In honor of the centennial of Bram Stoker’s death, the Horror Writers Association (HWA) announces a special Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century Award, which will be announced at the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet on 31 March 2012 in Salt Lake City.
“The Award will mark the Centenary of Bram Stoker’s passing in 1912. Stoker was the author of the iconic novel Dracula and HWA is giving this special Award in conjunction with the Bram Stoker family estate.
“A jury, chaired by Leslie S. Klinger, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Dracula, has been appointed, including Jo Fletcher, Ron Breznay, James Dorr, and Linda Addison. The jury will shortly call for recommendations for possible nominees from members of the Horror Writers Association.”
HWA President Rocky Wood said, “HWA is proud to present our iconic Award on the centenary of Bram Stoker’s passing and pleased to be doing so in conjunction with the Bram Stoker family estate. While Stoker’s novel is undoubtedly the most influential of all vampire fiction, we look forward to recognizing the vampire novel that has had the greatest impact since publication of Dracula.”
The jury will pick six nominees for the Award, and then select the overall winner. The nominees will be announced in late January 2012. To qualify, a work must have been originally published in any language between 1912 and 2011, but must have been published in English as well. The award will be for a single book, not a body of work, and short stories will not be considered.
Maybe they’ll hold another banquet/awards ceremony in 2021, the 200th anniversary of the death of John Polidori, the guy who REALLY invented the vampire genre. His novel “The Vampyre”, published in 1819, predates Bram Stoker’s novel by nearly 80 years. Stoker’s version of Dracula has never been the one of popular fiction: ugly, repulsive, a ghoul who fascinates and revolts at the same time. Virtually every vampire depicted in popular media from Bela Lugosi to Stephanie Meyer to Charlaine Harris is seductive, suave, aristocratic and hypnotic. These were the qualities of Polidori’s Lord Ruthven, who was based entirely on Polidor’s friend Lord Byron. Every time you see a sexy vampire, you’re reading/seeing Lord Byron, not the cadaverous horror of Bram Stoker. For my money, the award – and celebration — for best vampire novel should be named after Polidori, not Stoker.