Eligibility Rules

1. Works must have elements of psychological suspense, horror, or dark fantasy to be considered.

2. The Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented annually for each year beginning January 1 and ending on December 31. Awards are given for work appearing for the first time in English during that calendar year.

3. Determinations of nominations (the final ballot) and final recipients are made solely by the Jury.

4. Members of the Advisory Board recommend works to the Jurors but do no nominate or vote on works.

5. General eligibility concerning the judges and advisory board members:

a. Judges’ works are not eligible during the calendar year for which they are serving as judges.

b. Advisory Board members’ works are eligible.

6. Only book and magazine (both online and print) publishers may formally submit works to the jury. Please contact Administrator JoAnn Cox for details admin at shirleyjacksonawards.org

7. Awards will be made in the following categories:
a. Novel: A work of fiction at least 40,000 words in length.
b. Long Fiction (Novella): fiction between 17,500 and 39,999 words in length.
c. Mid-Length Fiction (Novelette): fiction between 7,500 and 17,499 words in length.
d. Short Fiction: fiction 7,499 words or less.
e. Collection: At least 40,000 words, consisting of at least 3 fictional works by a single author. A collection may contain nonfiction, illustrations, or collaborative works; however at least half of the collection’s contents must be fiction.
f. Anthology: At least 40,000 words, consisting of at least 3 stories by 3 or more authors. An anthology may contain nonfiction, but its content must be at least half fiction. In addition, to be eligible for this award, no less than half of the material contained in the anthology must be original, that is, unpublished prior to its appearance in the anthology.

8. Each category must have three qualified nominees in order to be in contention for an awards year. If three nominations cannot be made for the Awards year, the category will be dropped for that year.

9. The final ballot should contain no more than five works per category. In the event that two works are tied for 5th place, the jurors may revote to break the tie or may include both works on the final ballot, for a total of six items in the category. In the event more than two works are tied for 5th place, the jurors will revote to break the tie. The form of the revote will be at the discretion of the jurors.

10. Special Awards may be given at the discretion of the Jury and shall be announced at the same time the final ballot is made public.