Jump to content

Sunburst Award

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is an annual literary award given for a speculative fiction novel or a book-length collection, first awarded in 2001. A young adult category was created in 2008, to differentiate from adult works; and a short fiction award as well. The award was on hiatus between 2020 and 2024 and has returned for the 2025 award.[1]

History

[edit]

The name of the award comes from the title of the first novel by Phyllis Gotlieb, Sunburst (1964).[citation needed]

The first award was given out in 2001. The award consists of a cash prize (CA$1,000 for novel length work, and CA$500 for short stories) and a medallion. The winner is selected by jury; a new jury is struck each year.[citation needed]

On 2 June 2020, the Sunburst Award Society announced the awards were going on a hiatus due to impacts related to COVID-19.[2]

In December 2024, the return of the award for 2025 was announced. The cash price was changed to CA$3,000 for a novel length work.[1]

Winners

[edit]

General

[edit]

Prior to 2008, the Sunburst Award was presented in a single category. In later years, it was broken down into two or three categories, including adult, young adult, and short story.

After the 2020-2024 hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the award seems to have returned to a single category.

General Sunburst Award winners
Year Author Result Result Ref.
2001 Sean Stewart Galveston Winner
2002 Margaret Sweatman When Alice Lay Down with Peter Winner
2003 Nalo Hopkinson Skin Folk Winner
2004 Cory Doctorow A Place So Foreign and 8 More Winner
2005 Geoff Ryman Air Winner
2006 Holly Phillips In the Palace of Repose Winner
2007 Mark Frutkin Fabrizio's Return Winner
2025 Nalo Hopkinson Blackheart Man Winner [3]
Frankie Barnet Mood Swings Finalist [4]
Sydney Hegele Bird Suit Finalist [4]
Canisia Lubrin Code Noir Finalist [4]
Clayton B. Smith A Seal of Salvage Finalist [4]

Adult

[edit]
Sunburst Award for Adult Book winners and finalists
Year Author Result Result Ref.
2008 Nalo Hopkinson The New Moon's Arms Winner [5]
2009 Andrew Davidson The Gargoyle Winner [6][7]
Jes Battis Night Child Finalist [7][8]
Dave Duncan The Alchemist’s Code Finalist [7][8]
Shari Lapena Things Go Flying Finalist [7][8]
Jo Walton Half a Crown Finalist [7][8]
2010 A. M. Dellamonica Indigo Springs Winner [9]
Charles de Lint The Mystery of Grace Finalist [9][10]
Cory Doctorow Makers Finalist [9][10]
Karl Schroeder The Sunless Countries Finalist [9][10]
Robert Charles Wilson Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America Finalist [9][10]
2011 Guy Gavriel Kay Under Heaven Winner [11][12]
Robert J. Sawyer Watch Finalist [12][13]
Douglas Smith Chimerascope Finalist [12][13]
S. M. Stirling Taint in the Blood Finalist [12][13]
Hayden Trenholm Stealing Home Finalist [12][13]
2012 Geoff Ryman Paradise Tales Winner [14]
K. V. Johansen Blackdog Finalist [14][15]
David Nickle Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism Finalist [14][15]
Ryan Oakley Technicolor Ultra Mall Finalist [14][15]
Michael Rowe Enter, Night Finalist [14][15]
Caitlin Sweet The Pattern Scars Finalist [14][15]
2013 Martine Desjardins (trans. by Fred A. Reed and David Homel)  Maleficium Winner
Gerard Collins Finton Moon Finalist [16]
Derryl Murphy Over the Darkened Landscape Finalist [16]
Emily Schultz The Blondes Finalist [16]
Rio Youers Westlake Soul Finalist [16]
2014 Ruth Ozeki A Tale for the Time Being Winner [17]
2015 Thomas King The Back of the Turtle Winner [18]
Nick Cutter The Troop Finalist [18][19]
Emily St. John Mandel Station Eleven Finalist [18][19]
Jo Walton My Real Children Finalist [18][19]
Ian Weir Will Starling Finalist [18][19]
2016 Gemma Files Experimental Film Winner [20]
Katherine Fawcett The Little Washer of Sorrows Finalist [20][21]
Silvia Moreno-Garcia Signal to Noise Finalist [20][21]
Heather O'Neill Daydreams of Angels Finalist [20][21]
Robert Charles Wilson The Affinities Finalist [20][21]
2017 Claire Humphrey Spells of Blood and Kin Winner [22][23]
Ami McKay The Witches of New York Finalist [23][24]
Sylvain Neuvel Sleeping Giants Finalist [23][24]
Jo Walton Necessity Finalist [23][24]
Robert Charles Wilson Last Year Finalist [23][24]
2018 David Demchuk The Bone Mother Winner [25][26]
Omar El Akkad American War Finalist [26][27]
Terri Favro Sputnik’s Children Finalist [26][27]
Fonda Lee Jade City Finalist [26][27]
Eden Robinson Son of a Trickster Finalist [26][27]
2019 Andromeda Romano Lax Plum Rains Winner [28][29]
Amber Dawn Sodom Road Exit Finalist [29][30]
Kate Heartfield Armed in Her Fashion Finalist [29][30]
Rich Larson Annex Finalist [29][30]
Eden Robinson Trickster Drift Finalist [29][30]
2020 Silvia Moreno-Garcia Gods of Jade and Shadow Winner [31][32]
Scott R. Jones Shout Kill Revel Repeat Finalist [32]
Helen Marshall The Migration Finalist [32]
Karen McBride Crow Winter Finalist [32]
Richard Van Camp Moccasin Square Gardens Finalist [32]

