Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ Preliminary Ballot Edition

 This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.

As I talk about in this series, the longer the awards list the better it is as a resource for us. Today is a great example of this.

The Bram Stoker Awards® lists are released in 2 stages. The first, released earliest this week, is the Preliminary Ballot. These are the 10 long list titles for each of 13 categories, for all ages of readers. The voting member of the HWA will winnow these lists of 10 down to 5 official nominees.

However, for our purposes, the more the merrier and I am sharing this longlist with all of you in the interest of giving you easy access to the maximum number of vetted and recommended horror titles.

Please use this list to check your shelves to make sure you own these titles. The Preliminary Ballot provides a great survey of Horror from 2025. 

And, backlist accèss is easy. The Bram Stoker Awards website is comprehensive and easy to use. Click on the Winner/Nominees tab and you get a menu to choose a year and view all of the nominees and winners. This is a great resources for displays, to update your collections, and provide recommendations any time of year.

Remember, along with novels, anthologies, and story collections, there are awards for YA, Middle Grade, Graphic Novels, Screen Plays, and Nonfiction. You can identify horror for all sections of your library. And for newer voices, not only is there a "First Novels" category, but also, check those Long Fiction (novella) and Short Fiction (Stories) categories for up and coming authors.

Below you can find the full press release from the HWA. If you would like to view it on the website, click here.

[Full disclosure, I am an active voting member of the HWA. Furthermore, my book and 4 of the essays included within it are on this list in the Long Nonfiction and Short Nonfiction categories below.]

Horror Writers Association Releases the 2025 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Preliminary Ballot for the 2025 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see http://www.horror.org/) is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/). Works on this ballot are not referred to as “nominees” or “finalists.” Only works appearing on the Final Ballot may be referred to as “nominated works” and their authors as “finalists.”

Laura Blackwell, Bram Stoker Awards® Committee’s Co-Chair, Administration says, “The Preliminary Ballot represents the discernment of thirteen awards juries, the work of HWA staffers and awards committee, and the admiration of the entire HWA membership. We’re delighted to present this curated list of 130 pieces of horror fiction and non-fiction, and I’m excited to see what our voting members select for the Final Ballot.”

The 2025 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot. 

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Allingham, LCW and Eno, River — Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts (Speculation Publications)

Armiento, Isabel, ed. — One Bad Night & Other Stories (Aardvark Book Club)

Bissett, Carina, ed — Fractured Reveries: A Storied Imaginarium Salon (Storied Imaginarium)

Day, Julie C.; Bissett, Carina; and Gidney, Craig Laurance, eds. — Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology (Essential Dreams Press)

Golden, Christopher and Keene, Brian — The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand (Gallery Books)

Ihezue, Somto and Kidula, Olivia — Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology (Shilitza Publishing)

Kulski, Kristy Park — Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora (Bad Hand Books)

Murray, Lee and Jeffery, Dave — This Way Lies Madness: Stories from the Edge of Darkness (Flame Tree Publishing)

Pascale, Elaine — Darkness Most Fowl (The Godmother of Horror Press)

Ryan, Lindy and Wytovich, Stephanie M., ed. — HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror (Black Spot Books)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Castro, V. — The Pink Agave Motel & Other Stories  (CLASH Books)

Chapman, Clay McLeod — Acquired Taste (Titan Books)

Files, Gemma — Little Horn: Stories (Shortwave)

Guignard, Eric J. — A Graveside Gallery: Tales of Ghosts and Dark Matters (Cemetery Dance)

Langan, John — Lost in The Dark and Other Excursions (Word Horde)

Ntumy, Cheryl S. — Black Friday: Stories from Africa (Flame Tree Press)

Piper, Hailey — Teenage Girls Can Be Demons  (Titan Books)

Regan, M. — stories in the minor key (Sobelo)

Robertson, Andrew — InHUMANities(The Great Lakes Horror Company)

Tantlinger, Sara — Cyanide Constellations (Dark Matter INK)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Daly, Grace — The Scald-Crow (Creature Publishing)

Justine, H. Lee — You Watched in Silence (Blackstone Publishing)

Karella, Bitter — Moonflow (Run For It)

Madrid, L.L. — My Lips, Her Voice (Creature Publishing)

Pell, Tanya — Her Wicked Roots (Gallery Books)

Penney, Vanessa F. — The Witch of Willow Sound (ECW Press)

Steel, Hester — The Faceless Thing We Adore (Page Street Horror)  

Tennison, Kathryn — Molting (Uncomfortably Dark Horror)

Viel, Neena — Listen to Your Sister (St. Martin’s Griffin)

Wehunt, Michael — The October Film Haunt (St. Martin’s Press)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Bunn, Cullen (writer) and Luckert, Danny (artist) – Jumpscare (Dark Horse Comics)

