The Final Frame
Horror Short Film Competition

In conjunction with our annual horror convention, StokerCon, the Horror Writers Association is proud to host the 8th Annual FINAL FRAME Horror Short Film Competition.

​Each year, between ten to fifteen short-short films (13 minutes and under) are showcased as part of the StokerCon Horror Writers Convention. The coveted StokerCon Final Frame Award and cash prize will be awarded to one film and filmmaker, the best film shown at our event as decided upon by a panel of industry judges. We also present a variety of prizes to first runner-up, second runner-up, best writing in a short film, and the audience award. 

​The event is organized by director Jonathan Lees. Competition judges for 2023 include: 

Daniel Kraus (NYT bestselling author of Whalefall, Co-Author of The Living Dead (with George Romero), The Shape of Water (with Guillermo del Toro) and writer of the graphic novel, The Autumnal

Jamie Flanagan (screenwriter, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, The Haunting of Bly Manor)

​Izzy Lee (Award-winning filmmaker of Memento Mori, Re-Home and last year’s Final Frame Audience Award Winner for Meat Friend)  *judging remotely

​Jamal Hodge (writer/director, Mourning Meal, Alone, and the upcoming documentary Madness and Writers: The Untold Truth)

​Lisa Morton (author of four novels and 150 short stories, a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, past President of the Horror Writers Association, and a world-class Halloween expert)

​A popular event at StokerCon, the screening for convention attendees will transpire on FRIDAY NIGHT, June 16th, 2023, 8-10pm in the Grand Station Ballroom I-II at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh. 

2023 WINNERS

• GRAND PRIZE – “The Queue”
• FIRST RUNNER UP – “The Weaver”
• SECOND RUNNER UP – “Gnaw”
• WRITING PRIZE – “The Queue”
• AUDIENCE AWARD – “Eric”

2023 FINALISTS

(in alphabetical order)

Download (.pdf)

DITCHED

Director: Sloan Turner
Writer: Sloan Turner
UNITED STATES / 2022

An impulsive middle schooler playing a game of hide-and-seek soon realizes something is hunting him and his friends.

ERIC

Director: David Yorke
Writer: David Yorke
UNITED KINGDOM / 2022

Joshua finally gets to meet Eric, the beloved dog of a girl he’s been dating. As the evening evolves, Josh begins to get a sneaking suspicion that Eric isn’t your typical house pet.

GNAW

Director: Rosalee Yagihara
Writer: Meg Turner
CANADA / 2022

A pesky hangnail sends Cote into an obsessive state while creating a disconnect in her relationship with her girlfriend.

MICKEY DOGFACE

Director: Zach Fleming
Writer: Zach Fleming
UNITED STATES / 2022

Halloween night: Three friends get high in a van and propose a dare involving an urban legend — what could go wrong?

NIGHT WORK

Director: Savanna Hunter-Reeves
Writer: Savanna Hunter-Reeves
UNITED STATES / 2022

During another late night working from home, a new mother finds herself trapped in the house with something she must confront.

SHUT

Director: Niels Bourgonje
Writer: Bastiaan Tichels
NETHERLANDS / 2022

When Jonas visits his father after a long time, he is shocked to find him in a worrisome state.

SORRY SIS

Director: Kim Spurlock
Writer: Mai Spurlock
UNITED STATES / 2023

Put it on your head so you don’t get dead.

STOP DEAD

Director: Emily Greenwood
Writer: David Scullion
UNITED KINGDOM / 2022

When a detective and her partner try to stop a disheveled girl staggering down the middle of a country road, they discover something sinister follows with each step.

SUCKER

Director: Alix Austin
Writer: Alix Austin
UNITED KINGDOM / 2022

She’s dying to get under your skin…

THE QUEUE

Director: Michael Rich
Writer: Michael Rich
UNITED STATES / 2023

An internet content moderator confronts the darkness within the videos he screens.

THE WEAVER

Director: Øyvind Willumsen
Writer: Øyvind Willumsen
NORWAY / 2023

A nurse goes to visit an elderly lady at her home. No worries, right?

THREE DOORS DOWN

Director: Ty Huffer
Writer: Ty Huffer
UNITED STATES / 2023

On Christmas Eve, Tiffany learns that being on the naughty list means more than a lump of coal in your stocking.

WE FORGOT ABOUT THE ZOMBIES

Director: Chris McInroy
Writer: Chris McInroy
UNITED STATES / 2022

Two dudes think they found the cure for zombie bites.

