The Children of the Night Award

 

The Children of the Night Award is awarded by The Dracula Society annually.

Nominations are invited from our members at the beginning of every year for the best original fiction published in the Gothic (including horror or supernatural) genre during the previous year.

 

Nomination forms for this award are sent to all members, and all the accepted nominated works are then read and judged by an award subcommittee, whose volunteer members are selected by the Society Committee.

 

Winners so far have been:

 

2022

 

Dead Water

by Charlie Fletcher

 

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The other 2022 nominations were:

The Dark Between the Trees by Fiona Barnett

The Hollows by Daniel Church

Parallel Hells by Leon Craig

The Belladonna Maze by Sinead Crowley

Hare House by Sally Hinchcliffe

Small Angels by Lauren Owen

 

2021

 

Too Near the Dead

by Helen Grant

 

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The other 2021 nominations were:

The Asylum by Karen Coles

Finding Yourself in the Dark by Steve Duffy

The Hiding Place by Amanda Mason

The Shadowing by Rhiannon Ward

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell

 

2020

 

The Apparition Phase

by Will Maclean

 

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The other 2020 nominations were:

Dracula’s Child by J. S. Barnes

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Ill Met by Darkness by Paul Finch

Talking to Strangers, and Other Warnings by Tina Rath

Pine by Francine Toon

The Quickening by Rhiannon Ward

 

2019

 

Things in Jars

by Jess Kidd

 

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The other 2019 nominations were:

The Binding by Bridget Collins

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby

The Heavens by Sandra Newman

Shadow Play by Joseph O’Connor

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

 

2018

 

Melmoth

by Sarah Perry

 

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The other 2018 nominations were:

The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O’Donnell

Dracul by Dacre Stoker & J. D. Barker

 

2017

 

A Skinful of Shadows

by Frances Hardinge

 

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The other 2017 nominations were:

The Night Brother by Rosie Garland

House of Spines by Michael J. Malone

The Truants by Lee Markham

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

 

2016

 

The Searching Dead

by Ramsey Campbell

 

Ramsey Campbell became our first two-time Children of the Night award winner, having won previously in 1989 for Ancient Images.

 

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The other 2016 nominations were:

The Graces by Laure Eve

Thin Air by Michelle Paver

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

Edgar Allan Poe and the London Monster by Karen Lee Street

Fireside Gothic by Andrew Taylor

 

2015

 

In the City of Ghosts

by Michael Chislett

 

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The other 2015 nominations were:

Leinster Gardens and other Subtleties by Jan Edwards

The Angel of Highgate by Vaughn Entwistle

Slade House by David Mitchell

Music in the Bone and other Stories by Marion Pitman

Goth Girl and the Wuthering Fright by Chris Riddell

 

2014

 

Daydreams and Nightmares

by Katherine Haynes

 

Once again, as in 2013, the award went to a Society member!

 

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The other 2014 nominations were:

The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher

The Ghost of the Mary Celeste by Valerie Martin

The Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse

An English Ghost Story by Kim Newman

The Quick by Lauren Owen

 

2013

 

For Those Who Dream Monsters

by Anna Taborska

 

The award was made to a current Society member for only the second time (the first being Dr. Elizabeth Miller in 2000)

 

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The other 2013 nominations were:

This House is Haunted by John Boyne

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland

A Treacherous Likeness by Lynn Shepherd

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

 

2012

 

Hide Me Among the Graves

by Tim Powers

 

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The other 2012 nominations were:

Hell Train by Christopher Fowler

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce

The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd

Tom-All-Alone’s by Lynn Shepherd

Advent by James Treadwell

The Pleasures of Men by Kate Williams

 

2011

 

Mrs. Midnight, and Other Stories

by Reggie Oliver

 

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The other 2011 nominations were:

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

The White Devil by Justin Evans

Johannes Cabal: the Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard

The Unseen by Katherine Webb

 

2010

 

Dark Matter

by Michelle Paver

 

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The other 2010 nominations were:

The Radleys by Matt Haig

Florence and Giles by John Harding

Pieces of Midnight by Gary McMahon

Apartment 16 by Adam L. G. Nevill

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

 

2009

 

Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth

by Chris Priestley

 

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The other 2009 nominations were:

The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter by A. E. Moorat

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

 

2008

 

The Bleeding Horse, and Other Short Stories

by Brian J. Showers

 

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The other 2008 nominations were:

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Séance by John Harwood

 

2007

 

The House of Lost Souls

by F. G. Cottam

 

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The other 2007 nominations were:

A Game of Ghosts by Mike Chislett

The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill

Let the Right One In by John Ajuide Lindqvist

Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert

Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin

Greywalker by Kat Richardson

Blood is the New Black by Valerie Stivers

Ghost Walk by Rebecca Stott

 

2006

 

The Faculty of Terror by John L. Probert

 

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2005

 

Century by Sarah Singleton

 

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2004

 

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

 

2003

 

Poison by Chris Wooding

 

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2002

 

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

 

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2001

 

A Ghostly Crew by Roger Johnson

 

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2000

 

Dracula: Sense and Nonsense by Dr. Elizabeth Miller

 

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1999

 

Vampire City translated from the French by Brian Stableford

 

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1998

 

Vengeful Ghosts by Clive E. Ward

 

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1997

 

Dracula the Undead by Freda Warrington

 

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1996

 

Conference with the Dead by Terry Lamsley

 

1995

 

The Fear Man by Ann Halam

 

1994

 

no award made

 

1993

 

Gideon by Stephen Laws

 

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1992

 

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

 

1991

 

The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral by Robert Westall

 

1990

 

no award made

 

1989

 

Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell

 

1988

 

Immortal Blood by Barbara Hambly

(Also titled Those Who Hunt The Night)

 

1987

 

Mort by Terry Pratchett

 

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No award visible here as for the first few years it was simply an engraved pen!

 

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