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# Here are the finalists for the 2023 Ignyte Awards
- URL: https://www.andrewliptak.com/ignyte-awards-fiyah-magazine-bipoc-sci-fi-fantasy-awards/
- Published: 2023-05-27T13:32:19.000Z
- Updated: 2023-05-27T13:32:19.000Z
- Description: The best BIPOC SF/F from 2022
- Author: Andrew Liptak
- Tags: News, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Earlier this week, the folks behind *FIYAH*, a magazine of Black speculative fiction, announced the finalists for this year's Ignyte Awards: a relatively recent set of awards that showcases the best publishing from BIPOC creators. 

The finalists are put together by a jury, and one neat thing that's new this year is that the jury for the younger adult categories included a handful of judges aged 12-18\. "This year, we’ve added a slate of judges aged 12-18 to help select the YA and Middle Grade finalists," the committee explained (via *[Locus Magazine](https://locusmag.com/2023/05/2023-ignyte-awards-finalists/?ref=andrewliptak.com)*). "The philosophy is that kidlit categories should heavily weigh the opinions of the people they’re written for." I love that move, especially as we're in a time and place where there are plenty of adults screaming at each other over what's appropriate for kids. Kids are smart, and they certainly know what makes for good books and storytelling.

I don't have a ton of thoughts on the list as a whole: I've only read a couple of items on it, like *Babel* and *Even Though I Knew The End,* but I enjoyed those quite a bit. (*The Spear Cuts Through Water* is one that I've started, but haven't gotten too far into.) 

Here's the list of finalists. I've included links where you can find the works available online. [Voting for the awards is now open](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJIjTm44Oz4Bxsg3K9Ufxrf5a9JC5ieHj5VsEBa41RmVyIew/viewform?ref=andrewliptak.com). 

### Best Novel: Adult

- *Babel* by R. F. Kuang
- *Kaikeyi* by Vaishnavi Patel
- *Siren Queen* by Nghi Vo
- *The Blood Trials* by N.E. Davenport
- *The Spear Cuts Through Water* by Simon Jimenez

### Best Novel: Young Adult

- *Ballad & Dagger* by Daniel José Older
- *Bloodmarked* by Tracy Deonn
- *Blood Scion* by Deborah Falaye
- *Lakelore* by Anna-Marie McLemore
- *The Kindred* by Alechia Dow

### Best in Middle Grade

- *Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion* by K. Tempest Bradford
- *The Last Mapmaker* by Christina Soontornvat
- *The Marvellers* by Dhonielle Clayton
- *Witchlings* by Claribel Ortega
- *You Only Live Once, David Bravo!* by Mark Oshiro

### Best Novella

- *[Bishop's Opening](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/garcia%5F01%5F22/?ref=andrewliptak.com)* by R.S.A. Garcia
- *Empire of the Feast* by Bendi Barrett
- *Even Though I Knew The End* by C. L. Polk
- *Helpmeet* by Naben Ruthnum
- *Into the Riverlands* by Nghi Vo

### Best Novelette 

- *[If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You](https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/if-you-find-yourself-speaking-to-god-address-god-with-the-informal-you/?ref=andrewliptak.com)* by John Chu
- *[Men Women and Chainsaws](https://www.tor.com/2022/04/20/men-women-and-chainsaws-stephen-graham-jones/?ref=andrewliptak.com)* by Stephen Graham Jones
- *[Murder by Pixel: Crime and Personality in the Digital ](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/huang%5F12%5F22/?ref=andrewliptak.com)Darkness* by S. L. Huang
- *The Epic of Qu-Shittu* by Tobi Ogundiran
- *To Carve Home in Your Bones* by Aigner Loren Wilson

