2020 Speculative poetry awards announced

AAP Staff
SAN FRANCISCO (Dec. 12, 2020) — Since 1978, the international membership of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association has presided over a number of awards in a variety of categories. Since 2013, the Elgin Awards have been awarded for full-length books, and chapbooks. 

The 2020 winner in the full-length book category was “Soft Science” by Franny Choi (Alice James Books, 2019) This year’s Chapbook Winner is “The Book of Fly” by John Philip Johnson (Graphic Poetry Press, 2019). 

Additionally, second place in the full-length collections went to “Elemental Haiku” by Mary Soon Lee (Ten Speed Press, 2019) while third place was a tie between “The Comfort of Screams” by G. O. Clark (Alban Lake Publishing, 2018) and “The Demeter Diaries” by Marge Simon and Bryan D. Dietrich (Independent Legions, 2019). 

In the chapbook category, second place went to “The Last Mastodon” by Christina Olson (Rattle, 2019). Third place went to “Fragments from the Book of the After-Dead” by Herb Kauderer (The Poet’s Haven, 2019). 

Established in 2006, the Dwarf Stars have been conferred for short form speculative poetry. This year’s winner is “Standing Up” by John C. Mannone, which appeared in Nadwah: Poetry in Translation, December, 2019.

In the annual SFPA speculative poetry contest, the winners were selected in three categories. 

First place in the Dwarf Form category went to “Where Do We Go From Here?” by Ojo Taiye. Second place went to “Deborah P. Kolodji for “The Last Whisper.” Third place went to John Hertz for “That Hill-A Giant.” 

Honorable mentions went to “artificial singularity” by Meg Freer, and “The Hypothesis” by Sheryl Hamilton. 

In the Short Form category, first place went to “Skylarking” by F.J. Bergmann. Second place went to Amie Whittemore for “The Indestructible Observer Admits.” Third place went to T.D. Walker for “The Archaeoastronomer Questions the Purposes of the Destroyed Neolithic Menhir.” 

Short form honorable mentions went to “Collection of Mouths” by Ann DeVilbiss, “My Life in the Bomb,” by Phil Tabakow, and “Aswang Mango: Santiago’s Fantasia” by Vince Gotera. In the Long Form category, first and third place went to F. J. Bergmann for “Which is Which” and “Cityscape.” Second place went to “After the Decipherment” by FJ Doucet. 

Honorable mentions for the Long Form category went to “Stellar Scrap Sweep” by Richaundra Thursday, and “The Archaeoastronomer Explains to the American’s Daughter Why a Compass Will Not Work on the Moon” by T. D. Walker. 

This year’s contest judge was Neil Aitken, with all entries presented via blind submission. The full list of winners and their poems, along with the judge’s remarks can be found at http://sfpoetry.com/contests/20contest.html. 

This year, the SFPA membership considered four nominees for the 9th Grand Master award: Linda D. Addison, F. J. Bergmann, Geoffrey A. Landis and John Grey, all distinguished figures in the field of speculative poetry. The distinction was ultimately conferred upon Linda D. Addison. She joins Ann K. Schwader (2018), David C. Kopaska-Merkel (2017), Marge Simon & Steve Sneyd (2015), Jane Yolen (2010), Ray Bradbury (2008), Robert Frazier (2005) and Bruce Boston (1999).

Linda D. Addison is the award-winning author of five collections, including “The Place of Broken Things,” written with Alessandro Manzetti, and “How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend,” and a recipient of the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the first African-American recipient of the HWA Bram Stoker Award, co-editor of Sycorax’s Daughters, an anthology of horror fiction and poetry by African-American women, poetry editor of Space & Time Magazine since 2000, and editor of the 2018 Rhysling Anthology and the HWA StokerCon Anthology 2019. Her work has made frequent appearances over the years on the honorable mention list for Year’s Best anthology. She has a B.S. in Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University and currently lives in Arizona. Addison is a founding member of the writer’s group Circles in the Hair (CITH), and a member of HWA, SFWA and SFPA. You can visit her website at: http://www.lindaaddisonpoet.com