The 2023 Final Frame Competition is
Sponsored by:

THE GEORGE A. ROMERO FOUNDATION

Denver, Colorado, May 16, 2021

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy, announces this year’s Bram Stoker Awards® winners at its first in person ceremony since 2019during StokerCon™ at Denver, Colorado’s Curtis Hotel. “The horror genre continues its amazing renaissance. We are truly in a golden period, with every category overflowing with tremendous works,” said John Palisano, HWA President. “The winners and finalists show a diverse group of amazing voices from new and veteran creators. Our HWA members and awards juries have shown dedication and objectivity to the selection process for outstanding works of literature, cinema, non-fiction, and poetry.”

We proudly provide the list of talented winners along with the finalist nominees. In addition, awards for the Final Frame Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement and HWA’s service awards were also given. The full list is below.

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Winner: Stephen Graham Jones – My Heart is a Chainsaw (Gallery/Saga Press)

Also nominated:

• Castro, V. – The Queen of the Cicadas (Flame Tree Press)
• Hendrix, Grady – The Final Girl Support Group (Berkley)
• Pelayo, Cynthia – Children of Chicago (Agora Books)
• Wendig, Chuck – The Book of Accidents (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Winner: Hailey Piper – Queen of Teeth (Strangehouse Books)

Also nominated:

• Martinez, S. Alessandro – Helminth (Omnium Gatherum)
• McQueen, LaTanya – When the Reckoning Comes (Harper Perennial)
• Miles, Terry – Rabbits (Del Rey)
• Quigley, Lisa – The Forest (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
• Willson, Nicole – Tidepool (The Parliament House)

*Due to a tie in fifth place, there are six nominees in this category.

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Winner: Erica Waters – The River Has Teeth (HarperTeen)

Also nominated:

• Blake, Kendare – All These Bodies (Quill Tree Books)
• Boyle, R.L. – The Book of the Baku (Titan Books )
• Lewis, Jessica – Bad Witch Burning (Delacorte Press)
• Sutherland, Krystal – House of Hollow (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Winner: Alessandro Manzetti (author) and Stefano Cardoselli (author and artist) – The
Inhabitant of the Lake (Independent Legions Publishing)

Also nominated:

• Ahmed, Saladin (author) and Kivelä, Sami (artist) – Abbott 1973 (BOOM! Studios)
• Garcia, Kami (author); Suayan, Mico (artist); Badower, Jason (artist); and Mayhew, Mike (artist) – Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity (DC Comics)
• Morrison, Grant (author); Child, Alex (author); and Franquiz, Naomi (artist) – Proctor Valley Road (BOOM! Studios)
• Panosian, Dan (author) and Ignazzi, Marianna (artist) – An Unkindness of Ravens (BOOM Studios)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Winner: Jeff Strand – “Twentieth Anniversary Screening” (Slice and Dice) (Independently
published)
Also nominated:

• Castro, V. – Goddess of Filth (Creature Publishing, LLC)
• Khaw, Cassandra – Nothing But Blackened Teeth (Tor Nightfire)
• LaRocca, Eric – Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (Weirdpunk Books)
• Piper, Hailey – “Recitation of the First Feeding” (Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy) (The Seventh Terrace)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Winner: Lee Murray – “Permanent Damage” (Attack From the ’80s) (Raw Dog Screaming
Press)

Also nominated:

• Gyzander, Carol – “The Yellow Crown” (Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign) (Hippocampus Press)
• O’Quinn, Cindy – “A Gathering at the Mountain” (The Bad Book) (Bleeding Edge Books)
• Taborska, Anna -“Two Shakes Of A Dead Lamb’s Tail” (Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands) (Telos Publishing)
• Ward, Kyla Lee – “A Whisper in the Death Pit” (Weirdbook #44) (Wildside Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Winner: Gemma Files – In That Endlessness, Our End (Grimscribe Press)

Also nominated:

• Fracassi, Philip – Beneath a Pale Sky (Lethe Press)
• Maberry, Jonathan – Empty Graves: Tales of the Living Dead (WordFire Press LLC)
• Tuttle, Lisa – The Dead Hours of Night (Valancourt Books)
• Wise, A.C. – The Ghost Sequences (Undertow Publications)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Winner: Mike Flanagan; James Flanagan; and Jeff Howard – Midnight Mass, Season 1,
Episode 6: “Book VI: Acts of the Apostles” (Intrepid Pictures)

Also nominated:

• Chaisson, C. Henry; Antosca, Nick; and Cooper, Scott – Antlers (Searchlight Pictures)
• Dong-hyuk, Hwang – Squid Game, Season 1, Episode 1: “Red Light, Green Light” (Siren Pictures)
• Graziadei, Phil and Janiak, Leigh – Fear Street: Part One – 1994 (Chernin Entertainment)
• Peele, Jordan; Rosenfeld, Win; and DaCosta, Nia – Candyman (Universal Pictures)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Winner: Ellen Datlow – When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (Titan
Books)

