The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2025 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see 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.
Laura Blackwell, Bram Stoker Awards® Committee’s Co-Chair, Administration says, “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 and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot.
The 2025 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Day, Julie C.; Bissett, Carina; and Gidney, Craig Laurance, eds. — Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology (Essential Dreams Press)
Golden, Christopher and Keene, Brian, eds. — The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand (Gallery Books)
Kulski, Kristy Park, ed. — Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora (Bad Hand Books)
Murray, Lee and Jeffery, Dave, eds. — This Way Lies Madness: Stories from the Edge of Darkness (Flame Tree Publishing)
Ryan, Lindy and Wytovich, Stephanie M., eds. — HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror (Black Spot Books)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Chapman, Clay McLeod — Acquired Taste (Titan Books)
Files, Gemma — Little Horn: Stories (Shortwave)
Langan, John — Lost in The Dark and Other Excursions (Word Horde)
Piper, Hailey — Teenage Girls Can Be Demons (Titan Books)
Tantlinger, Sara — Cyanide Constellations (Dark Matter INK)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Daly, Grace — The Scald-Crow (Creature Publishing)
Karella, Bitter — Moonflow (Run For It)
Pell, Tanya — Her Wicked Roots (Gallery Books)
Steel, Hester — The Faceless Thing We Adore (Page Street Horror)
Tennison, Kathryn — Molting (Uncomfortably Dark Horror)
Viel, Neena — Listen to Your Sister (St. Martin’s Griffin / Titan Books)
Wehunt, Michael — The October Film Haunt (St. Martin’s Press)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Bunn, Cullen (writer) and Luckert, Danny (artist) – Jumpscare (Dark Horse Comics)
King, Sandy (editor) – John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight, Volume 11 (Storm King Comics)
Kraus, Daniel (writer) and Dani (artist) – Athanasia (VAULT Comics)
Mignola, Mike – Bowling With Corpses and Other Tales from Lands Unknown (Dark Horse Comics)
Tynion IV, James (writer), Foxe, Steve (writer), and Kowalski, Piotr (artist) – Let This One Be a Devil – (Dark Horse Comics & Tiny Onion Studios)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Ballingrud, Nathan — Cathedral of the Drowned (Tor Nightfire / Titan Books)
Ha, Thomas — “Uncertain Sons” (Uncertain Sons and Other Stories, Undertow Publications)
Langan, Sarah — “Squid Teeth”(Reactor)
Langan, Sarah — Pam Kowolski is a Monster! (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Wise, A.C. — “Wolf Moon, Antler Moon” (Reactor)
Superior Achievement in Long Non-Fiction
Borwein, Naomi Simone, ed. — Global Indigenous Horror (University Press of Mississippi)
Grafius, Brandon R. and Morehead, John W., eds. — The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters (Oxford University Press)
Hieber, Leanna Renee and Janes, Andrea — America’s Most Gothic (Kensington Publishing)
Scrivner, Coltan — Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away (Penguin Random House)
Spratford, Becky Siegel, ed. — Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction (Saga Press)
Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel
Dawson, Delilah S. — Ride or Die (Delacorte Press)
Kuyatt, Meg Eden — The Girl in the Walls (Scholastic Press)
Malinenko, Ally — Broken Dolls (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Oh, Ellen — The House Next Door (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Russell, Ally — Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave (Delacorte Press)
Superior Achievement in a Novel
Hendrix, Grady — Witchcraft for Wayward Girls (Berkley)
Hill, Joe — King Sorrow (William Morrow)
Jones, Stephen Graham — The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (Saga Press / Titan Books)
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia — The Bewitching (Del Rey)
Wagner, Wendy N. — Girl in the Creek (Tor Nightfire)
Superior Achievement in Poetry (Collection and Long Form)
Addison, Linda D. and Hodge, Jamal — Everything Endless (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Gold, Maxwell I. — Songs of Enough: An Inferno All My Own (Hippocampus Press)
Kearns, Shannon — The Uterus is an Impossible Forest (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Peebles, Cate — The Haunting (Tupelo Press)
Raguso, MarieAnn C, PhD — Allegories of Beauty & Violence: a collection of Gothic Romance Poems (Analyze This)
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
Coogler, Ryan — Sinners (Warner Bros. / Domain / Proximity)
Cregger, Zach — Weapons (New Line Cinema / Domain / Subconscious)
Garland, Alex — 28 Years Later (Sony / Columbia Pictures / TSG Entertainment)
Hancock, Drew — Companion (New Line Cinema / BoulderLight Pictures / Vertigo Entertainment)
Philippou, Danny and Hinzman, Bill — Bring Her Back (Causeway Films / Salmira Productions / The South Australian Film Corporation)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Daniels, L.E. — “Stomata” (Darkness Most Fowl, The Godmother of Horror Press)
Joseph, RJ – “Inheritance” (Full Throttle: A Dark Dozen Anthology, Uncomfortably Dark Publishing)
Szczepaniak-Gillece, Jocelyn — “Saint Dymphna’s School for Borderland Girls” (Weird Horror #10, Undertow Publications)
Taborska, Anna — “[Ir]reversible” (Witches and Witchcraft: An Anthology of Stories, Poems, and Essays, Hippocampus Press)
Wongsatayanont, Champ – “Autogas Ferryman” (Nightmare Magazine #156, Adamant Press)
Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction
Barb, Patrick — “Deathwish Wolf Man: The Tragic Hero at the Heart of the Universal Monster” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press)
Due, Tananarive — “My Long Road to Horror” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)
Jones, Stephen Graham — “Why Horror” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)
Moshaty, Mo — “Haunted Thresholds: Liminal Horror and the Psychological Disintegration of Women from Post-Partum, Grief, Trauma and Religious Fanaticism” (Darkest Margins: 24 Essays on Liminality and Liminal Spaces in the Horror Genre) (1428 Publishing Ltd)
Pelayo, Cynthia — “My Mother Was Margaret White” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
Chapman, Clay McLeod – Shiny Happy People (Delacorte Press)
Cheng, Linda — Beautiful Brutal Bodies (Roaring Brook Press)
Chupeco, Rin — We’re Not Safe Here (Sourcebooks)
Rodriguez Wallach, Diana — The Silenced (Delacorte Press)
Roux, Madeleine — A Girl Walks Into The Forest (Quill Tree Books)
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 more than 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 antiharassment policy at all of its events. Please direct any questions regarding the Final Ballot to stokerchair@horror.org.
For press inquiries: contact stokerchair@horror.org or director@horror.org.
