tales (Bad Hand Books)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Carmen, Christa – The Daughters of Block Island (Thomas & Mercer) – WINNER
Compton, Johnny – The Spite House (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan)
LaRocca, Eric – Everything the Darkness Eats (CLASH Books/Titan)
Leede, CJ – Maeve Fly (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan/Titan)
Rebelein, Sam – Edenville (William Morrow/Titan)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Bunn, Cullen (author) and Leomacs (artist) – Ghostlore, Vol. 1 (BOOM! Studios)
Cesare, Adam (author) and Stoll, David (artist) – Dead Mall (Dark Horse Comics)
Chu, Amy (author) and Lee, Soo (artist) – Carmilla: The First Vampire (Dark Horse) – WINNER
Ito, Junji (author and artist) –Tombs (Viz Media)
Tanabe, Gou (author and artist) – H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Dark Horse Comics)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Due, Tananarive – “Rumpus Room” (The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Akashic Books)
Jiang, Ai – Linghun (Dark Matter INK) – WINNER
Khaw, Cassandra – The Salt Grows Heavy (Tor Nightfire/Macmillan/Titan)
McCarthy, J.A.W. – Sleep Alone (Off Limits Press LLC)
Murray, Lee – Despatches (PS Publishing)
Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction
Coleman, Robin R. Means and Harris, Mark H. – The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press)
Fitzpatrick, Claire (ed.) – A Vindication of Monsters: Essays on Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley (IFWG Publishing International)
Hartmann, Sadie – 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered (Page Street Publishing) – WINNER
Morton, Lisa – The Art of the Zombie Movie (Applause Books)
Murray, Lee and Smith, Angela Yuriko (eds.) – Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror (Black Spot Books)
Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel
Henning, Sarah – Monster Camp (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
López, Diana – Los Monstruos: Felice and the Wailing Woman (Kokila)
Senf, Lora – The Nighthouse Keeper (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) – WINNER
Tuma, Refe – Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest (HarperCollins)
Young, Suzanne – What Stays Buried (HarperCollins)
Superior Achievement in a Novel
Due, Tananarive – The Reformatory (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press/Titan) – WINNER
Hendrix, Grady – How to Sell a Haunted House (Berkley/Titan)
Jones, Stephen Graham – Don’t Fear the Reaper (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press/Titan)
LaValle, Victor – Lone Women (One World)
Tingle, Chuck – Camp Damascus (Tor Nightfire/MacMillan/Titan)
Wendig, Chuck – Black River Orchard (Del Rey/Penguin Random House)
Superior Achievement in Poetry
Gold, Maxwell Ian – Bleeding Rainbows and Other Broken Spectrums (Hex Publishers)
McHugh, Jessica – The Quiet Ways I Destroy You (Apokrupha Press)
Pichette, Marisca – Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair (Android Press)
Walrath, Holly Lyn – Numinous Stones (Aqueduct Press)
Wytovich, Stephanie M. – On the Subject of Blackberries (Raw Dog Screaming Press) – WINNER
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
Brooker, Charlie – Black Mirror: Beyond the Sea (Episode 03:06) (Zeppotron, Babieka, Banijay Entertainment, Broke and Bones, House of Tomorrow)
Cervera, Michelle Garza and Castillo, Abia – Huesera: The Bone Woman (Disruptiva Films, Machete Producciones, MalignoGorehouse)
Duffield, Brian – No One Will Save You (20th Century Studios, Star Thrower Entertainment)
Rugna, Demián – When Evil Lurks (Machaco Films, Aramos Cine, Shudder)
Yamazaki, Takashi – Godzilla Minus One (Robot Communications, Toho Studios) – WINNER
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Daniels, L.E. – “Silk” (Hush, Don’t Wake the Monster: Stories Inspired by Stephen King, Twisted Wing Productions)
Jones, Rachael K. – “The Sound of Children Screaming” (Nightmare Magazine)
Miller, Sam J. – “If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak” (The Dark)
O’Quinn, Cindy – “Quondam” (The Nightmare Never Ends, Exploding Head Fiction) – WINNER
Tabing, Nadine Aurora – “An Inherited Taste” (No Trouble at All, Cursed Morsels Press)
Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction
Bissett, Carina – “Words Wielded by Women” (Apex Magazine)
Bulkin, Nadia – “Becoming Ungovernable: Latah, Amok, and Disorder in Indonesia,” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books) – WINNER
Kulski, K.P. – “100 Livers” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
Murray, Lee – “Displaced Spirits” (Unquiet Spirits: Essays by Asian Women in Horror, Black Spot Books)
Wetmore Jr, Kevin – “A Theatre of Ghosts, A Haunted Cinema: The Japanese Gothic as Theatrical Tradition in Gurozuka” (The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture: Special Issue on Asian Gothic)
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
Bayron, Kalynn – You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight (Bloomsbury YA)
Dimaline, Cherie – Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (Tundra Book Group)
Simmons, Kristen – Find Him Where You Left Him Dead (Tor Teen)
Smith, Cynthia Leitich – Harvest House (Candlewick Press)
Tran, Trang Thanh – She Is a Haunting (Bloomsbury YA) – WINNER
Final Frame 2025 Finalists Announced
We are excited to finally announce the FINAL FRAME Short Horror Film Competition 2025 Finalists! Winner will be announce next week at the 2025 StokerCon convention.
