Shirley Jackson Award

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Shirley Jackson Award
Shirley Jackson Award logo.jpg
Awarded for"Outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic" [1]
Presented by Readercon
First award2007;18 years ago (2007)
Website shirleyjacksonawards.org


The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and dark fantasy are presented at Readercon, an annual conference on imaginative literature. [2]

Contents

History

The first annual Shirley Jackson Awards were presented on July 20, 2007, at the Readercon Conference on Imaginative Literature in Burlington, Massachusetts. The jurors were John Langan, Sarah Langan, Paul G. Tremblay and F. Brett Cox, who now form the board of directors along with JoAnn Cox.[ citation needed ]

Categories

Award winners are selected by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics and academics, with input from a board of advisors. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year. [3]

CategoryDescription
Best Novel Fictional work of 40,000 words or more
Best Novella Fictional work of between 17,500 and 39,999 words
Best Novelette Fictional work of between 7,500 and 17,499 words
Best Short Fiction Fictional work of less than 7,500 words
Best Single-Author Collection At least 40,000 words, consisting of at least 3 fictional works by a single author. At least half of the collection’s contents must be fiction.
Best Edited Anthology At least 40,000 words, consisting of at least 3 stories by 3 or more authors. At least half of the included works must have been previously unpublished.

Special Awards

At the discretion of the jury, a Special Award may be awarded outside of the normal categories. [3] In 2016, Ruth Franklin was awarded a Board of Directors Award for Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life. [4]

Recognition

Writing in Salon in 2010, Laura Miller noted, "The awards...have already proved a fitting tribute to a writer who roamed freely over similar ground and has never quite gotten the respect she deserves." [5]

References

  1. ↑ "About the Shirley Jackson Awards". The Shirley Jackson Awards. Retrieved 29 Dec 2025.
  2. ↑ Gardner, Jan (27 June 2010). "Shelf Life". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Award Rules". The Shirley Jackson Awards. Retrieved 17 Dec 2025.
  4. ↑ "Shirley Jackson Awards Winners". Locus. 16 Jul 2017. Retrieved 18 Dec 2025.
  5. ↑ Miller, Laura (14 July 2010). "Is Shirley Jackson a great American writer?". Salon.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
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