Bram Stoker Awards

The Bram Stoker Awards are presented each year by the Horror Writers Association for superior achievement in horror and dark fantasy writing. Named for the author of Dracula, they were created right after the association was incorporated in 1987, and the first awards were given in 1988 for works published the year before. Winners receive an eight-inch sculpture of a haunted house whose door opens to reveal an engraved plaque.

The awards honor superior achievement rather than the best of the year, and the rules are designed to allow ties. Any horror work first published in English is eligible in its year of publication. Juries and members build a preliminary ballot, and two rounds of voting by the association's Active and Lifetime members produce the final ballot and then the winners. Categories include novel, first novel, young adult and middle grade novels, graphic novel, short fiction, poetry, nonfiction and screenplays.

Works of horror and dark fantasy first published in English during the calendar year.