Bunn, Cullen (writer) and Mitten, Christopher (artist) – The Autumn Kingdom: Through the Blight (Oni Press)

Carey, Mike (writer) and Raimondi, Pablo (artist) – Ghostbox (Mad Cave Studios)

Cleveland, Anthony (writer) and Cormack, Alex (artist) – Buried Long, Long Ago (Mad Cave Studios)

King, Sandy (editor) – John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight, Volume 11 (Storm King Comics)

Kraus, Daniel (writer) and Dani (artist) – Athanasia (VAULT Comics)

Mignola, Mike – Bowling With Corpses and Other Tales from Lands Unknown (Dark Horse Comics)

Oeming, Michael Avon – William of Newbury (Dark Horse Comics)

Tynion IV, James (writer), Foxe, Steve (writer), and Kowalski, Piotr (artist) – Let This One Be a Devil – (Dark Horse Comics & Tiny Onion Studios)

Tynion IV, James (writer) and Walsh, Michael (artist) – Exquisite Corpses (Image Comics & Tiny Onion Studios)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Bacon, Eugen — The Nga’phandileh Whisperer: A Sauútiverse Novella (Stars and Sabers)

Ballingrud, Nathan — Cathedral of the Drowned (Tor Nightfire)

Cooper, S.H. — Reap, Sow (Independently Published)

Ha, Thomas — “Uncertain Sons” (Uncertain Sons and Other Stories, Undertow Publications)

Langan, Sarah — “Squid Teeth”(Reactor)

Langan, Sarah — Pam Kowolski is a Monster! (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Marano, Luciano — Humbug (Crystal Lake Publishing)

McRobert, Neil — Good Boy (Wild Hunt Books)   

Wise, A.C. — “Wolf Moon, Antler Moon” (Reactor)

Superior Achievement in Long Non-Fiction

Borwein, Naomi Simone, ed. — Global Indigenous Horror (University Press of Mississippi)

Cavallaro, Jason — Cracking Spines: Three Decades of Horror (Independently Published)

Grafius, Brandon R. and Morehead, John W., eds. — The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Monsters (Oxford University Press)

Hieber, Leanna Renee and Janes, Andrea — America’s Most Gothic (Kensington Publishing)

Isaacson, Johanna — What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (DieDieBooks)

Lisowksi, Zefyr — Uncanny Valley Girls — (Harper Perennial)

Rogerson, Matt, ed. — Darkest Margins: 24 Essays on Liminality and Liminal Spaces in the Horror Genre  (1428 Publishing)

Scrivner, Coltan — Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away (Penguin Random House)

Sederholm, Carl H. and Woofter, Kristopher, eds. — The Weird: A Companion (Peter Lang, Oxford)

Spratford, Becky Siegel, ed. — Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction (Saga Press)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel

Averling, Mary — The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)

Blankenship-Kramer, Carey — Ghost Scout’s Honor (Scholastic Press)

Collings, Michaelbrent — Grimmworld: The Big Bad Wolf (Shadow Mountain Publishing)

Dawson, Delilah S. — Ride or Die (Delacorte Press)

Field, Colm — Uncle Zeedie (Fox and Ink Books)

Kuyatt, Meg Eden — The Girl in the Walls (Scholastic Press)

Malinenko, Ally — Broken Dolls (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Ocker, J.W. — Welcome to the Ghost Show (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Oh, Ellen — The House Next Door (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Russell, Ally — Mystery James Digs Her Own Grave (Delacorte Press)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Baker, Kylie Lee — Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng (MIRA / Hodder & Stoughton)

Chapman, Clay McLeod — Wake Up and Open Your Eyes (Quirk Books)

Hendrix, Grady — Witchcraft for Wayward Girls (Berkley)

Hill, Joe — King Sorrow (William Morrow)

Jones, Stephen Graham — The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (Saga Press)

Kraus, Daniel — Angel Down (Atria Books)

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia — The Bewitching (Del Rey)

Piper, Hailey — A Game in Yellow (Saga Press)

Tingle, Chuck — Lucky Day (Tor Nightfire)

Wagner, Wendy N. — Girl in the Creek (Tor Nightfire)

Superior Achievement in Poetry (Collection and Long Form)

Addison, Linda D. and Hodge, Jamal — Everything Endless (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Byrdlong, Brian — Strange Flowers (YesYes Books)

Couturier, Scott J. — Nightmuse: Poems of Speculative Darkness (Jackanapes)

Gold, Maxwell I. — Songs of Enough: An Inferno All My Own (Hippocampus Press)

Kearns, Shannon — The Uterus is an Impossible Forest (Raw Dog Screaming Press)                                               

Niles, Frederick — Slender Bones in Sacred Soil (Blood Moon Publishing)

