The 2025 Imadjinn Awards!

Finalists have been announced!

Imaginarium 2025 is our 12th year, and we will be hosting our Awards Banquet on Saturday, July 19th, 2025, where the 2025 Imadjinn Award Winners and Film Festival Winners will be announced live!


About the Imadjinn Awards: First awarded at Imaginarium 2015, in our 2nd year, the Imadjinn Awards are a comprehensive series of juried writing awards that recognize outstanding achievement in a broad range of genres and categories.

They have become a highly respected writing award internationally, and encompass many spheres of writing including screenwriting, comics, song lyrics, and game development, in addition to a wide array of literary categories.

The next group of Imadjinn Awards will be announced and presented at Imaginarium 2025 on Saturday, July 19th, 2025 at the Awards Banquet that evening.



2025 Imadjinn Awards Finalists:

The 2025 Imadjinn Award Finalists in each category are:

Best Anthology (multiple authors)

The Rack: Stories Inspired By Vintage Horror Paperbacks

Editor – Tom Deady

Express Elevator to Hell (Universes at War Book 1)

Editors – Chris Kennedy & Kelley Jones

It Came From the Trailer Park: Volume 3.5

Editors – Philip K. Booker & William Joseph Roberts


Best Audiobook Narration

Prince Liberator: The Prince of Britannia Saga, Book 6

Narrated by Michael Joss / Written by Fred Hughes

The Grey Man- Sunset

Narrated by Marcus Barton / Written by JL Curtis

Blood, Sweat, and Steel: Tales of Future Combat and Mechanized Warfare

Narrated by Brian Fairbank / Written by David Drake, Kevin Ikenberry, and William Joseph Roberts


Best Children’s Book

The Tractor Squad

Heather Dawn Torres

HELP! Santa is in Trouble

Effin Older

She Spoke Too: 14 More Women Who Raised Their Voices and Changed the World

Kathy MacMilan & Manuela Bernardi


Best Cross Genre Novel

The Fae Wars: Insurgent

J.F. Holmes

Cursed by Bandits

Stephanie K. Clemens

The Armored Houred

Stephanie Hansen


Best Faith-Based Novel

Wisdom of Our Elders: Living in Spirit, Wisdom, Deep Mercy, and Truth

Karen E. Simms Tolson


Best Fantasy Novel

Cursed by a Siren’s Kiss

Riley Hunt and L. S. Embers

Atlantis, Land of Dreams

Edale Lane

Chosen By The Sword

Charles Hackney


Best Game Module / Rule Book

Dark Places & Demogorgons: Ultimate Edition

Josh Palmer


Best Graphic Novel/Comic Book

Aristocratic Xtraterrestrial Time-Traveling Thieves Complete Collection

Henry Vogel


Best Historical Fiction Novel

The Long Winter of Miðgarðr

Edale Lane

Silent Mine

C.M. Saunders

Trail of Madness

Michael Knost

Lies in the Place of Truth

T. Lee Harris


Best Horror Novel

Mountain of Fire

Jason Cordova

Those Left Behind

Tom Deady

Ink Vine

Elizabeth Broadbent

Never Have I Ever

Harker Jones


Best Literary Fiction Novel

Beach Therapy

Maddie James

Rooted in Sunrise

Beth Dotson Brown

Return of the Goatman

Lawrence Weill


Best Middle Grade Novel

Quantum Quirks: A Science Fiction Childhood

Adam Gaffen

A Story Unfinished

Melody Pendlebury


Best Mystery Novel

Edge of Edisto

C. Hope Clark

Midnight: A Folly Beach Mystery

Bill Noel

The Scheme

Amethyst Drake


Best Non-Fiction Book

You’re Not Alone In The Dark

Eric J. Gurignard & Eugene M. Johnson

100 Things Duran Duran Fans Should Know & Do During This Life: A New, Quirky Guide to Nostalgia from 1978 to Danse Macabre

Sandy Lender

A Trick of the Tale: The Story of Every Genesis Song

Jen Selinsky & Travis Potts


Best Paranormal Romance Novel

Spider King

Paige Skye

What a Dragon Desires

Ava Cuvay

The House on Darkling Street

Annette Miller


Best Poetry Collection (single author)

Imitation of Life

L. Marie Wood

Pens, Parchment, and Pain

Jayson William Allen

Torn

Jen Selinsky


Best Romance Novel

Addicted

Ayla Cox

Given a Chance (The R&B Series Book 2)

Olivia Linden

Group Hug

Ariella Talix

Hell’s Belles: Love and War

Jon Laforce


Best Science Fiction Novel

Prince Conqueror (The Prince of Britannia Saga Book 7)

Fred Hughes

Salvage Purgatory

Kevin Steverson & Nick Steverson & Jason Cordova

Path To Freedom

James Copley

2028 Tomorrow Is The Day

L.R. O’Brien


Best Short Story Collection (single author)

Shadow’s Gate

Sharon Marie Provost

Doll Seed: Stories

Michele Tracy Berger

Side Hustle: Vol. 1

Jason Cordova

SELF-MADE MONSTERS: Feminist Horrors

Rebecca Cuthbert


Best Short Story

Northward Stones Mark a Crooked Path

Tommy B. Smith

Las Envies

John Palisano

Kaleidoscope

Barbara V. Evers

Red Waves of Slaughter

Steven L. Shrewsbury


Best Song Lyrics

Frozen

Jayson William Allen


Best Steampunk Novel

Hell’s Acre

Lilith Saintcrow

The Darkness of Dying in the Light

S.E. Reed


Best Thriller Novel

Doubling Down

Dan Kemp

SapphicLover69

Edale Lane

Mission Black: Father Black Book One

Mick Williams

Harvest of Evil: Book One of the John Fisher Chronicles

William M. Lehman


Best Urban Fantasy Novel

Reka’s Grasp

H.Y. Gregor

Lies and Illusion

L.R. Braden

Pinky Promise

J. D. Blackrose


Best Young Adult Novel

Superficial

Diane Billas

Pride and Persistence

Joe Chianakas

The Princess Scout

Henry Vogel

The Dreams of Gemini

K.B. Carlisle


Rules and Stipulations for the Imadjinn Awards

  • Books nominated must have been published for the first time between January 1st, 2024 and December 31st, 2024 to be eligible. Reprints published during that time frame are not eligible for these awards, unless the reprint has been out of print for at least 20 years and is part of a collection/anthology released within our required dates of entry.
  • Nominations of a title must be made by the publisher, the author, or an official representative of the publisher such as a PA, literary agent, or manager.
  • All nominees must be prepared to expedite eBook copies of titles in ePub and PDF formats for the awards jury if selected to be a finalist.  You will have one week upon notification to deliver files for our jury.
  • Multiple titles by the same author may be submitted in a single category.
  • A title may only be entered in a single category.  Please choose the category most appropriate for your nomination.
  • Nomination period will end at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, February 1st, 2025.
  • Awards will be announced and presented at the Imaginarium 2025 Awards Banquet on Saturday, July 19th, 2025 at the Holiday Inn Louisville East
  • If you are not present at the Awards Ceremony, you will be responsible for the shipping and handling fee if you wish for the award to be sent to you.