The Ignyte Awards 2020 Proved the Strength of SFF Lies in Its Diversity

See the winners of the inaugural awards!

Ignyte Awards

The first-ever winners of the Ignyte Awards were announced on October 17th during a virtual ceremony. The Ignyte Awards were created in 2020 by FIYAH, the Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, to “celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror." 

The winners were announced as part of the inaugural FIYAHCON, a convention celebrating BIPOC+ in speculative fiction. This year's event was virtual, but the FIYAHCON website promises, "we'll be back." 

See the complete list of Ignyte Awards 2020 winners below. 

Best Novel (Adult)

2019 Nebula finalists

Gods of Jade and Shadow

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark, one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore.

Nominees:

The Dragon Republic – R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)

WINNER: Gods of Jade and Shadow – Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)

Jade War – Fonda Lee (Orbit)

Storm of Locusts – Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga Press)

Kingdom of Copper – S. A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager)

RELATED: 6 Nommo Award-Winning Books 

Best Novel (YA)

Ignyte Awards

We Hunt the Flame

By Hafsah Faizal

Set in a richly detailed world inspired by ancient Arabia, Hafsah Faizal's We Hunt the Flame—first in the Sands of Arawiya duology—is a gripping debut of discovery, conquering fear, and taking identity into your own hands.

Nominees:

Pet – Akwaeke Emezi (Make Me a World/PRH Children’s Books)

Everlasting Rose – Dhonielle Clayton (Freeform)

Slay – Brittney Morris (Simon Pulse)

War Girls – Tochi Onyebuchi (Razorbill)

WINNER | We Hunt the Flame – Hafsah Faizal (FSG BYR)*

*BYR: “Books for Young Readers”

RELATED: Books by Black Fantasy Authors Getting Me Through 2020 

Best Novel MG (Middle Grade)

Ignyte Awards

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

By Kwame Mbalia

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods.

Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from the tragedy.

Nominees:

WINNER | Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky – Kwame Mbalia (Disney Hyperion)

Just South of Home – Karen Strong (S&S BYR)*

The Mystwick School of Musicraft – Jessica Khoury (Audible/HMH BYR)* **

Other Words for Home – Jasmine Warga (HarperCollins)

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe – Carlos Hernandez (Disney Hyperion)

*BYR: “Books for Young Readers”

** audiobook released in 2019

RELATED: 10 Unforgettable Indigenous Futurism Books 

Best Novella

time travel books

This Is How You Lose the Time War

By Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future.

Nominees

The Deep – Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes (Gallery/Saga Press)

The Survival of Molly Southbourne – Tade Thompson (Tor/Forge (Tor.com))

The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday – Saad Z. Hossain (Tor/Forge (Tor.com))

WINNER | This Is How You Lose the Time War– Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar (Gallery/Saga Press)

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 – P. Djèlí Clark (Tor/Forge (Tor.com))

Best Novelette

Emergency Skin – N K Jemisin for the Amazon Forward Collection  (Winner)

While Dragons Claim the Sky – Jen Brown for FIYAH Literary Magazine

Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy – JY Neon Yang for Tor.com

The Archronology of Love – Caroline Yoachim for Lightspeed

Omphalos – Ted Chiang for Exhalation: Stories

Best Short Story

Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island – Nibedita Sen for Nightmare Magazine

Dune Song – Suyi Davies Okungbowa for Apex Magazine

And Now His Lordship is Laughing – Shiv Ramdas for Strange Horizons

Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan – Christopher Caldwell for Uncanny Magazine

A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy – Rebecca Roanhorse for Mythic Dream (Winner)

Best in Speculative Poetry

Heaven is Expensive – Ruben Reyes, Jr. for Strange Horizons

Elegy for the Self as Villeneuve’s Beast – Brandon O’Brien for Uncanny Magazine

A Conversation Between the Embalmed Heads of Lampião and Maria Bonita on Public Display at the Baiano State Forensic Institute, Circa Mid-20th Century – Woody Dismukes for Strange Horizons (Winner)  

Those Who Tell the Stories – Davian Aw for Strange Horizons 

goddess in forced repose – Tamara Jerée for Uncanny Magazine

Critics Award

for reviews and analysis of the field of speculative literature

Jesse – Bowties & Books

Charles Payseur – Quick Sip Reviews

Maria Haskins

Alex Brown – Tor.com (Winner)

Liz Bourke

Best Fiction Podcast

for excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction

PodCastle – Editors Jen R. Albert, Cherae Clark, Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali, Host + Assistant Editor Setsu Uzume, & Audio Producer Peter Adrian Behravesh

Nightlight Podcast – Tonia Thompson

LeVar Burton Reads – LeVar Burton (Winner)

Beneath Ceaseless Skies – Editor Scott H. Andrews

Obsidian Podcast – Co-Creators, Producers, and Writers Adetola Abdulkadir & Safiyah Cheatam

Best Artist

for contributions in visual speculative storytelling

Geneva Bowers

Nilah Magruder

Grace P. Fong (Winner)

John Picacio

Paul Lewin

Best Comics Team

for comics, graphic novels, and sequential storytelling

These Savage Shores – Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vitorio Astone, Aditya Bidikar, & Tim Daniel (Winner)

Blackbird Vol. 1 – Sam Humphries, Jen Bartel, & Triona Farrell

Excellence – Khary Randolph, Brandon Thomas, Emilio Lopez, & Deron Bennett

Coda – Simon Spurrier, Matías Bergara, Michael Doig, Jim Campbell, & Colin Bell

Bitter Root – David F Walker, Chuck Brown, & Sanford Greene

Best Anthology/Collected Works

The Mythic Dream – Editors Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe

Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Fiction in Translation – Editor, Translator Ken Liu

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color – Editor Nisi Shawl (Winner)

This Place: 150 Years Retold – Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, David A. Robertson, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Jen Storm, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette, Chelsea Vowel | illustrated by Tara Audibert, Kyle Charles, GMB Chomichuk, Natasha Donovan, Scott B. Henderson, Ryan Howe, Andrew Lodwick, Jen Storm | colour by Scott A. Ford, Donovan Yaciuk

A People’s Future of the United States – Victor LaValle & John Joseph Adams

Best in Creative Nonfiction

for works related to the field of speculative fiction

AfroSurrealism: The African Diaspora’s Surrealist Fiction – Rochelle Spencer (Routledge)

The Dark Fantastic – Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (NYU Press)

Black Horror Rising – Tananarive Due (Uncanny Magazine) (Winner)

Our Opinions are Correct – Charlie Jane Anders & Analee Newitz

Tongue-Tied: A Catalog of Losses – Layla Al-Bedawi (Fireside Fiction)

The Ember Award

for unsung contributions to genre

Tananarive Due

LeVar Burton (Winner)

Keidra Chaney

Nisi Shawl

Malon Edwards

The Community Award

for Outstanding Efforts in Service of Inclusion and Equitable Practice in Genre

Beth Phelan

Mary Robinette Kowal

Diana M. Pho

Writing The Other – Nisi Shawl + K Tempest Bradford

Strange Horizons – Gautam Bhatia, Vajra Chandrasekera, Joyce Chng, Kate Cowan, Tahlia Day, William Ellwood, Rebecca Evans, Ciro Faienza, Lila Garrott, Dan Hartland, Amanda Jean, Lulu Kadhim, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Catherine Krahe, Anaea Lay, Dante Luiz, Heather McDougal, AJ Odasso, Vanessa Rose Phin, Clark Seanor, Romie Stott, Aishwarya Subramanian, Fred G. Yost, and the SH copyediting team and first readers (Winner)