Peebles, Cate — The Haunting (Tupelo Press)

Raguso, MarieAnn C, Ph.D — Allegories of Beauty & Violence: a collection of Gothic Romance Poems (Analyze This)

Rockwell, Griffin — listen—a poetic creature (Interstellar Flight Press)

Schultz, K. A. — PÔËTÍQUE Dark Poems & Lyric Poetry (Dakeha Taunus LLC)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Busick, Guy and Taylor, Lori Evans — Final Destination: Bloodlines (New Line Cinema / Domain Entertainment / Practical Pictures)

Coogler, Ryan — Sinners  (Warner Bros. / Domain / Proximity)

Cregger, Zach — Weapons (New Line Cinema / Domain / Subconscious)

Ezban, Isaac and Fentanes, Ricardo Aguado — Parvulos: Children of the Apocalypse (Corazon Films / MalignoGorehouse / Red Elephant)

Garland, Alex — 28 Years Later (Sony / Columbia Pictures / TSG Entertainment)

Hancock, Drew — Companion (New Line Cinema / BoulderLight Pictures / Vertigo Entertainmen)

Hassel, Lukas — House of Abraham (Jump Rock Pictures)

Mollner, JT — The Long Walk (Lionsgate / Media Capital Technologies / Vertigo Entertainment)

Philippou, Danny and Hinzman, Bill — Bring Her Back (Causeway Films / Salmira Productions / The South Australian Film Corporation)

Shanks, Michael — Together (1.21 / 30West / Picturestart / Princess Pictures)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Daniels, L.E. — “Stomata” (Darkness Most Fowl, The Godmother of Horror Press)

Joseph, RJ – “Inheritance” (Full Throttle: A Dark Dozen Anthology, Uncomfortably Dark Publishing)

Keeling, Phil – “The Elevated Table” (Red Cedar Review, Vol. 60)

Lee, Felicia – “Chichilo” (Short(b)Reads) (Hollow Oak Press)

McKenzie, Amy Lynne – “Because I Am Writing Another Horror Screenplay” (Out There, Sans. PRESS)

Nelson, David Erik – “The Nölmyna” (Reactor)

Szczepaniak-Gillece, Jocelyn — “Saint Dymphna’s School for Borderland Girls” — (Weird Horror #10, Undertow Publications)

Taborska, Anna — “[Ir]reversible” (Witches and Witchcraft: An Anthology of Stories, Poems, and Essays, Hippocampus Press)

Tierney, Charlotte – “Who Kills a Spider” (Extra Teeth Magazine, Extra Bite)

Wongsatayanont, Champ – “Autogas Ferryman” (Nightmare Magazine #156, Adamant Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Barb, Patrick —“Deathwish Wolf Man: The Tragic Hero at the Heart of the Universal Monster” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press)

Cassels, Pat — “Coney Island’s Last Surviving Classic Haunted Ride” (Atlas Obscura)

Chapman, Clay McLeod —“Why I Am Horror” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)

Due, Tananarive —“My Long Road to Horror” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)

Jones, Stephen Graham — “Why Horror” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)

Kerestman, Katherine — “Frank Belknap Long Letters, Written to Michael E. Ambrose, 1976-1979” (Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts Oct 2025, International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts)

Moshaty, Mo —“Haunted Thresholds: Liminal Horror and the Psychological Disintegration of Women from Post-Partum, Grief, Trauma and Religious Fanaticism” (Darkest Margins: 24 Essays on Liminality and Liminal Spaces in the Horror Genre) (1428 Publishing Ltd)

Pelayo, Cynthia — “My Mother Was Margaret White” (Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Fiction, Saga Press)

Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew — “Author Functions: Stephen King’s Writers” (Theorizing Stephen King, Amsterdam University Press)

Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew — “The Victorian American Ghost Story” (The Victorian Ghost Story: An Edinburgh Companion) (Edinburgh University Press)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Chapman, Clay McLeod – Shiny Happy People (Delacorte Press)

Cheng, Linda — Beautiful Brutal Bodies (Roaring Brook Press)

Chupeco, Rin — We’re Not Safe Here (Sourcebooks)

Goldsmith, Amy — Predatory Natures (Delacorte Press)

Harris, Pamela N. — Through Our Teeth (Quill Tree Books)

Moreau, Khalia  — He Burns By The River (Augustine Books)

Rodriguez Wallach, Diana — The Silenced (Delacorte Press)

Roux, Madeleine — A Girl Walks Into The Forest (Quill Tree Books)

Sain, Ginny Myers — When The Bones Sing (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Tobias, Trisha — Honeysuckle and Bone (Sweet July Books)

Our voting members will now vote on these Preliminary Ballot items, with voting closing on February 15, 2025. Only Active and Lifetime Members in good standing are eligible to vote.