World Fantasy Awards

The World Fantasy Awards are awards for excellence in the genre of fantasy fiction and art and are considered as prestigious as the Hugos and Nova Awards, which are awarded for science fiction. 
There are currently ten categories considered: novel, novella, short fiction, collection, anthology, artist, special award - professional, special award - non-professional, convention and life achievement for outstanding service to the fantasy field. Nominees and winners are selected by judges and attendees of the Convention; a ballot is posted in June for attendees of that year's and the two previous conventions to nominate two finalists, with the judges (appointed by the World Fantasy Board) nominating three more. Winners are then determined at the convention by the judges, who are usually professionals in the fantasy field.
The awards are presented at the World Fantasy Convention. From 1975 to 2016 the award was a statue of H.P. Lovecraft, designed by cartoonist Gahan Wilson. The current award - a tree with a full moon - was designed by Vincent Villafranca.
== History ==
The WFAs were founded in 1975 as part of the World Fantasy Convention, initially for fantasy and supernatural horror fiction; while the Hugo and Nova Awards were awarded to fantasy works, founder Kirby McCauley felt that as a separate genre fantasy/supernatural horror deserved its own awards:
Those first awards began with seven categories - Best Novel, Best Short Fiction, Best Collection, Best Artist, Special Award—Professional, Special Award—Non-professional, and Life Achievement. There have been some changes over the years - the addition of the Convention Award (a special award for outstanding contributions to the genre) in 1978; splitting Short Fiction award Short Story and Novella awards in 1982; and multi-author anthologies, previously eligible for the Collection award, being split into their own Best Anthology category in 1988. 
== Controversies ==
=== Comics Controversy ===
In 1991, Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Issue #19 ("A Midsummer's Night's Dream") won the award for Best Short Story. This was controversial in and of itself, as comics were not considered "literature", but it was also reported that the Board then changed the rules to prevent the same thing happening again."Enter Sandman: Comic Book Wins Fiction Award For First, And Maybe Last, Time" by Brenda Herrmann, Chicago Tribune, December 20, 1991 (via Wayback Sep 28/13) The Board clarified that that comics and graphic novels were not intended to be eligible for that category, and said that "Comics are eligible in the Special Award Professional category. We never made a change in the rules."World Fantasy Award - Controversies - Wikipedia 
=== The "Howard". ===
There was a heavy Lovecraft influence on the first convention, which was held in Lovecraft's home town of Providence, Rhode Island and this was reflected in the choice of the prize - an elongated bust of Lovecraft nicknamed the "Howard". Throughout the 2010s, however, authors objected to the use of Lovecraft's likeness to represent world fantasy given his outspoken racist views. After some years of argument, in 2014 the Board announced they were in discussion regarding the future of the bust and at the 2015 awards it was announced that the bust would be replaced. Supporters of Lovecraft were unhappy with the decision, with S.T. Joshi returning the two awards he had won and calling for a boycott of the awards"HP Lovecraft biographer rages against ditching of author as fantasy prize emblem" by Alison Flood, The Guardian, November 11, 2015. (via Wayback November 30, 2015). 
See more on the controversy on the Lovecraft and Racism page. 
== Awards ==
Full results of the awards are available at the World Fantasy Convention websiteNominees - World Fantasy Convention . Nominees and winners of the non-professional (aka fan or semi-professional/non-profit) categories are provided below.
=== 1970s ===
==== 1975 - Special Non-Professional ====
* Stuart David Schiff for Whispers - winner
* Harry O. Morris for publishing - nominee
* Roy A. Squires for Nyctalops - nominee
==== 1976 - Special Non-Professional ====
* Karl Edward Wagner, David Drake and Jim Groce for Caracosa - winner
* Gerry de la Ree for publishing/editing - nominee
* Harry O. Morris for publishing/editing - nominee
* George Scithers for publishing/editing - nominee
* Roy A. Squires for publishing/editing - nominee
* Robert Weinberg for publishing/editing - nominee
==== 1977 - Special Non-Professional ====
* Stuart David Schiff for Whispers - winner
* Jonathan Bacon for Fantasy Crossroads - nominee
* Arnie Fenner for Chacal - nominee
* Nils Hardin for Xenophile - nominee
* Gary Hoppenstand for Midnight Sun - nominee
* Harry O. Morris for Nyctalops - nominee
==== 1978 ====
===== Special Non-Professional =====
* Robert Weinberg for publishing and editing - winner
* Jonathan Bacon for Fantasy Crossroads - nominee
* W. Paul Ganley for Weirdbook - nominee
* Gary Hoppenstand for Midnight Sun - nominee
* Stephen Jones for Fantasy Tales - nominee
* Harry O. Morris for Nyctalops - nominee
==== 1979 ====
===== Special Non-Professional =====
* Donald H. Tuck for the "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume 2" - winner
* Paul C. Allen for Fantasy Newsletter - nominee
* Pat Cadigan for Shayol - nominee
* Arnie Fenner for Shayol - nominee
* W. Paul Ganley for Weirdbook - nominee
* Stuart David Schiff for Whispers & Whispers Press
== References ==
Category:1975 Awards
Category:1970s Awards
Category:Fantasy Fandom