Lunar Awards Season 10 Has Concluded and It's Time to Celebrate
Recognizing the writers, readers, and judges of the 2025 Lunar Awards
A Year in Review
At the start of 2025, I took stewardship of the Lunar Awards from its creator, Brian Reindel. Without altering too much, I focused on maintaining a consistent event schedule throughout the year. This new prioritization forced me to pause several components to ensure the awards functioned as intended.
Writing events were to last two months and were dubbed “rounds,” each themed by a mainline speculative genre (i.e., fantasy, horror, or science fiction), enabling up to six Lunar Award winners and six runners-up for the 12-month-long season. I hand-picked six genre-specific judges to host one round each. These judges became the de facto tastemakers of the season, dedicating 20 or more days to reading, grading, and selecting the winners, runners-up, and honorable mentions for their respective genres.
Rounds averaged 30 submissions, making it a strongly competitive but accessible award for emerging writers. Based purely on statistics, writers had a roughly 6.5% chance of winning or placing second per round, and had a 34.7% chance of winning or placing second during the season (i.e., if a writer submitted a polished story to all six rounds). That’s fantastic odds for writers seeking print publication!
In January, our first judge was D.W. Davison, a dark fantasy and speculative fiction author, hosting the first Fantasy round. Daniel chose Katharine Kapodistria’s “Skellig” as the winning story. Because two stories tied for runner-up, I made an exception to award both Jack Massa’s “The Bard of Bayonne” and Maximilian Siddell’s “Blood and Death” the publication opportunity.
In March, Shaina Read, a horror author, hosted the first horror round and selected Ashley T.K.’s “Dark Out There” as the winner, with Sean Thomas McDonnell’s “Sticks” coming in second place.
In May, Simon K Jones, a science fiction author, joined to host the first science fiction round. Simon chose J.M. Ransom’s “Twin Planets” and Alex Grove’s “We, Novae” as the winner and runner-up, respectively.
To mark the halfway point, I sent out a mid-year celebration post. In it, I announced that the community aspects of the Lunar Awards were returning with the help of a new volunteer team member. Reina Cruz, an indie author known for promoting other indies, stepped up to facilitate a fan-favorite called The Pitch, a monthly thread for speculative fiction readers and writers. She also introduced a redesigned prompt event for writers called The Spark, and continues to assist with networking in our private Discord.
The Lunar Awards resumed for the second half of the season in July, reintroducing the three rounds and genres. To start, The Brothers Krynn, a fantasy author duo, hosted our second fantasy round, choosing Harold Ember’s “The Tale of Sir Knight” as the winning story and E. H. Lau’s “The Singing Head of Orpheus” as the runner-up.
In September, Leigh Parrish, a historical horror author, launched the second round of horror, which I strategically planned from the beginning to announce right before Halloween in October. Leigh decided the winning story was Luna Asli Kolcu’s “Tea After the Apocalypse” and that the second place spot would go to Evelyn K. Brunswick’s “Child Game Hunts”.
To conclude the season, John Coon, a science fiction author and publisher, hosted our second and last sci-fi round. John chose Alex Scott’s “Advanced Color Theory” as the winner and selected Keith Long’s “Distant Bodies” as the runner-up.
I will soon publish these award-winning, standout stories in a collection that will be prominently featured in my New Mexico-based bookstore, Enchanted Books. I’ve already found the cover artist, and the authors have all signed the publication contract. More details and announcements are coming very soon!
Congratulations to all the writers who participated in the Lunar Awards this year. Without your participation, your stories, and the volunteer judges, this season wouldn’t have happened. I’m incredibly thankful for each one of you, as your contributions and support enable the Lunar Awards to exist.
Here’s to a new year of reading and writing speculative fiction, making creative connections, and chasing your dreams!
The Lunar Awards will return for Season 11 in mid-January 2026.
Top Fantasy
Top Horror
Top Science Fiction
Thank you very much to both yourself and Reina for all that organising this past year!
Obviously I am very excited about seeing the anthology coming out!
Are we winners allowed to compete next year too?
And merry new year!
Congrats to all the fine stories that made up the 10th season. I'm looking forward to throwing my hat into the ring again come Season 11.
Happy New Year all.