Crawford Award Explained

See also: Crawford Medal. The IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award (short: Crawford Award) is a literary award given to a writer whose first fantasy book was published during the preceding calendar year. It's one of several awards presented by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) and is presented at the International Conference of the Fantast in the Arts[1] each March in Orlando.

In order to be eligible, a title must be the author’s first fantasy book; it is permissible for an author active in different genres to be submitted, so long as it is their first fantasy book. In addition to novels and novellas, collections of poetry, short stories, and fiction aimed at younger readers are all eligible.

The Prize was conceived and established with the help of Andre Norton, who continued to sponsor it for many years.[2] The award is named after the publisher and editor William L. Crawford (1911-1984).[3] It was administered by noted Locus reviewer, Gary K. Wolfe from 1985 to 2023. The current administrator is critic Farah Mendlesohn.

Crawford honorees have gone on to win a dozen World Fantasy Awards (including a Life Achievement Award for Charles de Lint), five Shirley Jackson Awards, five Locus Awards, four Hugo Awards, four Nebula Awards, and 27 other awards of various kinds. Two Crawford-winning novels have been adapted as feature films, Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni’s Mistress of Spices in 2005 and Christopher Barzak’s One for Sorrow in 2014 (under the title Jamie Marks is Dead). While the majority of honorees have been residents of the United States, the international dimension of the award is reflected by winners from Canada, the U.K., Sweden, Barbados, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia.

List of recipients

YearRecipientTitle of BookRef
1985Moonheart
1986Things Invisible to See
1987The Hound and the Falcon trilogy
1988Reindeer Moon
1989Walkabout Woman
1990The Silk Road
1991Winter of the World trilogy
1992Moonwise
1993Flying in Place
1994Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound
1995Gun, With Occasional Music
1996Archangel
1997Black Wine
1998Mistress of Spices
1999Lon Tobyn Chronicles
2000Black Jewels trilogy
2001The Fox Woman
2002The Eyre Affair
2003A Scattering of Jades
2004The Etched City
2005The Year of Our War
2006Twentieth Century Ghosts
2007Map of Dreams
2008One for Sorrow[4]
2009Pandemonium
2010The Manual of Detection
2011Karen LordRedemption in Indigo[5]
2012Mechanique[6]
2013Jagganath[7]
2014A Stranger in Olandria[8]
2015The Angel of Losses[9]
2016The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps
2017All the Birds in the Sky
2018Her Body and Other Parties[10]
2019The Poppy War[11]
2020Gideon the Ninth[12]
2021Nghi Vo  The Empress of Salt and Fortune[13]
2022Usman T. Malik  Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan[14]
2023Simon JimenezThe Spear Cuts Through Water
2024Vajra ChandrasekeraThe Saint of Bright Doors

Judges

2023-2024: Brian Attebery, Candas Jane Dorsey, Niall Harrison, Mimi Mondal, Cheryl Morgan, Graham Sleight.

Past judges have included: Amelia Beamer, Jedediah Berry, Liz Bourke, Karen Burnham, John Clute, Daryl Gregory, Ellen Klages, Kelly Link, Adrienne Martine, Kathleen Massie-Ferch, Farah Mendlesohn, Cheryl Morgan, Sofia Samatar, Jonathan Strahan, Liza Groen Trombi, Genevieve Valentine, Paul Witcover.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts - Conferences . 2023-10-25 . iaftfita.wildapricot.org.
  2. Web site: IAFA Awards . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121008100917/http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/iafa/awards.htm . 2012-10-08 . 2013-06-07 . International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.
  3. Book: Clute, John . John Clute . John Grant . . New York . St. Martin's Press. 1015 . 1997 . 0-88184-708-9.
  4. News: 2008-01-10 . Awards News: Crawford Fantasy Award Winner . . Locus Publications . dead . 2008-01-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050302031408/http://www.bloglines.com/preview?siteid=440715 . 2005-03-02.
  5. News: 2011-03-20 . The Locus Index to SF Awards . . Locus Publications . dead . 2011-07-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111016031013/http://locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Crawford2011.html . 2011-10-16.
  6. News: 2012-01-24 . 2012 Crawford Award Announced . . Locus Publications . 2012-07-17.
  7. News: 2013-02-05 . 2013 Crawford Award . . Locus Publications .
  8. News: 2014-01-24 . Samatar Wins Crawford Award . . Locus Publications .
  9. News: 2015-01-27 . Cho and Feldman Win Crawford Award . . Locus Publications .
  10. "Machado Wins Crawford Award," Locus, Feb. 14, 2019.
  11. "Kuang Wins Crawford Award," Locus, Feb. 1, 2019.
  12. "Muir Wins Crawford Award," Locus, Feb. 4, 2020.
  13. "William L. Crawford - IAFA Fantasy Award 2021 ," Feb. 11, 2022.
  14. Web site: 2022 IAFA Crawford Award and Shortlist Announced – International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts . 2022-02-11 . en-US.