### Best Short Story

- *[Girl Oil](https://www.tor.com/2022/02/22/girl-oil-grace-p-fong/?ref=andrewliptak.com)* by Grace Fong
- *[The Lady of the Yellow Painted Library](https://podcasts.apple.com/se/podcast/the-lady-of-the-yellow-painted-library-by-tobi-ogundiran/id1244649384?i=1000597357212&ref=andrewliptak.com)* by Tobi Ogundiran
- *[The Locked Pod](https://www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/the-locked-pod?ref=andrewliptak.com)* by Malka Older
- *The Voice of a Thousand Years* by Fawaz Al-Matrouk
- *[Wanderlust](http://www.anathemamag.com/wanderlust?ref=andrewliptak.com)* by LP Kindred

### Best in Speculative Poetry

- "[In Stock Images of the Future, Everything is White](https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/in-stock-images-of-the-future-everything-is-white/?ref=andrewliptak.com)" by Terese Mason Pierre
- "I Shall Not Surrender" by Beatrice Winifred Iker (Anathema: Spec From the Margins)
- "The Recipe For Time Travel" by Monique Collins
- "[We Smoke Pollution](https://www.sfpoetry.com/sl/edchoice/45.1-3.html?ref=andrewliptak.com)" by Ai Jiang
- "Year of the Unicorn Kidz" by Jason B. Crawford

### Critics Award 

- Aigner Loren Wilson
- Bogi Takács
- Charles Payseur
- Christina Orlando
- *Nerds of a Feather*

### Best Fiction Podcast 

- [*Beneath Ceaseless Skies*](http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/audio/?ref=andrewliptak.com)
- *[Black Women Are Scary](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/black-women-are-scary/id1525951037?ref=andrewliptak.com)*
- *[Good Morning Antioch](https://goodmorningantioch.com/?ref=andrewliptak.com)*
- *[PodCastle](https://podcastle.org/?ref=andrewliptak.com)*
- *[Pseudopod](https://pseudopod.org/?ref=andrewliptak.com)*

### Best Artist 

- Aimee Campbell
- Terri Chieyni
- N’kai DeLauter
- Taj Francis
- Raymond Sebastien

### Best Comics Team 

- Changa And The Jade Obelisk #2 by Matteo Illuminat, Loris Ravina, Massimiliano Veltri & Robert Jeffrey II
- Squire by Nadia Shammas & Sara Alfageeh
- Where Black Stars Rise by Marie Enger & Nadia Shammas

### Best Anthology / Collected Works

- *Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century* by Kim Fu
- *Night of the Living Rez* by Morgan Talty
- *Reclaim the Stars* edited by Zoraida Córdova, ed.
- *The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer* edited by David Pomerico and Kyle Dargan
- *Voodoonauts Presents (Re)Living Mythology* by Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, H.D. Hunter & LP Kindred

### Best Creative Nonfiction 

- [Indigeneity in SFF Gaming: The Ongoing Need for Respectful, Native-Centered Storytelling](https://www.sfwa.org/2022/07/05/indigeneity-sff-gaming-respectful-native-centered-storytelling/?ref=andrewliptak.com) by Chesley Oxendine
- [Preliminary Observations From An Incomplete History of African SFF](https://www.sfwa.org/2022/06/01/preliminary-observations-incomplete-history-african-science-fiction-fantasy/?ref=andrewliptak.com) by Wole Talabi
- [The H Word: Horror in a Country that Is Not Afraid of Death](https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/the-h-word-horror-in-a-country-that-is-not-afraid-of-death/?ref=andrewliptak.com) by Dante Luiz
- [The Line Between Science Fiction and Fantasy is Blurring and I’m Into It](https://apex-magazine.com/nonfiction/the-line-between-science-fiction-and-fantasy-is-blurring-and-im-into-it/?ref=andrewliptak.com) by Joy Sanchez Taylor
- When Black Boys Find Magic by LaDarrion Williams

### The Ember Award

- Afronauts Podcast
- Alex Brown
- Kate Elliott
- Maurice Broaddus
- Ruoxi Chen

### The Community Award 

- Carl Brandon Society
- Clarion West
- dave ring
- Flights of Foundry
- Loyalty Bookstore’s Crowdcast

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