The IAFA Crawford Award was established to honor William L. Crawford (1911–1984), an American publisher and editor who produced the first full-size book issued by a publisher that specialized in science fiction. Mars Mountain, published in 1935, is a collection of science fiction short stories by Eugene George Key. Crawford created several publishing companies, including the Fantasy Publishing Company (FPCI), and edited several magazine series including Spaceway, Fantasy Book and Marvel Tales. The award was established with the support of the late Andre Norton, who also helped establish the criteria and who continued to support the award over the years.

The IAFA Crawford Award each year recognizes an outstanding writer whose first fantasy book was published during the previous calendar year. It is not specifically a first novel award, but an award for a first work of fantasy. This may include books of poetry, short fiction, graphic novel, works in translation, or other work at the discretion of the judges.

Crawford honorees have gone on to win a dozen World Fantasy Awards (including a Life Achievement Award for Charles de Lint), five Shirley Jackson Awards, five Locus Awards, four Hugo Awards, four Nebula Awards, and 27 other awards of various kinds. Two Crawford-winning novels have been adapted as feature films, Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni’s Mistress of Spices in 2005 and Christopher Barzak’s One for Sorrow in 2014 (under the title Jamie Marks is Dead). While the majority of honorees have been residents of the United States, the international dimension of the award is reflected by winners from Canada, the U.K., Sweden, Barbados, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia. In terms of gender balance, 26 of the 38 awards (as of this writing) have been won by women.

Judges for the 2025 award are Brian Attebery, Joyce Chng, Eddie Clark, Joy Sanchez-Taylor, and Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay.

The Administrator is Kelly Robson.

Propose a New Writer for Consideration

The submission period for the Crawford Award runs from 30th March to 31st December each year, for titles published during the year.

Publishers and authors are invited to submit their books to the jury via this website. Self-published work is permitted.

A title must be the author’s first fantasy book; it is permissible for an author active in a different genre to be submitted, as long as this is their first fantasy book. Children’s fiction and YA are eligible, as are poetry and short story collections. 

Please be prepared to upload the work in as many of these formats as you can, "the more the merrier": PDF, Mobi and EPub.

To propose a writer’s first work of fantasy for consideration for the award for next year, fill out this form: https://form.jotform.com/233517232455049.

Past Winners of the Crawford Award