World Fantasy Award—Long Fiction
The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as The Guardian as a "prestigious fantasy prize", and one of the three most prestigious speculative fiction awards, along with the Hugo and Nebula Awards. The World Fantasy Award—Long Fiction is given each year for fantasy stories published in English. A work of fiction is eligible for the category if it is between 10,000 and 40,000 words in length; awards are also given out for longer pieces in the Novel category and shorter lengths in the Short Fiction category. The Long Fiction category has been awarded annually since 1982, though between 1975—when the World Fantasy Awards were instated—and 1982 the short fiction category covered works of up to 40,000 words. In 2016, the name of the category was changed from Best Novella to Long Fiction.
World Fantasy Award nominees and winners are decided by attendees and judges at the annual World Fantasy Convention. A ballot is posted in June for attendees of the current and previous two conferences to determine two of the finalists, and a panel of five judges adds three or more nominees before voting on the overall winner. The panel of judges is typically made up of fantasy authors and is chosen each year by the World Fantasy Awards Administration, which has the power to break ties. The final results are presented at the World Fantasy Convention at the end of October. Winners were presented with a statue in the form of a bust of H. P. Lovecraft through the 2015 awards; more recent winners receive a statuette of a tree.
During the 38 nomination years, 134 authors have had works nominated; 37 of them have won, including ties and co-authors. Only five authors have won more than once: Elizabeth Hand, with three wins out of eight nominations; Richard Bowes, with two wins out of three nominations; K. J. Parker, who also won twice out of three nominations; Ellen Klages, with two wins out of two nominations; and Kij Johnson, also with two wins out of two nominations. Of authors who have won at least once, Hand has the most nominations, followed by George R. R. Martin at five and Ursula K. Le Guin at four. Lucius Shepard has the most nominations without winning and the most overall at ten; he is followed by Kim Newman, who has six nominations without winning.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the work was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a blue background and an asterisk next to the writer's name have won the award; those with a white background are the other nominees on the shortlist.* Winners
| Year | Author | Work | Publisher/publication | Ref. |
| * | "" | |||
| Donald M. Grant | ||||
| "Mythago Wood" | ||||
| "" | Whispers III | |||
| * | "Confess the Seasons" | Perpetual Light | ||
| * | "Beyond Any Measure" | Whispers | ||
| "" | Different Seasons | |||
| "Horrible Imaginings" | Death | |||
| "Night's Swift Dragons" | Nightmare Seasons | |||
| * | "Black Air" | |||
| "" | Omni | |||
| "" | Heroic Visions | |||
| "Nunc Dimittis" | ||||
| Cheap Street | ||||
| * | "" | Interzone | ||
| "" | ||||
| "In the Sumerian Marshes" | Amazing Stories | |||
| "Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament" | Clive Barker's Books of Blood, Vol. II | |||
| "" | ||||
| * | "Nadelman's God" | Dark Gods | ||
| "Dead Image" | Night Visions 2 | |||
| "Do I Dare to Eat a Peach?" | Shadows 8 | |||
| "Flight" | Imaginary Lands | |||
| "" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| * | "Hatrack River" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Chance" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "" | Night Visions 3 | |||
| Axolotl Press | ||||
| "" | Night Cry | |||
| * | "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| "Best Friends" | Night Visions 4 | |||
| "" | Masques II | |||
| "" | Liavek: Wizard's Row | |||
| "Nesting Instinct" | ||||
| "" | Omni | |||
| "Shades" | In the Field of Fire | |||
| * | "" | Night Visions 5 | ||
| "" | Viking Kestrel | |||
| "" | Night Visions 6 | |||
| "" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| * | "Great Work of Time" | Novelty | ||
| Axolotl Press | ||||
| Mark V. Ziesing | ||||
| "" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks" | Book of the Dead | |||
| * | "Bones" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "" | Lovecraft's Legacy | |||
| Legend Press | ||||
| "" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| * | "" | |||
| * | "" | |||
| Axolotl Press | ||||
| "Gwydion and the Dragon" | Once Upon a Time | |||
| Axolotl Press | ||||
| "" | Cold Shocks | |||
| "To Become a Sorcerer" | Weird Tales | |||
| * | "" | MetaHorror | ||
| "Paperjack" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Uh-Oh City" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| Axolotl Press | ||||
| * | "Under the Crust" | Under the Crust | ||
| "" | Full Spectrum 4 | |||
| Mark V. Ziesing | ||||
| "" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Wall, Stone, Craft" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| * | "Last Summer at Mars Hill" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| "Fee" | Borderlands 4 | |||
| "" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "" | Little Deaths | |||
| "Out of the Night, When the Full Moon Is Bright..." | ||||
| "" | Love In Vein | |||
| * | "Radio Waves" | Omni | ||
