For Your Consideration: Strange Horizons 2025 Award Eligibility

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By: the Strange Horizons staff

Issue: 1 December 2025

The year is drawing to a close, and we can't help but get wistful. Our 25th year in print—and what a year it's been! We had two nominees in the inaugural Best Poem Hugo, and one of them won. We had stories and poems nominated for the Ignyte, Rhysling, and Hugo awards. We raised a historic amount during our 25th Fund Drive, getting us ready for another spectacular year of stories, poems, reviews, essays, podcasts, and art, with some fantastic special issues in the works as well. And to top it all off, our 25th anniversary podcast, Strange Horizons at 25, was on the longlist for the Best Fancast Hugo Award.

So to everyone who reads us, or listens to the podcasts, or who donated to our Fund Drive or is a member of our Patreon—thank you for celebrating our birthday with us. Onward to year 26! And if you are catching up with your 2025 reading and listening, and would like a refresher on what Strange Horizons works are eligible for various awards, read on.

Jump to section:

Magazine Eligibility • Editors • Fiction (Novelettes • Short Stories) • Poetry • Podcasts • Non-Fiction (Articles • Columns) • Reviews • Art

(This list will be updated with more stories and other content due for publication in December.)

Magazine Eligibility

Strange Horizons in its entirety is eligible for the Locus Award for Best Magazine, British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine/Periodical, and the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.

Editors

All of our Editors in Fiction, Poetry, Reviews, and Non-Fiction are eligible individually for the Best Editor - Short Form Hugo Award, and the Best Editor category in the Locus Awards, Nebula Awards, and elsewhere.

The 2025 team was:

Fiction: Hebe Stanton, Aigner Loren Wilson, Dante Luiz, Kathryn Weaver, Joyce Ch'ng
Poetry: Romie Stott, Vanessa Jae, Lisa M Bradley, AJ Odasso
Non-Fiction: Gautam Bhatia, Joyce Ch'ng, Anneke Schwob
Reviews: Dan Hartland, Aishwarya Subramanian

Fiction

Everything in our 2025 archives is eligible for a variety of SFF short fiction awards. For your convenience, we've categorised them by length, as well as by Special Issue where applicable.

As many of the stories below constitute the author's professional debut in the genre, this may make them eligible for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. If a particular work has inspired you and you would like to nominate the author, please seek out their eligibility post on social media or their website, and, if unsure, reach out to them to confirm that they can be nominated. We're sure they'd be delighted to hear from you.

Novelettes - Over 7,500 words

Short Stories - Under 7,500 words

Dead Dog Mans the Lighthouse by Max Franciscovich
Ticket po mamser. by Caroline Hung
Arachnomorphosis by Beth Goder
The Luring Lantern by Laura Cranehill
Another Trip Around the Sun by Jon Poley
Machine Hearts by Jeff Dingler
The Last Time Gladys Howled At the Moon by Jennifer Hudak (Aging in SFF Special Issue)
No One Dies of Longing by Anjali Sachdeva
Pandora's Formula by Hannah Yang
Everything We Lost in the Apocalypse by Mar Vincent
Five Things You Can See by Nadia Radovich
How to Dispose of a Dead Albatross by Octavia Cade
The Ache of Hollow Places by Avra Margariti
Because I Held His Name Like a Key by Aimee Ogden
Sceach Gheal by Katie McIvor
Thirteen Swords That Made a Prince: Highlights from the Arms & Armory Collection by Sharang Biswas
Resurrections by Emet North
Poorly Salted, Well-Loved by Athar Fikry
The Capture by Raja'a Khalid
The Heartbreak Hotel on Plutonic Planet by Carolyn Zhao
The Orchard Village Catalog by Parker Peevyhouse
Bullet Time at the Kink Party by miriam
Palimpsest by Melissa A Watkins
HEART FALLOUT by Jess Peng
I Wish You Died Laughing by Lio Abendan

Stop Copaganda Special Issue:

The Afrosurrealist Special Issue, funded by our 2024 Kickstarter:

Poetry

All poems below are eligible for the Rhysling Award, and shorter poems under 10 lines are eligible for the Dwarf Stars Award. If any of the poets listed below have had a chapbook or book of poetry published in the last year, it would be eligible for the Elgin Award.

LAcon V has announced that a Best Poem Hugo Award will be their special category this year, following on from a successful first-stage campaign to enshrine the award in the WSFS rules after its inaugural appearance at Seattle Worldcon—and therefore we'd love it if you checked out the wonderful work we got to publish in 2025 and nominate your favorites when the time comes.

* Part of the Afrosurrealist Special Issue.

Podcasts

Did you know we have four different podcasts as part of the Strange Horizons podcast feed? If you didn't, there is so much you can discover!

