The inaugural Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction was presented during the Dragon Con Guest of Honor Banquet, Saturday at 7PM in Hyatt International South.

The winning short story was “The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild” by Catherynne M. Valente.

The remaining four finalists for the award were “The Deepwater Bride” by Tamsyn Muir, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong, “Pocosin” by Ursula Vernon, and “Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight” by Aliette De Bodard.

The Eugie Award is a juried competition that honor stories that are irreplaceable, that inspire, enlighten, and entertain. The awards committee looks for stories that are “beautiful, thoughtful, and passionate, and change us and the field.” The recipient is a story that is unique and will become essential to speculative fiction readers. Eligible works were original speculative short fiction of 20,000 words or fewer, published—including in print, ebook, or online, individually, or in a magazine, collection, or anthology—for the first time in the English language in the previous year (2015 for the 2016 award).