**Still from the movie “Izzy”.**
Vote for Wyrm
Director: Benjamin Percy
Writer: Benjamin Percy
UNITED STATES / 2025 / 5:00
A political attack ad for a small-town mayoral race descends into horror.
Izzy
Director: Yfke van Berckelaer
Writer: Yfke van Berckelaer
NETHERLANDS / 2024 / 9:18
Izzy is constantly stuck in the same cycle: mocked, dismissed, ignored, forgotten. How can she get out of it?
Cruelty
Director: Sam Das
Writer: Sam Das
UNITED STATES / 2024 / 9:18
A young trans woman is chased into a junkyard while being followed home late at night. Trapped among the heaps of scrap she must outwit her predator and summon the strength of a goddessmin her desperate fight for survival.
Vermin
Director: Kristen Semedo
Writer: Kristen Semedo
UNITED STATES / 2025 / 8:47
Struggling with his impending divorce, a man discovers he’s not as alone as he thinks.
The Last Thing She Saw
Directors: Anthony Cousins, Rebecca Daugherty
Writer: Brady Richards
UNITED STATES / 2024 / 8:35
After being attacked by two burglars, Emmy must see if she can escape her desperate situation.
Starver
Director: Parsa Zahedi
Writer: Parsa Zahedi
IRAN / 2025 / 7:00
An empty stomach will change a man.
Skeeter
Director: Chris McInroy
Writer: Chris McInroy
UNITED STATES / 2024 / 3:55
Every party has a buzz kill.
Nervous Ellie
Director: David Yorke
Writer: David Yorke
UNITED KINGDOM / 2024 / 6:40
Ellie, new to dating and painfully shy, struggles to control her nerves during a date with Danni, culminating in some unexpected results.
Speak With The Dead
Director: Stephanie Paris
Writer: Stephanie Paris
UNITED STATES / 2024 / 10:10
In 1850, The Fox sisters hold a seance for a wealthy couple who want to call on their
deceased son’s spirit to give them closure.
Umbra
Director: Pablo Otero
Writer: Juanjo Palomeque
SPAIN / 2024 / 10:10
Adriana, a twelve-year-old girl, waits while her mother recovers after giving birth but the night
is long and a hospital holds many secrets and countless doors to open.
Eldritch Karaoke
Director/Animator: Joe Loftus
Writer: Joe Loftus
IRELAND / 2024 / 5:00
A young woman on the road to escape her past is hit by a car and descends into a chaotic
musical after-life. She must decide whether to join the song or die.
Dormant
Director: Niels Bourgonje
Writers: Niels Bourgonje
UNITED KINGDOM / 2024 / 8:51
A man cares for his comatose wife at home. After a transgression, he fears something
sinister has awakened in her.