Whether you like our audio fiction, which curates narrations of stories previously published in print on the magazine, or our non-fiction content—from our Strange Horizons at 25 celebration interviews, to our Critical Friends discussions on SFF criticism, or the Writing While Disabled podcast format column—there is something here for everyone, always in service of championing diverse and impactful speculative fiction, as well as interesting perspectives and conversations on it.

Fiction Podcast

All fiction stories that were podcasted in 2025 are individually eligible for the British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work, the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form, and the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, while the Fiction Podcast as a whole is eligible for the Ignyte Award for Best Fiction Podcast.

Here are all our 2025 Episodes:

Podcast: Coming Through In Waves by Samantha Murray, narrated by Jenna Hanchey
Podcast: Bee Season by Michelle Kulwicki, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: Sandrine by Alexandra Munck, narrated by Claire McNerney
Podcast: Tomorrow is Waiting by Holli Mintzer, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: Reprise by Samantha Lane Murphy, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: BRIDE / BUTCHER / DOE by Lowry Poletti, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars by Premee Mohamed, narrated by Kat Kourbeti
Podcast: 'Half Sick of Shadows' by Elle Engel, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: 'A City on Its Tentacles' by R.B. Lemberg, narrated by Jenna Hanchey
Podcast: 'Sister, Silkie, Siren, Shark' by Ariel Marken Jack, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: Time Is An Ocean by Angela Liu, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: 'Of Flowing Stone, of Liquid Gold, of Justice, Ash, and Battle' by Malda Marlys, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: City Grown From Seed by Diana Dima, narrated by Emmie Christie
Podcast: The Spindle of Necessity by B. Pladek, narrated by Arden Fitzroy

Strange Horizons At 25

Our 25th anniversary celebration limited podcast series hit its stride in 2025, with 11 interviews and one special episode on our anniversary issue available for your enjoyment. The podcast as a whole, helmed by Editors Kat Kourbeti and Michael Ireland, is eligible for the Best Fancast Hugo Award, while individual episodes are eligible for the British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work.

Critical Friends

The SFF criticism podcast from Review Editors Dan Hartland and Aisha Subramanian is eligible for the Best Fancast Hugo Award, while individual episodes are eligible for the British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work.

The episodes published in 2025 are:

Writing While Disabled

The column on wrangling a writing career and disability from authors Kristy Anne Cox and Kate Johnston is now in podcast format, and therefore eligible for the Best Fancast Hugo Award, while individual episodes are eligible for the British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work.

The episodes published in 2025 are:

Non-Fiction

Our robust non-fiction offering covers the whole range from short reviews to in-depth essays, with a smattering of unique formats. All the pieces below are a joy to read, and add a little something to the greater speculative fiction conversation.

The individual essays and reviews are eligible for the BSFA Shorter Non-Fiction Award, Ignyte Award for Outstanding Creative Non-Fiction, and Best Related Work Hugo Award, and every author listed below is also eligible for the Ignyte Critics Award and Best Fan Writer Hugo Award (alongside their other work from this year - please seek it out and support them if you enjoy their work here).

The editors who commissioned and edited the pieces—credited at the bottom of each article—are eligible for Best Editor - Short Form in the Hugos, and Best Editor in the Locus Awards and elsewhere.

Columns

Maria Haskins, "Short Fiction Treasures: Quarterly Fiction Roundup"
- January 2025
- July 2025
Kuzhali Manickavel, "Stories From The Radio"
- The Slide - Final Episode, May 2025
- The Curse of Nagana, August 2025
- The Revolt of the Worms, November 2025
Eugen Bacon, "Spec Fic and the Politics of Identity"
- Finding the Self in the Other, March 2025

Articles

* Part of our Annual Criticism Special Issue.

