In 2020, the Hugo award-winning, Black speculative publication FIYAH Literary Magazine (FIYAH) hosted its first-ever FIYAHCON and Igynte Awards to celebrate “incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts towards inclusivity within” speculative fiction. Speculative fiction refers to genre narratives that don’t neatly fit into science fiction and fantasy (SFF). The mega genre can also include heavy horror, literary, and other elements. Now, three years later, FIYAH announced its shortlist for the 2022 Ignyte Awards.
The ballot for the 2022 #IgnyteAwards is here! We’re back with nominations in 15 categories as selected by a panel of avid SFF readers, prolific writers, and more, who experience the community and industry through a marginalized lens or two. Let’s get into it. pic.twitter.com/vw15LYoxNk
— FIYAH Literary Magazine – Hugo Winner (@fiyahlitmag) April 18, 2022
The writing-intensive categories include novel (adult), novel (YA), middle grade, novella, novelette, short story, speculative poetry, creative non-fiction, and anthology/collected works. The multimedia categories include the critic’s award, fiction podcast, artist, and comics team. Two non-Ignyte Awards include The Ember Award for Unsung Contributions to Genre and the Community Award for Outstanding Efforts in Service of Inclusion and Equitable Practice in Genre.
Who’s nominated?
A group of 15 people of color of various nationalities, abilities, genders, sexualities, and more decided on the pool of candidates before narrowing it down to the shortlist of nominees. The judges include a mix of FIYAHCON staff and 2020/2021 winners. While you can (and should) view the entire list of nominees online, I’ve picked out just four we’re most excited about!
Best Novel: Adult
- A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlà Clark
- Black Water Sister by Zen Cho
- Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
- Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
- The Unbroken by C. L. Clark
Best Artist
The works named are just a snapshot and might not even be the work the judges considered.
- Tommy Arnold (Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, limited edition of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells)
- Paul Kellam (Frugal Freeda by Twyla Prindle, Antonello Mellow Fellow by Paula Betancur)
- Morgan Madeline (Seed, The Bone Herder, Ghostlight Manor)
- John Picacio (Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse, Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moren-Garcia)
- Raymond Sebastien (The Blood Trials by NE Davenport, The Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron)
Best Comics Team
- Abbott: 1973 by Saladin Ahmed & Sami Kivelä
- Count by Ibrahim Moustafa, Brad Simpson, & Hassan Otsame-Elhaou
- Nubia: Real One by L. L. McKinney & Robyn Smith
- Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto & Ann Xu
- Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle
The Community Award
- Anathema: Spec from the Margins – Michael Matheson, Andrew Wilmot, Chinelo Onwualu
- dave ring
- Khōréō Magazine – Aleksandra Hill, Founder & Editor-in-Chief and Team
- The Submission Grinder – David Steffen
- We Need Diverse Books
How to vote?
Usually, when looking at nominees for awards, I’d choose my favorites and then, among those, go for the creatives of color as a default (especially Black creatives) because marginalized communities often don’t get the recognition we deserve. However, the Ignyte Awards are already all about inclusion, making my own selection process much harder. I’m not voting until the last minute to be better informed in more categories. I’d be lying by omission if I didn’t say (currently) Nubia: Real One, Amari and The Night Brothers, and Light From Uncommon Stars have my votes for best comics team, best middle grade, and best novel, respectively.
Now that FIYAH announced the nominees, anyone with an email can vote (once) until June 10th at 11:59 pm EST. Write-ins are not allowed. While FIYAHCON is on hiatus, the winners will be announced ceremoniously on September 17 by Brent Lambert, writer and FIYAH‘s social media manager.
(images: FIYAH Literary Magazine)
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