World Fantasy Special Award: Non-Professional
| World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | The best non-professional work not covered by other World Fantasy Award categories |
| Presented by | World Fantasy Convention |
| First awarded | 1975 |
| Currently held by | John O'Neill (for Black Gate) |
| Official website | worldfantasy.org/awards/ |
The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction and art published in English during the preceding calendar year. The awards have been described by sources such as The Guardian as a "prestigious fantasy prize", and as one of the three most renowned speculative fiction awards, along with the Hugo and Nebula Awards (which cover both fantasy and science fiction). The World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional is given each year to individuals for their non-professional work in the preceding calendar year in fields related to fantasy that are not covered by other World Fantasy Award categories. These have included editors of magazines and novels, publishers, and authors of non-fiction works. Occasionally some publishing companies have been nominated along with individual editors and publishers. The nomination reasons have sometimes not been specified beyond "contributions to the genre". Individuals are also eligible for the Special Award—Professional category for their professional work. The World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional has been awarded annually since 1975.
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. Through 2015, winners were presented with a statuette of H. P. Lovecraft, but at the 2015 ceremony it was announced that the award would not be made in future years. No reason was given, but many complaints have been made that Lovecraft is an unsuitable symbol in view of his racism. No announcement was made about a replacement award.
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