Short story

[edit]

The Sunburst Award for Short Story was introduced in 2016.

Sunburst Award for Short Story winners and finalists
Year Author Result Result Ref.
2016 Catherine A. MacLeod "Hide and Seek" (Playground of Lost Toys) Winner [20]
Charlotte Ashley "La Héron" (F&SF 3-4/15) Finalist [20][21]
Rebecca Campbell "The Glad Hosts" (Lackington’s #7) Finalist [20][21]
Mike Donoghue "Stuck in the Past" (Abyss & Apex #54) Finalist [20][21]
Kelly Robson "Two-Year Man" (Asimov’s, August 2015) Finalist [20][21]
Peter Wendt "Get the Message" (Second Contacts) Finalist [20][21]
2017 A. C. Wise "The Sailing of the Henry Charles Morgan in Six Pieces of Scrimshaw (1841)" Winner [22][23]
K. T. Bryski "La Corriveau" (Strange Horizons 10/3/16) Finalist [23][24]
James Alan Gardner "The Dog and the Sleepwalker" (Strangers Among Us) Finalist [23][24]
Helen Marshall "Caro in Carno" (The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu) Finalist [23][24]
A. C. Wise "The Men from Narrow Houses" (Liminal Stories Spring/Summer ’16) Finalist [23][24]
2018 Sandra Kasturi "The Beautiful Gears of Dying" Winner [25][26]
Rich Larson "Spiked" (Abyss & Apex 6/17) Finalist [26][27]
Karin Lowachee "Meridian" (Where the Stars Rise) Finalist [26][27]
Rati Mehrotra "Hacker’s Faire" (Cast of Wonders 3/17) Finalist [26][27]
Kate Story "Animate" (Cli-fi: Canadian Tales of Climate Change) Finalist [26][27]
2019 Senaa Ahmad "The Glow-in-the-Dark Girls" Winner [28][29]
Madeline Ashby "Domestic Violence" (Future Tense 3/26/18) Finalist [29][30]
Malon Edwards "Candied Sweets, Cornbread, and Black-Eyed Peas" (Sword and Sonnet) Finalist [29][30]
Rich Larson "Meat And Salt And Sparks" (Tor.com 6/6/18) Finalist [29][30]
A. C. Wise "The Time Traveler’s Husband" (Shimmer 11/18) Finalist [29][30]
2020 Rebecca Campbell "The Fourth Trimester is the Strangest" Winner [31][32]
Amal El-Mohtar "Florilegia" (The Mythic Dream) Finalist [32]
Kate Heartfield "The Inland Beacon" (Tesseracts Twenty-Two: Alchemy and Artifacts) Finalist [32]
Catherine Kim "The Hundred Gardens" (Nat. Brut Spring ’19) Finalist [32]
Richard Van Camp "Wheetago War II: Summoners" (Moccasin Square Gardens) Finalist [32]

