Published in 2011 by 23 Escalones and illustrated by Irene León Guijarro, the bi-lingual Spanish edition of Now We Are Sick: An Anthology of Nasty Verse edited by Neil Gaiman and Stephen Jones has won the 2012 Premio NOCTE Award for Best Foreign Book.

The annual award, sponsored by The Spanish Horror Writers Association, was one of several announced on 13 October 2012 by the President of NOCTE, Juan Angel Laguna Edroso, and Spanish author Roberto Malo at XXX Hispacón in the city of Urnieta Guipuzcoa.

For more information about NOCTE, go to:
http://www.nocte.es/blog2/en/bienvenidos-a-nocte/

Voting is open in the 2012 Nova Awards, which celebrate achievement in British and Irish science fiction fanzines.  Voting is open to all members of Novacon 42, and to any sf fan resident in the UK or Eire; the only criterion is that they have read at least six different eligible fanzines published between 1 October 2011 and 30 September 2012. Electronic ballots must be received no later than 23:59 (GMT) on Wednesday 31 October 2012.

Categories are Best UK / Irish Fanzine, Best UK / Irish Fan Writer and Best UK / Irish Fan Artist .  For the online voting form see HERE

Last year the inaugural This Is Horror Awards 2011 were a great success – votes were received from across the world and the Awards were covered in a multitude of media. This year they’re back, and will be bigger and better than ever.

The first stage of the This Is Horror Awards 2012 begins now. Readers can email in their nominations for each of the eighteen Award categories. Taking into consideration the nominations for each category, This Is Horror will then draw up a shortlist.

The nominations stage runs from 3 September 2012 through until 31 October 2012. Categories include Novel of the Year, Film of the Year, TV Series of the Year and Podcast of the Year, among others.

Please see the This Is Horror website HERE for more information, the Award rules, and how to vote.

SFScope have reported that the winners of this year’s Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (for best short science fiction story published in 2011) and John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for best science-fiction novel of 2011) are as follows:

Campbell Award:
1st (joint): The Islanders by Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
1st (joint): The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski (Tor)
3rd: Embassytown by China Miéville (Ballantine/Del Rey)
Honorable Mention: Osama by Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)

Sturgeon Award:
1st: The Choice by Paul McAuley (Asimov’s)
2nd: Six Months Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)
3rd: The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)

This year’s David Gemmell Awards For Fantasy were presented on 15 June 2012 in a ceremony held at London’s Magic Circle headquarters.

The winners were:
Ravenheart Award (best cover art): Raymond Swanland – Blood of Aenarion
Morningstar Award (best debut): Helen Lowe – Heir of Night
Legend Award (best novel): Patrick Rothfuss – The Wiseman’s Fear

It was also announced that next year’s Gemmell Awards ceremony will take place as part of the 2013 World Fantasy Convention.

The convention takes place in Brighton, UK between 31 October and 3 November 2013.  The only other times that the World Fantasy Convention has moved outside North America was in 1988 and 1997, when it was staged in London, so we feel privileged to be a part of this prestigious international event.

Held at Brighton’s Metropole Hotel and the West Pier, WFC 2013 boasts an impressive line-up of guests, including Richard Matheson, Richard Christian Matheson, Brian Aldiss, Alan Lee and Tessa Farmer.  The Master of Ceremonies is China Mieville; and a host of other authors, artists, publishers and industry insiders will also be attending.

For full details of the convention visit the official website HERE

As the Gemmell Awards will be presented in October/November next year, and not in mid-June as usual, the voting cycle will be altered to accommodate the change of date.  To keep abreast of the changes check the awards website where you can sign-up for the free newsletter. The change of venue and date is for one year only – 2014 will see the awards returning to the Magic Circle.

