Kitschies

The Kitschies are British literary prizes presented annually for "the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic" published in the United Kingdom.[1]

Kitschies
Awarded forLiterary award
CountryUnited Kingdom
Websitewww.thekitschies.com

Awards and criteria

The Kitschies are administered by a non-profit association with the stated mission of "encouraging and elevating the tone of the discussion of genre literature in its many forms".[2] The founders, Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin, said that they sought to bring attention to works with a fantastic or speculative element that are progressive in terms of content and composition.[1]

The award is a juried prize that selects those books which "best elevate the tone of genre literature". Qualifying books must contain "an element of the fantastic or speculative" and have been published in the UK.[3] Winners receive a sum of prize money and a textile tentacle trophy.[1]

The Kitschies are governed by an advisory board of members. They were initially established in 2009 by the website pornokitsch.com. The Kraken Rum was the sponsor between 2010 and 2013. For 2014 and 2015, Fallen London (a creation of UK game developer Failbetter Games) was the sponsor. The award did not run in 2016.[4] From 2017 the sponsor is Blackwell's Bookshop.[5]

As of 2015, the Kitschies are awarded in five categories:

  • Red Tentacle for the best novel (£1,000, since 2009)
  • Golden Tentacle for the best debut novel (£500, since 2010)
  • Inky Tentacle for the best cover art (£500, since 2011)
  • Invisible Tentacle for the best natively digital fiction (since 2014)
  • Glentacle, awarded at the judges' discretion (since 2010, called "Black Tentacle" until 2020)

Organisation

The judging panels changes annually[6] and the unpaid directors have changed due to workload or illness.[7] The number of submissions has increased from 70 in 2009[8] to a record of 234 in 2013.

For each year, the judges, directors, and the number of submissions for each year are as follows:

Year Literary Art Natively digital fiction Award Directors Submissions
2009 Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin N/A N/A Jared Shurin and Anne C. Perry 70[9]
2010 Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin N/A N/A Jared Shurin and Anne C. Perry 50[10]
2011 Anne C. Perry, Jared Shurin, Lauren Beukes, and Rebecca Levene Hayley Campbell, Craig Kennedy, Catherine Hemelryk, and Darren Banks N/A Jared Shurin 150[11]
2012 Jared Shurin, Rebecca Levene, and Patrick Ness Lauren O'Farrell, Gary Northfield, and Ed Warren N/A Jared Shurin 211[12]
2013 Nick Harkaway, Catherine Webb, Will Hill, Anab Jain, and Annabelle Wright Hazel Thompson, Sarah Anne Langton, Emma Vieceli, and Craig Kennedy N/A Glen Mehn 234[13]
2014 Catherine Webb, Adam Roberts, Kim Curran, Frances Hardinge, and Glen Mehn Ed Warren, Dapo Adeola, Jim Kay, and Siân Prime Laura Grace, James Wallis, Phil van Kemenade, and Clare Reddington Glen Mehn 198[14]
2015[15] Sarah Lotz, James Smythe, Nazia Khatun, Nikesh Shukla and Glen Mehn Sarah McIntyre, Regan Warner, Dapo Adeola, and Lauren O'Farrell John Wallis, Emily Short, and Rebecca Levene Glen Mehn 176[16]
2016 No award
2017[17] Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Leila Abu El Hawa, Joshua Idehen, Alasdair Stuart, and Ewa Scibor-Rylska Dapo Adeola, Sharan Dhaliwal, Jet Purdie, and Stuart Taylor N/A Glen Mehn and Leila Abu El Hawa 142[18]
2018[19] Adam Roberts, Sharan Dhaliwal, Daniel Carpenter, Lucy Smee, and Matt Webb Dapo Adeola, Lily Ash Sakula, and Maeve Rutten N/A Glen Mehn and Leila Abu El Hawa 178[20]
2019[21] Catherine Webb, Kirsty Logan, Tasha Suri, Michaela Grey, and Alasdair Stuart Kim Curran, James Spackman, Kaiya Shang, and Sharan Matharu N/A Leila Abu El Hawa and Anne Perry 196[22]
2020[23] M. R. Carey, Clare Rees, Mahvesh Murad, Kaiya Shang, and Daphne Lao Tong Paul Wiseall, Fleur Clarke, Claire Richardson, and Jeffrey Alan Love N/A Leila Abu El Hawa and Anne Perry 177[24]

Recipients

All award information, unless otherwise referenced, is from the Kitschies Award's blog and tumblr, or from the sponsor Blackwell's website.

