2026 World Fantasy Award Winners Announced

Posted on October 27, 2026

The winners of the 2026 World Fantasy Awards were announced at the 52nd World Fantasy Convention in Oakland, California. M. R. Carey won in the Best Novel category for Once Was Willem (Orbit), which is a dark medieval fantasy novel. Clive Barker and Joyce Carol Oates won Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Here is the list of winners:

• Best Novel: Once Was Willem by M. R. Carey
• Best Long Fiction: Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce
• Best Short Fiction: “The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home” by Renan Bernardo
• Best Anthology: Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology, edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett, and Craig Laurance Gidney
• Best Collection: Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
• Best Artist: Kathleen Jennings
• Special Award — Professional: Jaymee Goh, Jill Roberts, and Jacob Weisman for Tachyon Publications
• Special Award — Non-Professional: Wendy Wagner for Nightmare
• Life Achievement Award: Clive Barker and Joyce Carol Oates

The complete list of nominations can be found on wfc2026.org.