Bram Stoker Award Winners Announced

Posted on June 27, 2002

The Horror Writer's Association, an organization of writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting the interests of writers of horror and dark fantasy, has announced the winners of this years Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement. American Gods by Neil Gaiman took the novel award and Deadliest of the Species by Michael Oliveri won in the first novel category. A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to John Farris. A complete list of the Bram Stoker Awards can be found below.

Each year, the Horror Writer's Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards, named in honor of Bram Stoker, author of the seminal horror work, Dracula. The Stoker Awards were instituted immediately after the organization's incorporation in 1987. While many members, including HWA's first President, Dean Koontz, had reservations about awards -- since the point of HWA was for writers to cooperate for their mutual benefit, not to compete against one another -- the majority of members heavily favored presenting awards, both to recognize outstanding work in the horror field and to publicize HWA's activities.

To ameliorate the competitive nature of awards, the Stokers are given "for superior achievement," not for "best of the year," and the rules are deliberately designed to make ties fairly common. The first awards were presented in 1988 (for works published in 1987), and they have been presented every year since. The award itself is an eight-inch replica of a fanciful haunted house, designed specifically for HWA by sculptor Steven Kirk. The door of the house opens to reveal a brass plaque engraved with the name of the winning work and its author.

Beginning with works published in 2001, the awards are presented in twelve categories: Novel, First Novel, Short Fiction, Long Fiction, Fiction Collection, Poetry Collection, Anthology, Nonfiction, Illustrated Narrative, Screenplay, Work for Young Readers, and Alternative Forms. In addition, Lifetime Achievement Stokers are occasionally presented to individuals whose entire body of work has substantially influenced Horror.

2001 Bram Stoker Awards

• Novel: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• First Novel: Deadliest of the Species by Michael Oliveri
• Long Fiction: In These Final Days of Sales by Steve Rasnic Tem
• Short Fiction: "Reconstructing Amy" by Tim Lebbon
• Fiction Collection: The Man with the Barbed-Wire Fists by Norman Partridge
• Anthology: Extremes 2: Fantasy and Horror from the Ends of the Earth edited by Brian A. Hopkins
• Nonfiction: Jobs in Hell edited by Brian Keene
• Illustrated Narrative: No Award
• Screenplay: Memento by Christopher & Jonathan Nolan
• Work for Young Readers: The Willow Files 2 by Yvonne Navarro
• Poetry Collection: Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes by Linda Addison
• Alternative Forms: Dark Dreamers: Facing the Masters of Fear by Beth Gwinn & Stanley Wiater
• Lifetime Achievement Award: John Farris