Red Tentacle (best novel)
Red Tentacle winners and finalists
Year Author Nominated Work Result Ref
2009 China Miéville The City & the City Won [25]
Joe Abercrombie Best Served Cold Nominated [25]
Jane Austen (posth.) and Seth Grahame-Smith Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Lev Grossman The Magicians
Reif Larsen The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet
2010 Lauren Beukes Zoo City Won [26]
Scott K. Andrews Children's Crusade Nominated [26]
China Miéville Kraken
K. J. Parker The Folding Knife
Jean-Christophe Valtat Aurorarama
2011 Siobhan Dowd and Patrick Ness A Monster Calls Won [27]
Jesse Bullington The Enterprise of Death Nominated [27]
China Miéville Embassytown
Jane Rogers The Testament of Jessie Lamb
Lavie Tidhar Osama
2012 Nick Harkaway Angelmaker Won [28]
Jesse Bullington The Folly of the World Nominated [28]
Frances Hardinge A Face Like Glass
Adam Roberts Jack Glass
Juli Zeh The Method
2013 Ruth Ozeki A Tale for the Time Being Won [29]
Anne Carson Red Doc Nominated [29]
Patrick Ness More Than This
Thomas Pynchon Bleeding Edge
James Smythe The Machine
2014 Andrew Smith Grasshopper Jungle Won [30]
Nina Allan The Race [30]
William Gibson The Peripheral
Nnedi Okorafor Lagoon Nominated
Will Wiles The Way Inn
2015 Margaret Atwood The Heart Goes Last Won [31]
Dave Hutchinson Europe at Midnight Nominated [31]
N. K. Jemisin The Fifth Season
Adam Roberts The Thing Itself
Hugo Wilcken The Reflection
2016 No awards held [32]
2017 Nina Allan The Rift Won [33]
Deon Meyer, translated by L. Seegers Fever Nominated [33]
Jess Richards City of Circles
William Sutcliffe We See Everything
Michelle Tea Black Wave
2018 Madeline Miller Circe Won [34]
Becky Chambers Record of a Spaceborn Few Nominated [34]
Simon Ings The Smoke
Tade Thompson Rosewater
Lavie Tidhar Unholy Land
2019 Jan Carson The Fire Starters Won [35]
Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone This Is How You Lose the Time War Nominated [35]
Vicki Jarrett Always North
Yōko Ogawa The Memory Police
Jane Rawson From the Wreck
2020 Susanna Clarke Piranesi Won [36]
Curdella Forbes A Tall History of Sugar Nominated [36]
N. K. Jemisin The City We Became
Natasha Pulley The Lost Future of Pepperharrow
Kim Stanley Robinson The Ministry for the Future
2021 No awards held
2022 Becky Chambers The Galaxy, and the Ground Within Won [37]
Zen Cho Black Water Sister Nominated [37]
Un-su Kim, trans. by Sean Lin Halbert The Cabinet
Adrian Tchaikovsky Bear Head
Catriona Ward The Last House on Needless Street

