A press release from Alex Davis of the David Gemmell Legend Awards:

This year sees the fifth anniversary of the David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy, one of fantasy fiction’s most prestigious prizes, with the superb trophies to be awarded at a stunning ceremony this October. With just a few months to go until this exciting event, the shortlists for each of the three prize categories have just been announced at the Nine Worlds Geekfest in London, and as always they feature some of the best-known and most talented names within the field.

The Legend Award for Best Novel includes titles by author of the First Law Trilogy Joe Abercrombie, Australian debut novelist Jay Kristoff, up-and-coming fantasy star Mark Lawrence, the winner of last year’s Morningstar debut award Helen Lowe and leading US fantasy author Brent Weeks.

The Morningstar Award is given for Best Debut, and sees Jay Kristoff’s Stormdancer nominated a second time, plus nominations for acclaimed first novels by Saladin Ahmed, Mile Cameron, John Gwynne and Aidan Harte.

The Ravenheart Award for Best Cover Art is a unique award acknowledging and celebrating the superb work done by fantasy artists, and this year features a stellar set of nominees including Didier Graffet and David Senior, Dominic Harman, Clint Langley, Silas Manhood, Colin Thomas and Stephen Youll.

Stan Nicholls, Chair for the Gemmell Awards, said, “Once again the award shortlists take in a stunning range of fiction and artwork, which is truly international in nature and features not only household names in fantasy but also some of the most exciting new talent around. Whoever takes home each of the three prizes, they will undoubtedly be worthy winners – in fact, given the wealth of superb releases in 2012, achieving a nomination is quite an accolade in itself.”

FULL SHORTLISTS:

Legend Award

(Best novel)
Joe Abercrombie: The Red Country  (Gollancz)
Jay Kristoff: Stormdancer  (Pan Macmillan UK)
Mark Lawrence: King of Thorns  (HarperCollins/Voyager)
Helen Lowe: The Gathering of the Lost  (Orbit)
Brent Weeks: The Blinding Knife  (Orbit)
Morningstar Award

(Best debut novel)
Saladin Ahmed: Throne of the Crescent Moon  (Gollancz and DAW)
Miles Cameron: The Red Knight  (Gollancz)
John Gwynne: Malice  (Pan Macmillan UK)
Aidan Harte: Irenicon  (Jo Fletcher Books)
Jay Kristoff: Stormdancer  (Pan Macmillan UK)
Ravenheart Award 

(Best cover art)

Didier Graffet and Dave Senior, for The Red Country by Joe Abercrombie  (Gollancz)
Dominic Harman, for Legion of Shadow by Michael J. Ward  (Gollancz)
Clint Langley, for Besieged by Rowenna Cory Daniells  (Solaris)
Silas Manhood, for The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks  (Orbit)
Colin Thomas, for Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff  (Pan Macmillan UK)
Stephen Youll, for The Black Mausoleum by Stephen Deas  (Gollancz)

The David Gemmell Awards ceremony will take place at the Metropole Hotel in Brighton on the 31^st October, the location of this year’s World Fantasy Convention. For more information on the awards, simply visit http://gemmellaward.com/.