The deadline for recommendations for the British Fantasy Awards – February 28 – is rapidly approaching… A form and reminder are being sent out this week with our January mailing, but if you haven’t thought about your choices yet, now’s the time!

Members of the BFS, Fantasycon 2008 and/or Fantasycon 2009 (if they have booked) can put forward as many items as they like, and you don’t have to send in all your recommendations at the same time.

Recommendations can be completed online by clicking here (you must be logged in to do this), sent by email to bfsawards@britishfantasysociety.org, or by using the forms included in the bags at Fantasycon 2008 and included with our January mailing. Where relevant and if possible, please include the author, title, publication and publisher when making your recommendations.

NB: Recommendations may not be made for the recommender’s own material.

We are seeking recommendations in the following categories: 

• BFS Special Award (the Karl Edward Wagner Award)
• The Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer
• Best Novel (the August Derleth Award) (over 40,000 words)
• Best Novella (10,000-40,000 words)
• Best Short Fiction (under 10,000 words)
• Best Collection
• Best Anthology
• Best Non-Fiction
• Best Artist
• Best Small Press
• Best Magazine/Periodical
• Best Television Programme
• Best Film
• Best Comic/Graphic Novel

Although recommendations are requested for the Karl Edward Wagner Award and the Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer, the winners will be decided by the committee of the British Fantasy Society and by a panel of judges, respectively.

Eligibility in relevant categories is decided by the date of first publication in the English language. (Graphic novels or trade paperbacks collecting work published in previous years are eligible.) Fantastic works of all kinds are eligible: heroic fantasy, science fiction, horror, ghost stories, fabulation, alternate history, and so on. The new category of Best Magazine/Periodical is designed to to credit both fiction and non-fiction publications whether they be in print or online.

The recommendations period will remain open until 28 February 2009. The longlist will be sent out to members for voting in our March mailing. Voting on the longlist will remain open until 31 May 2009. The shortlist of nominations will be sent out to members in our June mailing, and members will then have until 1 August 2009 to vote upon the nominated works. Finally, the winners will be announced on 19 September 2009 at the Fantasycon awards ceremony.

To fill in the form online (you must be logged in, or you will receive an error), click here.

To download the recommendations form to print and post, click here.