Golden Tentacle (best debut novel)
Year Author Nominated Work Result Ref
2009 Not awarded [25]
2010 Maurice Broaddus King Maker Won [26]
2011 Kameron Hurley God's War Won [27]
Douglas Hulick Among Thieves Nominated [27]
Erin Morgenstern The Night Circus
Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Fred Venturini The Samaritan
2012 Karen Lord Redemption in Indigo Won [28]
Madeline Ashby vN Nominated [28]
Jenni Fagan Panopticon
Rachel Hartman Seraphina
Tom Pollock The City's Son
2013 Ann Leckie Ancillary Justice Won [29]
Anne Charnock A Calculated Life Nominated [29]
Monica Hesse Stray
Ramez Naam Nexus
Robin Sloan Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
2014 Hermione Eyre Viper Wine Won [30]
Monica Byrne The Girl in the Road Nominated [30]
Becky Chambers The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Emmi Itäranta Memory of Water
Hanya Yanagihara The People in the Trees
2015 Tade Thompson Making Wolf Won [31]
A. Igoni Barrett Blackass Nominated [31]
Kirsty Logan The Gracekeepers
Paul Meloy The Night Clock
Sara Taylor The Shore
2016 No awards held
2017 Alex Wells Hunger Makes the Wolf Won [33]
RJ Barker Age of Assassins Nominated [33]
Carmen Marcus How Saints Die
JY Yang The Black Tides of Heaven
Liz Ziemska Mandelbrot the Magnificent
2018 Ahmed Saadawi Frankenstein in Baghdad Won [34]
Tomi Adeyemi Children Of Blood and Bone Nominated [34]
Sue Burke Semiosis
R.F. Kuang The Poppy War
Rebecca Ley Sweet Fruit, Sour Land
2019 Clare Rees Jelly Won [35]
Katie Hale My Name Is Monster Nominated [35]
Wayétu Moore She Would Be King
Alix E. Harrow The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Rory Power Wilder Girls
2020 Micaiah Johnson The Space Between Worlds Won [36]
Kawai Strong Washburn Sharks in the Time of Saviours Nominated [36]
Laura Jean McKay The Animals in That Country
Deepa Anappara Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line
Jordan Ifueko Raybearer
2021 No awards held
2022 Hilary Leichter Temporary Won [37]
Caroline Hardaker Composite Creatures Nominated [37]
Calvin Kasulke Several People Are Typing
Everina Maxwell Winter's Orbit
Xiran Jay Zhao Iron Widow

Inky Tentacle (best cover art)
Year Work Author Artist(s) Result Ref
2009 Not awarded [25]
2010 Not awarded [26]
2011 The Last Werewolf Glen Duncan Peter Mendelsund (designer) Won [27]
Rivers of London Ben Aaronovitch Stephen Walter (illus.) and Patrick Knowles (deisgn) Nominated [27]
The Prague Cemetery Umberto Eco Suzanne Dean (design) and John Spencer (illus.)
Equations of Life Simon Morden Lauren Panepinto (design)
A Monster Calls Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd Jim Kay (illus.)
2012 A Boy and a Bear in a Boat Dave Shelton Dave Shelton (illus.) Won [28]
The Teleportation Accident Ned Beauman La Boca (design) Nominated [28]
The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket John Boyne Oliver Jeffers (illus.)
Costume Not Included Matthew Hughes Tom Gauld (illus.)
Flame Alphabet Ben Marcus Peter Mendelsund (design)
2013 The Age Atomic Adam Christopher Will Staehle (art) Won [29]
Dreams and Shadows C. Robert Cargill Sinem Erkas (design and illus.) Nominated [29]
Homeland and Pirate Cinema Cory Doctorow Amazing15 (design)
Stray Monica Hesse Gianmarco Magnani (art)
Apocalypse Now Now Charlie Human Joey Hi-Fi (art)
2014 Tigerman Nick Harkaway Glenn O'Neill (cover) Won [30]
The Ghost of the Mary Celeste Valerie Martin Steve Marking (design) Nominated [30]
A Man Lies Dreaming Lavie Tidhar Ben Summers (cover)
Through the Woods Emily Carroll Emily Carroll and Sonja Chaghatzbanian (cover)
The Book of Strange New Things Michel Faber Rafaela Romaya and Yehring Tong (cover)
2015 The Door That Led to Where Sally Gardner Jet Purdie (art direction and design) Won [31]
The Vorrh Brian Catling Pablo Declan (design) Nominated [31]
Monsters Emerald Fennell Jet Purdie (art design) and Patrick Leger (illus.)
The Honours Tim Clare Peter Adlington (design and illus.)
Get in Trouble Kelly Link Alex Merto
2016 No awards held
2017 The History of Bees Maja Lunde Jack Smyth and the Simon & Schuster Art Department (cover) Won [33]
The Land of Neverendings Kate Saunders David Dean (illus.) Nominated [33]
Black Wave Michelle Tea Rose Stafford (illus.) and Hannah Naughton (design)
The Real-Town Murders Adam Roberts Black Sheep (illus. and jacket design)
Our Memory like Dust Gavin Chait Richard Shailer (design)
2018 Killing Commendatore Haruki Murakami Suzanne Dean (cover) Won [34]
The Book of Joan Lidia Yuknavitch Rafaela Romaya (design) Nominated [34]
The Smoke Simon Ings James Nunn (design)
Square Eyes Anna Mill and Luke Jones Anna Mill and Luke Jones (design)
Slender Man Anonymous Mike Topping (design)
2019 The Memory Police Yoko Ogawa Tyler Comrie (cover) Won [35]
Across The Void S. K. Vaughan Ceara Elliot (cover) Nominated [35]
The Heavens Sandra Newman Leo Nickolls (cover)
Zed Joanna Kavenna Faber & Faber (cover)
This Is How You Lose the Time War Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Greg Stadnyk (cover)
2020 The Arrest Jonathan Lethem Allison Saltzman (cover) and Dexter Maurer (illus.) Won [36]
Little Eyes Samantha Schweblin Ben Summers (cover) Nominated [36]
Monstrous Heart Clair McKenna Andrew Davis (cover)
The Harpy Megan Hunter Lucy Scholes (cover) and Amy Judd (illus.)
The City We Became N. K. Jemisin Lauren Panepinto (cover)
2021 No awards held
2022 The Seep Chana Porter Julia Lloyd (art and design) Won [37]
Nightbitch Rachel Yoder Suzanne Dean Nominated [37]
Velvet Was the Night Silvia Moreno-Garcia Tim Green
A Desolation Called Peace Arkady Martine Jaime Jones
Iron Widow Xiran Jay Zhao Ashley Mackenzie