Reviews

2024 in Review: part one, part two, and part three
Leaked Footages by Abu Bakr Sadiq, reviewed by Paul Chuks
The City in Glass by Nghi Vo, reviewed by Nileena Sunil
Withered Hill by David Barnett, reviewed by Racheal Chie
The Machine Autocorrects Code to I by Chanlee Luu, reviewed by Tristan Beiter
Motheater by Linda H. Codega, reviewed by E. C. Barrett
Revising Reality: How Sequels, Remakes, Retcons, and Rejects Explain The World by Chris Gavaler and Nat Goldberg, reviewed by Vivian Wagner
Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions by Nalo Hopkinson, reviewed by Eugen Bacon *
Takaoka’s Travels by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, reviewed by Prashanth Gopalan *
We Are All Monsters: How Deviant Organisms Came to Define Us by Andrew Mangham, reviewed by M. L. Clark *
The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey, reviewed by Stephen Case
Wolfish by Kritika Kapoor, reviewed by Sneha Pathak
Ixelles by Johannes Anyuru translated by Nichola Smalley, reviewed by Areeb Ahmad
Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera, reviewed by Helena Ramsaroop
High Vaultage by Chris and Jen Sugden, reviewed by Eric Hendel
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, reviewed by Bill Capossere
Catherine the Ghost by Kathe Koja, reviewed by Andy Sawyer
Magica Riot by Kara Buchanan, reviewed by Dean Leetal
Private Rites by Julia Armfield, reviewed by Chelsea Davis
ChloroPhilia by Cristina Jurado, translated by Sue Burke, reviewed by Rachel Cordasco
The Dark Delight of Being Strange by James B. Haile III, reviewed by Ian J. Simpson
North Continent Ribbon by Ursula Whitcher, reviewed by Tristan Beiter
Necessary Poisons by Andrea Blythe, reviewed by Daniel A. Rabuzzi
A Power Unbound by Freya Marske, reviewed by Safia H. Senhaji
Dune: Prophecy, reviewed by Marina Berlin
Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan, reviewed by Archita Mittra
Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen, reviewed by Aaron Heil
Honeymoons in Temporary Locations by Ashley Shelby, reviewed by Shannon Fay
A Spectre is Haunting Greentree by Carson Winter, reviewed by Marisa Mercurio
Adam and Eve in Paradise by José Maria de Eça de Queirós, translated by Margaret Jull Costa, reviewed by Sally Parlier
On the Calculation of Volume I & II by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara J. Haveland, reviewed by Will McMahon
Under the Eye of The Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Asa Yoneda, reviewed by Akankshya Abismruta
The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem, translated by Sinan Antoon, reviewed by Dan Hartland
Schrödinger’s Wife (and Other Possibilities) by Pippa Goldschmidt, reviewed by Octavia Cade
J. G. Ballard’s Crash by Paul March-Russell and Keith Roberts’s Pavane: A Critical Companion by Paul Kincaid, reviewed by Adam Roberts
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, reviewed by Eric Primm
New Adventures in Space Opera edited by Jonathan Strahan, reviewed by Stephen Case
Exodus: The Archimedes Engine by Peter F. Hamilton, reviewed by Matt Hilliard
She Who Knows by Nnedi Okorafor, reviewed by Racheal Chie
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor, reviewed by Kyle R. Garton
Salutation Road by Salma Ibrahim, reviewed by Paul Chuks
This Cursed House by Del Sandeen, reviewed by David Lewis
Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Science Fiction edited by Sonia Sulaiman, reviewed by Akankshya Abismruta
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell, reviewed by Vivian Wagner
Don’t Let the Forest In by C. G. Drews, reviewed by Cameron Miguel
The West Passage by Jared Pechaček, reviewed by Electra Pritchett
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson, reviewed by Bill Capossere
The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths, reviewed by Sneha Pathak
The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Walker Thompson, reviewed by Jenny Hamilton
You, From Below by Em J. Parsley, reviewed by Phoenix Scholz
Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino, reviewed by Anushree Nande
The Mires by Tina Makereti, reviewed by Octavia Cade
Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens by Lynn Hutchinson Lee, reviewed by Kyle R. Garton
How to Survive This Fairytale by S. M. Hallow, reviewed by Hana Carolina
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar, reviewed by Archita Mittra
The Sea Gives Up the Dead: Stories by Molly Olguín, reviewed by Elizabeth A. Allen
Dream of the Bird Tattoo by Juan J. Morales, reviewed by Tristan Beiter
Peri Peri Paprika by Leanne Su, reviewed by Eric Hendel
William Hope Hodgson and the Rise of the Weird: Possibilities of the Dark by Timothy S. Murphy, reviewed by Daniel A. Rabuzzi
Waterblack by Alex Pheby, reviewed by Matthew Eatough
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton and Mickey17, reviewed by Amritesh Mukherjee
The Wheel of Time Season 3, reviewed by Marina Berlin
Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes, reviewed by Shannon Fay
Major Arcana by John Pistelli, reviewed by Catherine Baker
Bird Ornaments by Angel T. Dionne, reviewed by Paul Chuks
Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery, reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
The Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist 2025, reviewed by Gautam Bhatia
Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield, reviewed by Marisa Mercurio
The Hampdenshire Wonder by J.D. Beresford, reviewed by William Shaw
Dismantling the Master’s Clock: On Race, Space, and Time by Rasheedah Phillips, reviewed by Joy Sanchez-Taylor
Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction edited by Eugen Bacon, reviewed by A. S. Lewis
The Afrofuturist Evolution by Ytasha L. Womack, reviewed by Jacqueline Nyathi