The finalists for the 2012 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (for best short science fiction story published in 2011) and for the 2012 John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for best science fiction novel of 2011) have been announced. Read the full lists at the SFScope website HERE

The Mythopoeic Society – a non-profit group devoted to the study of fantastic and mythopoeic literature – have announced the Mythopoeic Awards finalists. See HERE for details

The Association for the Recognition of Excellence in SF and Fantasy Translation (ARESFFT) have announced the finalists for the 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards (for works published in 2011). See HERE for details

Locus Online reports that The Asimov’s Readers’ Awards and the Analog 2011 AnLab Awards were presented during the recent Nebula Awards Weekend. See the Locus website HERE for the list of winners

Finally, The 2012 Compton Crook Award winner is T.C. McCarthy‘s Germline (Orbit). This Award is presented by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society for the best first novel in the field of science fiction, fantasy or horror. Further information HERE

Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock) is to receive a special prize at this year’s BAFTA TV awards. In recognition of his “outstanding creative writing contribution to television”, the award will be presented on 27 May 2012 at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Previous recipients include former Doctor Who writer/producer, Russell T. Davies.

Moffat also received a writing prize at this year’s BAFTA Craft Awards for A Scandal in Belgravia, the first episode of Sherlock‘s second series.

Read the full BBC story HERE

The finalists have been announced for the 2012 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel. They are:

• Ready Player One, Ernest Cline (Crown)
• This Shared Dream, Kathleen Ann Goonan (Tor)
• Soft Apocalypse, Will McIntosh (Night Shade Books)
• Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey)
• The Islanders, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
• The Highest Frontier, Joan Slonczewski (Tor)
• Dancing with Bears, Michael Swanwick (Night Shade)
• Osama, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
• Robopocalypse, Daniel H. Wilson (Simon & Schuster)
• Home Fires, Gene Wolfe (Tor)
• Seed, Rob Ziegler (Night Shade Books)

Full details HERE

The British Fantasy Society is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2012 British Fantasy Awards. Determined by the 952 recommendations from BFS members and FantasyCon attendees and overseen by the British Fantasy Awards Jury, the shortlist is:

Novel:
The Heroes; Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz)
11.22.63; Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
Cyber Circus; Kim Lakin-Smith (NewCon Press)
A Dance with Dragons; George RR Martin (Harper Voyager)
The Ritual; Adam Nevill (Pan)
Among Others; Jo Walton (Tor Books)

There will be two awards in the best Novel category: The August Derleth Award for best horror novel and The Robert Holdstock Award for best fantasy novel.

Novella:
Terra Damnata; James Cooper (PS Publishing)
Ghosts with Teeth; Peter Crowther (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
Near Zennor; Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer; John Ajvide Lindqvist (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
Gorel and the Pot Bellied God; Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
Alice Through the Plastic Sheet; Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)

Short Fiction:
Dermot; Simon Bestwick (Black Static)
Sad, Dark Thing; Michael Marshall Smith (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
Florrie; Adam Nevill (House of Fear, Solaris Books)
The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter; Angela Slatter (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
King Death; Paul Finch (Spectral Press)

Anthology:
A Book of Horrors; editor Stephen Jones (Jo Fletcher Books)
House of Fear; editor Jonathan Oliver (Solaris Books)
The Weird; editors Jeff and Ann Vandermeer (Corvus Books)
Gutshot; editor Conrad Williams (PS Publishing)

Collection:
Rumours of the Marvellous; Peter Atkins (Alchemy Press)
Mrs Midnight; Reggie Oliver (Tartarus Press)
Everyone’s Just So So Special; Robert Shearman (Big Finish)
A Glass of Shadow; Liz Williams (NewCon Press)

Screenplay:
Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen
Attack the Block by Joe Cornish
The Awakening by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
Melancholia by Lars Von Trier
Kill List by Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump

Magazine/Periodical:
Black Static; ed. Andy Cox  TTA Press
Interzone; ed. Andy Cox   TTA Press
SFX, ed. Dave Bradley    Future Publishing
The Horror Zine, ed. Jeani Rector

Comic/Graphic Novel:
Animal Man; Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman (DC Comics)
Batwoman; JH Williams III and W Haden Blackman (DC Comics)
Locke and Key; Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW Publishing)
The Unwritten; Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo)
The Walking Dead; Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (Image)

As stated in the new rules of the BFAwards, the Judges can add a title they feel was an egregious omission from the initial recommendations. This year they added 2 titles to the novel category, 2 titles to the novella category, and 1 title to short fiction. If a category has 5 titles listed, this is due to a tie on number of votes and points.