Invisible Tentacle (best natively digital fiction)
Year Author / Developer Nominated Work Form of Media Result Ref
2014 Cardboard Computer written by Jake Elliott Kentucky Route Zero Act III video game Won [30]
Jeff Noon and others @echovirus12 Twitter fiction Nominated [30]
Inkle Studios written by Meg Jayanth and Jon Ingold, directed by Joseph Humfrey and Jon Ingold 80 Days video game
Simogo Sailor’s Dream video game
2015 Dontnod Entertainment Life Is Strange video game Won [31]
Iain Pears Arcadia interactive novel Nominated [31]
@FrogCroakley Daniel Barker’s Birthday Twitter fiction
BBC Writers Room The Last Hours of Laura K
Hidetaka Miyazaki / FromSoftware Bloodborne video game

Glentacle (Discretionary award previously called the Black Tentacle)

This award was called "Black Tentacle" until 2020, when it was renamed in memory of Kitschies co-founder Glen Mehn.[38][7]

Year Winner Citation Ref
2009 No award [25]
2010 Memory, novel by Donald Westlake. 
"to recognize a novel that doesn't quite fit the award description but is so exceptional it merits the highest praise...noir, pure and simple, by a master of the genre...

while we're sorry that Memory went unpublished while Westlake was alive, we're delighted that Hard Case brought the manuscript to light"
 [39]
2011 SelfMadeHero, comics publisher 
"for their 2011 body of work and their contribution to elevating geek culture"
 [40]
2012 Lavie Tidhar, Charles Tan, and Sarah Newton 
"for the World SF Blog, a website showcasing international speculative fiction"
 [41]
2013 Malorie Blackman, British writer, Children's Laureate for 2013 
"for outstanding achievement in encouraging and elevating the conversation around genre literature"
 [42][43]
2014 Sarah McIntyre, author and illustrator 
"for tireless work to promote the rights of artists and to encourage others to value their work"
 [44]
2015 The genre community, personified by Patrick Ness 
"for its response to the humanitarian refugee crisis"

Ness began a fund that raised over £690,000 for Save the Children.

 [45][46]
2016 No awards held
2017 No award
2018
2019 Nazia Khatun, Claire North, and Leila Abu El Hawa 
"for services to the SF/F community."
 [47]
2020 Simon Key of the Big Green Bookshop in Hastings 
"demonstrated extraordinary generosity and selflessness to readers, introducing and running his "Buy a Stranger a Book" initiative every Wednesday to allow readers to access books at a time that even libraries were closed."
 [48][49]
2021 No awards held
2022 Comma Press 
"for their remarkable 'book of' and +100 series of anthologies"

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