| "Ether OR" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Home for Christmas" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "" | Full Spectrum 5 | |||
| "More Tomorrow" | Dark Terrors | |||
| Charnel House | ||||
| * | Viking Ariel | |||
| "Beauty and the Opéra or The Phantom Beast" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Blood of the Dragon" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "GI Jesus" | Starlight 1 | |||
| "Hell Hath Enlarged Herself" | Dark Terrors 2 | |||
| * | "Streetcar Dreams" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| "Coppola's Dracula" | ||||
| "" | Love In Vein II | |||
| "" | Bending the Landscape: Fantasy | |||
| "" | Bending the Landscape: Fantasy | |||
| "" | Dark of the Night | |||
| * | "" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Cold" | Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice | |||
| "Dragonfly" | Legends | |||
| "" | Legends | |||
| "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff" | Murder for Revenge | |||
| * | "Sky Eyes" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| * | "" | Palace Corbie Eight | ||
| "Crocodile Rock" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Scarlet and Gold" | Weird Tales | |||
| "" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| * | American Fantasy Press | |||
| * | American Fantasy Press | |||
| "Blue Kansas Sky" | Blue Kansas Sky | |||
| "Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol" | Sci Fiction | |||
| "Mr. Dark's Carnival" | Shadows and Silence | |||
| "Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower" | Black Heart, Ivory Bones | |||
| "Pelican Cay" | Dark Terrors 5 | |||
| "Seventy-Two Letters" | Vanishing Acts | |||
| * | "" | |||
| "Cleopatra Brimstone" | Redshift | |||
| "Eternity and Afterward" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "" | Tales from Earthsea | |||
| "Karuna, Inc." | Fantastic Stories of the Imagination | |||
| "Struwwelpeter" | Sci Fiction | |||
| * | "" | Leviathan 3 | ||
| HarperCollins | ||||
| "" | Conjunctions | |||
| Subterranean Press | ||||
| PS Publishing | ||||
| * | "" | Trampoline | ||
| "Dancing Men" | ||||
| "" | Sci Fiction | |||
| "Exorcising Angels" | Exorcising Angels | |||
| "Exorcising Angels" | Exorcising Angels | |||
| "" | ||||
| * | "" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| "Golden City Far" | Flights | |||
| PS Publishing | ||||
| "Soho Golem" | Sci Fiction | |||
| Prime Books | ||||
| * | Subterranean Press | |||
| Telos Publishing | ||||
| "" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "In the Machine" | Specimen Days | |||
| "Magic for Beginners" | Magic for Beginners | |||
| "UOUS" | ||||
| * | "Botch Town" | |||
| Cemetery Dance Publications | ||||
| "" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "" | ||||
| "Map of Dreams" | Map of Dreams | |||
| * | PS Publishing | |||
| "Cold Snap" | ||||
| "" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| PS Publishing | ||||
| "Stars Seen through Stone" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| * | "If Angels Fight" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| "Good Boy" | Filter House | |||
| Bloomsbury Publishing | ||||
| "" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel" | Strange Roads | |||
| * | "Sea-Hearts" | X 6 | ||
| "Everland" | Everland and Other Stories | |||
| "I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "" | Cern Zoo | |||
| PS Publishing | ||||
| Subterranean Press | ||||
| * | "" | Stories | ||
| Subterranean Press | ||||
| PS Publishing | ||||
| Subterranean Press | ||||
| "" | Warriors | |||
| ChiZine Publications | ||||
| * | "" | Subterranean Magazine | ||
| "Near Zennor" | ||||
| "Alice Through the Plastic Sheet" | ||||
| "Rose Street Attractors" | Ghosts by Gaslight | |||
| "Silently and Very Fast" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| * | "Let Maps to Others" | Subterranean Magazine | ||
| "Hand of Glory" | ||||
| Tachyon Publications | ||||
| "" | ||||
| "Sky" | Through Splintered Walls | |||
| * | "Wakulla Springs" | Tor.com | ||
| * | "Wakulla Springs" | Tor.com | ||
| Subterranean Press | ||||
| "" | Subterranean Magazine | |||
| "Burning Girls" | Tor.com | |||
| Subterranean Press | ||||
| 2015 | * | Tachyon Publications | ||
| 2015 | "" | Tor.com | ||
| 2015 | "Grand Jeté " | Subterranean Magazine | ||
| 2015 | "Hollywood North" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| 2015 | "" | Tor.com | ||
| 2015 | "Where the Trains Turn" | Tor.com | ||
| 2016 | * | PS Publishing | ||
| 2016 | "Farewell Blues" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| 2016 | "Guignol" | Horrorology | ||
| 2016 | "The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn" | Tor.com | ||
| 2016 | "Waters of Versailles" | Tor.com | ||
| 2017 | * | Tor.com Publishing | ||
| 2017 | Tor.com Publishing | |||
| 2017 | "Bloodybones" | Whispered Echoes | ||
| 2017 | Tor.com Publishing | |||
| 2017 | Tor.com Publishing | |||
| 2018 | * | Tor.com Publishing | ||
| 2018 | Tor.com Publishing | |||
| 2018 | Tachyon Publications | |||
| 2018 | Tor.com Publishing | |||
| 2018 | TTA Press | |||
| 2019 | * | "" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |
| 2019 | Tor.com Publishing | |||
| 2019 | Tor.com Publishing | |||
| 2019 | Subterranean Press | |||
| 2019 | Tor.com Publishing |