Young adult

[edit]
Sunburst Award for Young Adult Book winners and finalists
Year Author Result Result Ref.
2008 Joanne Proulx Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet Winner [5][33]
2009 Cory Doctorow Little Brother Winner [6][7][33]
Kelley Armstrong The Summoning Finalist [7][8]
Charles de Lint Dingo Finalist [7][8]
Eileen Kernaghan Wild Talent: A Novel of the Supernatural Finalist [7][8]
Max Turner Night Runner Finalist [7][8]
2010 Hiromi Goto Half World Winner [9][33]
Megan Crewe Give Up the Ghost Finalist [9][10]
Maureen Garvie Amy By Any Other Name Finalist [9][10]
Lesley Livingston Wondrous Strange Finalist [9][10]
Arthur Slade The Hunchback Assignment Finalist [9][10]
2011 Paul Glennon Bookweirder Winner [11][12][33]
Holly Bennett Shapeshifter Finalist [12][13]
Erin Bow Plain Kate Finalist [12][13]
Charles de Lint The Painted Boy Finalist [12][13]
Robert Paul Weston Dust City Finalist [12][13]
2012 Catherine Austen All Good Children Winner [14][33]
R. J. Anderson Ultraviolet Finalist [14][15]
Jamieson Findlay The Summer of Permanent Wants Finalist [14][15]
Evan Munday The Dead Kid Detective Agency Finalist [14][15]
Moira Young Blood Red Road Finalist [14][15]
2013 Rachel Hartman Seraphina Winner [33]
Michael Bedard The Green Man Finalist [16]
Cory Doctorow Pirate Cinema Finalist [16]
Susan Juby Bright’s Light Finalist [16]
Moira Young Rebel Heart Finalist [16]
2014 Charles de Lint The Cats of Tanglewood Forest Winner [17][33]
2015 Cecil Castellucci Tin Star Winner [18]
Jonathan Auxier The Night Gardener Finalist [18][19]
Alyxandra Harvey A Breath of Frost Finalist [18][19]
Eileen Kernaghan Sophie, In Shadow Finalist [18][19]
Caitlin Sweet The Door in the Mountain Finalist [18][19]
2016 Leah Bobet An Inheritance of Ashes Winner [20]
David Carroll Sight Unseen Finalist [20][21]
Mikaela Everett The Unquiet Finalist [20][21]
Kenneth Oppel The Nest Finalist [20][21]
Neil Smith Boo Finalist [20][21]
2017 Jonathan Auxier Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard Winner [22][23]
Lena Coakley Worlds of Ink and Shadow Finalist [23][24]
Marina Cohen The Inn Between Finalist [23][24]
Catherine Egan Julia Vanishes Finalist [23][24]
Ian Donald Keeling The Skids Finalist [23][24]
2018 Cherie Dimaline The Marrow Thieves Winner [25][26]
Charis Cotter The Painting Finalist [26][27]
Fonda Lee Exo Finalist [26][27]
Kari Maaren Weave a Circle Round Finalist [26][27]
Wendy Orr Dragonfly Song Finalist [26][27]
2019 Rachel Hartman Tess of the Road Winner [28][29]
Sebastien de Castell Spellslinger Finalist [29][30]
Regan McDonell Black Chuck Finalist [29][30]
Rebecca Schaeffer Not Even Bones Finalist [29][30]
Patrick Weekes Feeder Finalist [29][30]
2020 Allison Mills The Ghost Collector Winner [31][32]
Nafiza Azad The Candle and the Flame Finalist [32]
Sara Cassidy Nevers Finalist [32]
Aviaq Johnston Those Who Dwell Below Finalist [32]
Jess Keating Nikki Tesla and the Ferret-Proof Death Ray Finalist [32]