The BFAward Judges, James Barclay, Hal Duncan, Maura McHugh, Esther Sherman, and Damien G. Walter, will now review the shortlist and enter into deliberations. The winners will be announced at FantasyCon in Brighton on 30 September 2012.

The Special Juries and shortlists for the following awards have also been announced:

The PS Publishing Independent Press Award:

Jurors:
Sandy Auden
Peter Crowther
Nicholas Royle
Peter Tennant
Darren Turpin

Shortlist:
Chomu Press; Quentin S Crisp
Gray Friar Press; Gary Fry
NewCon Press; Ian Whates
Spectral Press; Simon Marshall-Jones

The Artist Award:

Jurors:
Guy Adams
Anne Sudworth
Christopher Teague

Shortlist:
Ben Baldwin
Vincent Chong
Les Edwards
Daniele Serra

The Non-Fiction Award :

Jurors:
Djibril al-Ayad
Roz Kaveney
Adam Roberts

Shortlist:
Lest You Should Suffer Nightmares: A biography of Herbert Van Thal; Johnny Mains (Screaming Dreams)
Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero; Grant Morrison (Jonathan Cape)
Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen since the 1960s; Kim Newman (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Studies in Terror: Landmarks of Horror Cinema; Jonathan Rigby (Signum Books)
Case Notes; Peter Tennant (Black Static)

British Fantasy Society Chair Lee Harris says, “Our members have been consistent in recommending the best in horror and fantasy published in 2011, and we think we have an incredibly strong shortlist. Our judges have a hard job ahead of them and we’re sure the 2012 British Fantasy Awards will get people debating for the rest of the year.”

Find out more about our judges here. The full longlist of members’ recommendations will be available to view on the BFS website from next week.

AMENDMENT

There has been a slight amendment to the BFAwards shortlist as listed above.

King Death was mistakenly listed in the Best Novella category (instead of short story) and Alice Through the Plastic Sheet was listed in the Best Short Story category (instead of novella). Both stories continue to be eligible in their new homes. Apologies for any confusion, and many thanks to those of you who spotted the error.

The winners of the inaugural Poetry Box Horror & Dark Poetry Silver Cup Trophy Award have been announced as follows:

WINNER:  Mark Mikkelsen  – ‘Ode To Night’
2nd PLACE: Riff Poynton – ‘The Dark In The Heart’
3rd PLACE: Lynn Walton – ‘Awakening’
4th PLACE: Joe Hobbs – ‘Torso In The Gutter’
5th PLACE: Lorna Hunter – ‘Anxiety Attacks’

JUDGE’S SPECIAL COMMENDATION AWARD:
Cathy Bryant – ‘Petrified’
Tracey Clark – ‘Last Supper’
Pamela Johnson – ‘The Hanging Man’
Jerry Prince – ‘The Almost’
Daniel Mills – ‘Serpents (A Ballad)’
Annie Williams – ‘The Game’

HIGHLY COMMENDED AWARD:
Jim Stewart-Evans – ‘Nightfall on All Hallows Eve’
Lucienne Kim Flavell – ‘Afterword’
B.M. Laverty – ‘Fatal Attraction’
Tom Cunliffe – ‘Blank’

All winners’ poems will be featured in the first issue of The Poetry Box Horror & Dark Poetry Magazine. For full details and how to order please see the website HERE