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)
Gods of Jade and Shadow
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)
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Best Novel (YA)
We Hunt the Flame
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”
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Best Novel MG (Middle Grade)
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
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
Best Novella
This Is How You Lose the Time War
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
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
Charles Payseur – Quick Sip Reviews
Alex Brown – Tor.com (Winner)
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
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)