Lists of nominees

[edit]

For a complete and up to date listing of current and past long-listed and short-listed works, please see the Sunburst Award Website.

Eligibility

[edit]

The Sunburst Award administration and juries use the broadest possible definition of speculative fiction for eligibility purposes: "science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, horror, surrealism, fantastique, fabulism, myth and legend, fantastical storytelling, and any other writing beyond the strictly realistic". To be eligible for the award, a work must be published between 1 January and 31 December of the previous year. Only Canadian citizens and landed immigrants are eligible.

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 "Return of the Sunburst Awards | the Sunburst Award Society". Archived from the original on 8 August 2025. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  2. ↑ "Sunburst Award Hiatus Announcement | the Sunburst Award Society". Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  3. ↑ "Announcing the 2025 Sunburst Award Winner!". The Sunburst Award Society. 18 September 2025. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Announcing The 2025 Shortlist". The Sunburst Award Society. 21 July 2025. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  5. 1 2 "2008 Sunburst Award Winners | The Sunburst Award Society". www.sunburstaward.org. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  6. 1 2 "2009 Winners". The Sunburst Award Society. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Sunburst Award 2009 Winners". Locus Online. 29 September 2009. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sunburst Award Finalists". Locus Online. 9 July 2009. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "2010 Sunburst Awards Winners". Locus Online. 27 September 2010. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "2010 Sunburst Award Shortlist". Locus Online. 30 June 2010. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  11. 1 2 Strock, Ian Randall (15 September 2011). "2011 Sunburst Award Winners". SFScope.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "2011 Sunburst Awards Winners". Locus Online. 15 September 2011. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "2011 Sunburst Award Shortlist". Locus Online. 29 June 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "2012 Sunburst Award Winners". Locus Online. 6 December 2012. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "2012 Sunburst Award Shortlist". Locus Online. 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "2013 Sunburst Award Shortlist". Locus Online. 18 July 2013. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  17. 1 2 "2014 Sunburst Winners". The Sunburst Award Society. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "2015 Sunburst Awards Winners". Locus Magazine. 5 October 2015. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "2015 Sunburst Awards Short List". Locus Online. 22 June 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "2016 Sunburst Awards Winners". Locus Online. 14 September 2016. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "2016 Sunburst Awards Shortlist". Locus Online. 12 July 2016. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  22. 1 2 3 "2017 Sunburst Winners". The Sunburst Award Society. 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "2017 Sunburst Awards Winners". Locus Online. 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "2017 Sunburst Awards Shortlist". Locus Online. 17 July 2017. Archived from the original on 21 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  25. 1 2 3 "2018 Sunburst Winners". The Sunburst Award Society. 15 October 2018. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "2018 Sunburst Awards Winners". Locus Online. 15 October 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "2018 Sunburst Awards Shortlist". Locus Online. 30 July 2018. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  28. 1 2 3 "2019 Sunburst Award Winners". The Sunburst Award Society. 7 October 2019. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "2019 Sunburst Awards Winners". Locus Online. 7 October 2019. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "2019 Sunburst Awards Shortlists". Locus Online. 29 July 2019. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  31. 1 2 3 "2020 Sunburst Award Winners". The Sunburst Award Society. 31 August 2020. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "2020 Sunburst Awards Winners". Locus Online. 31 August 2020. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic Archives". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sunburst_Award&oldid=1365638386"