Aron Beauregard won Best Novel for Playground, and Bridgett Nelson earned her first two trophies at the 2023 Splatterpunk Awards held Saturday during KillerCon in Austin, Texas.
The independently published Playground is Beauregard’s second Splatterpunk Award. He previously won last year for Best Collection with Beyond Reform. He’s also been nominated two other times: Best Short Story for “The Martini Club” in 2022 and Best Novella for The Slob in 2021.
Nelson, a first-time nominee, won two awards as A Bouquet of Viscera won Best Collection and “Jinx,” one of the selections from Bouquet, won Best Short Story. Nelson is the first female recipient of both awards.
Daniel J. Volpe scored his first Splatterpunk Award for Best Novella with Plastic Monsters. He’d previously been nominated twice in 2022 for Best Novel with Left to You and for Best Novella with Talia.
Camp Slasher Lake: Volume 1, edited by D.W. Hitz and Candace Nola, won Best Anthology. It was Hitz’s first win, and Nola’s second. Nola had previously won Best Anthology in 2022 as editor of Baker’s Dozen.
Monica J. O’Rourke and Brian Keene received the J. F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award. O’Rourke is the first female recipient of the award. Previous recipients are David J. Schow, David G. Barnett, Edward Lee, John Skipp, and Clive Barker. Officials also announced that Craig Spector and Ray Garton will receive the J. F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Splatterpunk Awards.
Jay Wilburn was inducted into the Hall of Legends, joining Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, Charlee Jacob, J. F. Gonzalez, David G. Barnett, John Pelan, and Gak.
Click HERE to read the complete list of all Splatterpunk Awards winners and nominees since the beginning.
Note: The recommendation process for next year’s ballot is now open for Extreme Horror or Splatterpunk works published in 2023. Email recommendations to splatterpunkawards@gmail.com. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on December 31st.
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