The judges for the 2026 World Fantasy Awards, for work published in 2025, have now been empaneled. The judges read and consider eligible materials between the receipt of this letter and April 30, 2026, the earlier the better. Anything received after April 30 will receive little or no consideration.
The awards will be presented at the convention, to be held at the Oakland Marriott City Center, Oakland, CA, USA, from October 22 through October 25, 2026.
Membership costs can be found on the World Fantasy Convention registration page:
Banquet tickets will be available in late Summer, 2025, if not earlier. Information and forms can be found
on the convention website: WFC2026
Send materials you wish to be considered by the panel directly to the addresses below.
VERY importantly, please mark all packages as PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS – NOT FOR SALE OR
RESALE – NO COMMERCIAL VALUE — WORLD FANTASY AWARDS MATERIALS. ANY
MATERIALS NOT BEARING THIS NOTICE WILL BE REFUSED BY THE RECIPIENT!
For each individual work, please specify to what category you are submitting, e.g. Novel,
Anthology, etc. Please include word counts for Short Stories and Novellas.
Qualifications: All books must have been originally published in English in 2025; magazines must have a
2025 cover date; short length stories must have been originally published in English in 2025; only living persons
are eligible.
Fantasy Types: All forms of fantasy are eligible, e.g. high, epic, dark, contemporary, literary, YA, urban,
horror, etc.
Categories: Life Achievement; Best Novel; Best Novella (10,001 to 40,000 words); Best Short Story; Best
Anthology; Best Collection; Best Artist; Special Award—Professional; Special Award—NonProfessional.
AI-created work is not eligible for the World Fantasy Award.
Please note that the nominees in the Life Achievement category will not be released, though the winners will be announced well before the awards banquet.
All questions pertaining to the convention should be directed to the Convention Chairs.
Questions concerning eligibility, the judges, and the awards administration may be sent to my attention.
Once again, the World Fantasy Awards Administration and the convention are most pleased to be working
with you. With your continued good will and support, we shall successfully uphold the already prestigious
reputation of the World Fantasy Awards.
As always, thank you very much for your time, and for your assistance.
Respectfully,
Pete Pautz
Peter Dennis Pautz
World Fantasy Awards Administration
3519 Glen Avenue
Palmer Township, PA 18045-5812
USA
SFExecSec@gmail.com
Convention Co-Chairs:
Audrey T. Williams and Rina Weisman; chair2@wfc2026.org and chair1wfc2026@gmail.com
2026 World Fantasy Awards Judges and Administrator
(All 6 must receive submissions)
Chikodili Emelumadu Graduate College; Alexander Park Drive; Lancaster University; UK, LA2 0PF 1emelumadu@gmail.com (HC; Digitals only as a last resort)
Tamsyn Muir PO Box 947; Oxford OX3 3BN; United Kingdom; taz.e.muir@gmail.com
(Prefers HC for longer work [novels, collections, anthologies], PDF for shorter works)
Madeleine E. Robins 548 Arlington Street; San Francisco, CA 94131; USA; wumberlyquo@duck.com
(Prefers HC, then ePub)
Richard Thomas 1212 Edington Ln, Mundelein, IL 60060; USA; richardthomasWFA@gmail.com
(Prefers HC for longer work [novels, collections, anthologies], PDF for shorter works)
Ann VanderMeer P.O. Box 38190; Tallahassee, FL 32315; USA; wfa.abv@gmail.com
(Prefers PDF for shorter works; HC for Longer Works, e.g. novels)
Peter Dennis Pautz 3519 Glen Avenue; Palmer Township, PA 18045; USA; SFExecSec@gmail.com
(HC ONLY)
ALL ELECTRONIC COPIES SHOULD ALSO BE SENT TO WFA2026@gmail.com
(Judges’ order of preference as listed above: HC=Hard Copy; MOBI=Mobipocket ebook format;
EPUB=Electronic Publication; PDF=Portable Document Format; MSWord= Microsoft Word Document)