For best book and best chapbook published in the preceding two years
2025 Elgin Chair: Juleigh Howard-Hobson
Juleigh Howard-Hobson’s poetry has appeared in Amazing Stories, The Dead Lands, Star*Line, Eye to the Telescope, Siren’s Call, Midnight Echo, The Audient Void, Dreams and Nightmares, Under Her Skin (Black Spot) Vastarien: Women’s Horror (Grimscribe), and many other places. Nominations include the Pushcart, Elgin, Best of the Net and Rhysling. Her latest book is Curses, Black Spells and Hexes (Alien Buddha). An active member of both the SFPA and the HWA, she lives in a suitably haunted house on the edge of the known world. There are UFOs and werewolves.
Current Nominees and How to Nominate
How to nominate books for the Elgin Awards
Candidates for the current year's awards.
About the Elgin
Awards
The Elgin Awards, named for SFPA founder Suzette Haden Elgin, are presented annually by SFPA for books published in the preceding two years in two categories, Chapbook and Book. Chapbooks must contain 10-39 pages of poetry and books must contain 40 or more pages of poetry. E-books are eligible, as well as print. Books that won first–third place in the previous year's Elgin Awards are ineligible. Single-author and collaborative books are eligible; anthologies are not. Books containing fiction as well as poetry are not eligible. Books must be in English, but translations are eligible. In the case of translations that also contain the poems in the original language, those pages will not count toward the total page count. Nominated books must be made available to the Chair upon request to remain eligible.
86 members voted in the 2015 Elgin Award eligibility survey: What should be the eligibility limitations for the Elgin Award?
- 65.12% All eligible works from past 2 yrs. except 1st–3rd place in previous year (56 votes)
- 34.88% All eligible from past 2 yrs. except 1st place in previous year (30)
Therefore, any works that have already won 1st–3rd in the preceding year are ineligible.
Only members can nominate books. They may not nominate their own books, but they may nominate multiple books, and the books need not be by members in order to be nominated or to win. A list of nominated books will be posted on the SFPA website: title, author, poetry page count, and press name and address (URL or postal) are required to nominate. If available, a link to a page where the book can be purchased or downloaded should be provided. Authors or publishers may also provide a link or e-mail address for SFPA members to obtain a .pdf of the book to facilitate reading for voting consideration.
Nominations open March 15; the deadline is May 31. Nominations should be e-mailed to elgin@sfpoetry.org.
Voting opens July 1; voting deadline is September 15