The Fake Muse by Max Besora, translated by Mara Faye Lethem, reviewed by Will McMahon **
Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro, translated by Eve Hill-Agnus, reviewed by Fernanda Coutinho Teixeira **
The Book Censor’s Library by Bothayna Al-Essa, translated by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain, reviewed by Jake Casella Brookins **
Archipelago of the Sun by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani, reviewed by Dan Hartland **
BUG by Giacomo Sartori, translated by Frederika Randall, reviewed by Rachel Cordasco **
Jurassic World: Rebirth, reviewed by: Tansy Gardam
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, reviewed by Abigail Nussbaum
A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry, reviewed by Anushree Nande
Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler, reviewed by M. L. Clark
The Flat Woman by Vanessa Saunders, reviewed by Octavia Cade
The Forestborns by Vardhini Amin, reviewed by: Amritesh Mukherjee
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski, reviewed by William Shaw
Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman, reviewed by Amy Nagopaleen
Anji Kills A King by Evan Leikam, reviewed by Jacqueline Nyathi
Animals by Geoff Ryman, reviewed by Roseanna Pendlebury
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab, reviewed by Debbie Gascoyne
The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas, reviewed by Ian J. Simpson
Justice in 21st-Century Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder by Cristina Bacchilega and Pauline Greenhill, reviewed by Sally Parlier
Dark Worlds We Wander by Kristin Kirby, reviewed by David Lewis
Ley Lines by Tim Welsh, reviewed by Cameron Miguel
Metallic Realms by Lincoln Michel, reviewed by Paul Kincaid
The Blaft Anthology of Gujarati Pulp Fiction edited by Rakesh Khanna, translated by Vishwambhari S. Parmar, reviewed by Sneha Pathak
Ice Cream Man by W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, and Chris O’Halloran, reviewed by Nataliia Sova
Don’t Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo, reviewed by Jenny Hamilton
If the Stars Are Lit by Sara K. Ellis, reviewed by Redfern Jon Barrett
There are Reasons for This by Nini Berndt, reviewed by E. C. Barrett
Supergiants by Kyle Flemmer, reviewed by Dawn Macdonald
Memories From The Jungle by Tristan Garcia, translated by Christopher Beach, reviewed by Will Emmons
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha, reviewed by William Shaw
Will This Be A Problem? The Anthology: Issue V edited by Olivia Kidula & Somto Ihezue, reviewed by Amritesh Mukherjee
Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake, reviewed by Subham Rai
Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones, reviewed by Phoenix Scholz
Menacing Environments by Benjamin Bigelow, reviewed by Octavia Cade
The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed, reviewed by Jacqueline Nyathi
Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K. A. Teryna, translated by Alex Shvartsman, reviewed by Rachel Cordasco
Contra Amatores Mundi: A Gothic Fantasy by Graham Thomas Wilcox, reviewed by Matt Holder
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch, reviewed by Cameron Miguel
When There Are Wolves Again by E.J. Swift, reviewed by Paul March-Russell
The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott, reviewed by Electra Pritchett
It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey, reviewed by Hana Carolina
The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken, reviewed by Akankshya Abismruta
Inner Space by Jakub Szamalek, translated by Kasia Bedford, reviewed by Dawn Macdonald
Blood of the Old Kings (The Bleeding Empire Volume 1) by Sung-il Kim, translated by Anton Hur, reviewed by Rachel Cordasco
The Man of Middling Height by Fadi Zaghmout, translated by Wasan Abdelhaq, reviewed by Kyle R. Garton
Seed Beetle: Poems by Mahaila Smith, reviewed by Vivian Wagner
Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce, reviewed by Tristan Beiter
Eat the Ones you Love by Sarah Maria Griffin, reviewed by Nileena Sunil
The Demon by Victory Witherkeigh, reviewed by Subham Rai
Field Of Frights by Christina Hagmann, reviewed by Racheal Chie
Colourfields by Paul Kincaid, reviewed by Shinjini Dey
Making History by K. J. Parker, reviewed by Cameron Miguel
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji, reviewed by Eric Hendel
The Curators by Maggie Nye, reviewed by Roy Salzman-Cohen
Dementia 21 volumes 1 and 2 by Shintaro Kago, reviewed by Shannon Fay
We Like It Cherry by Jacy Morris, reviewed by Ian J. Simpson
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow, reviewed by Nick Hubble
A Granite Silence by Nina Allan, reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
Like Shards of Rainbow Frolicking in the Air by L. Timmel Duchamp, reviewed by William Shaw
The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi, reviewed by David Lewis

* Part of our Annual Criticism Special Issue
** Part of our SFF in Translation Week.

Art

Last but not least, the original art accompanying our fiction pages this year is eligible for awards as well. The art itself is eligible for the BSFA Award for Best Artwork, and the artists are eligible for the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist and the Best Fan Artist Hugo Award.

Thank you for considering us and the work we published for your ballots this year; especially for the democratically-awarded ones, where your vote in either the longlist or shortlist stages means the world.

We hope you'll enjoy next year's output just as much, and as we say on the Strange Horizons Podcast... until next time, stay strange!

About the Strange Horizons staff

We contain at least one multitude.