Also nominated:

• Chambers, James – Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign (Hippocampus Press)
• French, Aaron J. and Landry, Jess – There is No Death, There are No Dead (Crystal Lake Publishing)
• Guignard, Eric J. – Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (Dark Moon Books)
• Johnson, Eugene – Attack From the 80’s (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Winner: Michael Knost – Writers Workshop of Horror 2 (Hydra Publications)

Also nominated:

• Olson, Danel – 9/11 Gothic: Decrypting Ghosts and Trauma in New York City’s Terrorism Novels (Lexington Books)
• Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew and Hansen, Regina M. – Giving the Devil His Due: Satan and Cinema (Fordham University Press)
• Wetmore Jr., Kevin J. – Eaters of the Dead: Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters (Reaktion Books)
• Woofter, Kristopher – Shirley Jackson: A Companion (Peter Lang Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Winner: Angela Yuriko Smith – “Horror Writers: Architects of Hope” (The Sirens Call,
Halloween 2021, Issue 55) (Sirens Call Publications)

Also nominated:

• Ognjanović, Dejan – “The Three Paradigms of Horror” (Vastarien Vol. 4, Issue 2) (Grimscribe Press)
• O’Quinn, Cindy – “One and Done” (Were Tales: A Shapeshifter Anthology) (Brigids Gate Press)
• Verona, Emily Ruth – “A Horror Fan’s Guide to Surviving Womanhood” (thefinalgirls.co.uk)
• Wetmore Jr., Kevin J. – Devil’s Advocates: The Conjuring (Auteur Publishing/Liverpool University Press)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Winner: Christina Sng; Angela Yuriko Smith; Lee Murray; and Geneve Flynn – Tortured
Willows: Bent. Bowed. Unbroken. (Yuriko Publishing)

Also nominated:

• Lansdale, Joe R. – Apache Witch and Other Poetic Observations (Independent Legions Publishing)
• McHugh, Jessica – Strange Nests (Apokrupha)
• Simon, Marge and Turzillo, Mary – Victims (Weasel Press)
• Snyder, Lucy A. – Exposed Nerves (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

HWA Liftetime Achievement Awards were given to Nancy Holder, Koji Suzuki and Jo Fletcher.

The Specialty Press Award was given to Valancourt Books.

The Richard H. Laymon President’s Award was given to Sumiko Saulson.

The Silver Hammer Award for service was given to Kevin J. Wetmore.

The Mentor of the Year Award was given to Michael Knost.

The Seventh Annual FINAL FRAME Horror Short Competition winners are:

BEST WRITING IN A SHORT FILM:
“Becoming Emma Braintree”
Written and Directed by Joshua Koske
Based on a short story by Aaron Dries

SECOND RUNNER-UP to Grand Prize:
“Every Time We Meet For Ice Cream Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes”
Written and Directed by Anthony Cousins
Based on a short story by Carlton Mellick III

FIRST RUNNER-UP to Grand Prize
“The Thing That Ate The Birds”
Written and Directed by: Sophie Mair and Dan Gitsham

GRAND PRIZE WINNER
“Inheritance”
Written and Directed by: Annalise Lockhart

#

Named in honor of the author of the seminal horror novel Dracula, the Bram Stoker Awards® are
presented annually for superior writing in eleven categories including traditional fiction of various
lengths, poetry, screenplays and non-fiction. Previous winners include: Jordan Peele, Anne Rice,
Stephen King, Ellen Datlow, George R. R. Martin, Joyce Carol Oates, George A. Romero, Nancy
Holder, Linda D. Addison, and Neil Gaiman.

Active and Lifetime members of the organization are eligible to vote for the winners in all categories.

For more on the Horror Writers Association, please visit www.horror.org.

For More Information Contact:
Horror Writers Association
info@horror.org

#

The fourteen films chosen for the Sixth Annual Final Frame Competition were screened as part of the virtual StokerCon 2021 on May 21, 2021. The judges for the event consisted of Alejandro Brugués, Grady Hendrix, Lisa Morton, Ed Polgardy, and and former Final Frame Finalists Beck Kitsis (director, Three Men You Meet At Night / producer, The Rat), Carlen May-Mann (director, The Rat / producer, Three Men You meet At Night).

The Grand Prize Winner: Tony Morales for Abracitos

1st Runner-Up: Brian Sacca for Joanne Is Dead

2nd Runner-Up: Trish Harnetiaux for You Wouldn’t Understand

Writing Award (tie): Brian Sacca for Joanne Is Dead and Trish Harnetiaux & Jacob A. Ware for You Wouldn’t Understand

Audience Award: Abracitos