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 2025 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 Babyproduced 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.