Outside Noise
Director: Ethan Evans
Writers: Ethan Evans, Jess Bartlett
UNITED KINGDOM / 2024 / 7:45
An overwhelmed woman listens to a sleep ambience app to unwind before bed, but when
the sounds eerily begin to blend with reality, she suspects it has conjured something frightening into her room…
Losing Season
Director: Gus Reed
Writers: Gus Reed
UNITED STATES / 2025 / 7:17
A woman left alone at her boyfriend’s house one morning after he’s left for work has a life-altering encounter with a younger woman who shows up at the door and claims to have grown up there.
McNeil, Gretchen
Awards:
Mentor of the Year Award, 2024
BIO: Gretchen McNeil is the author of thirteen young adult novels for Disney*Hyperion and HarperCollins including the horror/comedy #MURDERTRENDING—the #1 YALSA Teens’ Top Ten pick for 2019—TEN, which was adapted as the film Ten: Murder Island for Lifetime, and the Get Even series which was adapted as the series Get Even and Rebel Cheer Squad: a Get Even series for the BBC and Netflix. Gretchen’s adult horror debut THEY FEAR NOT MEN IN THE WOODS hits shelves on September 9, 2025 from DAW Books.
Lees, Jonathan
Awards:
Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award, 2024
BIO: In addition to creating strategies and video series for media outlets, ranging from Complex Media to TIDAL, Jonathan Lees has spent decades championing independent cinema and filmmakers through his work with the New York Underground Film Festival, Troma, Tribeca Film, Anthology Film Archives, and now with the Final Frame Horror Short Film Competition at StokerCon. After twenty-five years working in NYC, he has apparated to the Hudson Valley to explore more personal rituals by inscribing arcane texts for grimoires such as Long Division [Bad Hand Books], Fear of Clowns [Kangas Kahn Publishing], Even In The Grave [eSpec Books], The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors [Bad Hand Books],and Other Terrors [Harper Collins].
Denning, Lila
Awards:
Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Award, 2023
BIO: Lila Denning is the acquisitions coordinator for the seven libraries of the St. Petersburg (FL) Library System. Lila has worked in circulation and reference and has done programming for children, teens, and adults. Beyond her current role in her library, she trains librarians nationwide on passive reader advisory. Her long, rambling road to the library included stops as a manager of a comic book store, a manager at Barnes and Noble, and a stint at a brokerage firm, among other adventures. In addition to her MLIS, Lila has an MA in Religious Studies with a focus on Holocaust Studies.
Goblirsch, Paul
Awards:
Specialty Press Award, 2023
BIO: Paul Goblirsch established Thunderstorm Books in 2008. Specializing in collectible signed limited edition hardcover books, our goal is to showcase authors’ works in beautiful limited editions. From both new, up-and-coming authors to veterans of the genre, we publish some of the best in the field including: Brian Keene, Joe Lansdale, Christopher Golden, Philip Fracassi, Tyler Jones, Ross Jeffery, Chad Lutzke, Cynthia Pelayo, Jeff Strand, Hailey Piper, Paul Tremblay, Edward Lee, Kealan Patrick Burke, Jonathan Janz, Samantha Kolesnik, Gabino Iglesias, Adam Cesare, Kristopher Triana, Richard Chizmar, Gwendolyn Kiste, Wrath James White, and Ronald Kelly. With approximately 40 titles released per year, we fulfill the desires of both hardcore book collectors and those who want to pick up the occasional special edition.
Kurtz, Nicole Givens
Awards:
Specialty Press Award, 2024
BIO: Nicole Givens Kurtz is the founder and publisher of Mocha Memoirs Press, a traditional publishing specializing in amplifying marginalized voices in speculative fiction. Her press has published groundbreaking anthologies such as SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire and Blackened Roots: An Anthology of the Undead. Mocha Memoirs is renowned for their progressive work in Black women in horror and continues to push the boundaries of intersectionality in speculative fiction.
Mocha Memoirs Press aims to create opportunities for voices that have traditionally been shut out of mainstream publishing. Our team is also primarily women and non-binary people, and we strive to foster an inclusive environment for both staff and authors. She’s a member of both the African-American and LGBTQIA+ communities. Nicole seeks to provide stories unavailable when she was a child. Overall, Mocha Memoirs Press is driven by a determination to increase representation one story at a time.
