The auditorium fell to a hush as the envelope was opened. I watched a small room of writers shift—some smiling, some stunned. You could feel the future of a book change hands in that silence.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America held its 61st Nebula Awards over the weekend, honoring prose, drama, games, comics, and now poetry across the speculative field. I’m laying out who won, who was passed over, and why a few results already have the community talking—fast and loud.
The Winners of the 61st Nebula Awards Are Here
Who won Best Novel at the 61st Nebula Awards?
You felt it in the room: Stephen Graham Jones took Best Novel for The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. That title snagged the night’s biggest prize and confirmed Jones’s move from acclaimed voice to headline act.
Which show won the Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation?
Apple TV+’s Murderbot, adapted from Martha Wells’s The Murderbot Diaries, walked off with the Ray Bradbury Nebula. The series rode fandom enthusiasm and a smart production team to a win that now stands alongside awards-season momentum from outlets like the Game Awards and Kotaku coverage.
Best Novel
At the signing table, readers queued up in a line that never quite thinned.
- When We Were Real, by Daryl Gregory (Saga)
- Winner: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK)
- Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
- Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)
- The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh (Tor; Orbit UK)
- Sour Cherry, by Natalia Theodoridou (Tin House; Wildfire)
- Wearing the Lion, by John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia)
Jones’s win hit the room like a thunderclap, shifting conversations from speculation to interpretation.
Best Novella
In the greenroom, readers traded notes about voice and pacing.
- Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle, by Renan Bernardo (Dark Matter INK)
- Winner: The River Has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia)
- The Death of Mountains, by Jordan Kurella (Lethe)
- Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom)
- But Not Too Bold, by Hache Pueyo (Tordotcom)
- “Descent,” by Wole Talabi (Clarkesworld 5/25)
El-Mohtar’s lyrical craft edged out hard science and speculative mechanics to reward sentence-level risk.
Best Novelette
At a coffee table, readers argued about pacing and payoff.
- “Our Echoes Drifting Through the Marsh,” by Marie Croke (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 1/9/25)
- Winner: “Uncertain Sons,” by Thomas Ha (Uncertain Sons)
- “We Begin Where Infinity Ends,” by Somto Ihezue (Clarkesworld 2/25)
- “The Name Ziya,” by Wen-Yi Lee (Tor)
- “Never Eaten Vegetables,” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld 1/25)
- “The Life and Times of Alavira the Great as Written by Titos Pavlou and Reviewed by Two Lifelong Friends,” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 3-4/25)
Thomas Ha’s piece leaned into human complexity, and voters rewarded that risk with the win.
Best Short Story
On a subway ride home, someone read the winning story aloud to a friend.
- “Through the Machine,” by P.A. Cornell (Lightspeed 5/25)
- “Six People to Revise You,” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny 1-2/25)
- “The Tawlish Island Songbook of the Dead,” by E.M. Linden (PodCastle 2/18/25)
- “In My Country,” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 4/25)
- “Because I Held His Name Like a Key,” by Aimee Ogden (Strange Horizons 6/16/25)
- Winner: “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything,” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots 5/25)
Seiberg’s story carried through with clarity and surprise—short fiction that behaves like a sharp instrument.
Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Fans filled feeds with clips and reaction posts within minutes of the announcement.
- Sinners, by Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros Pictures)
- Severance: “Chikhai Bardo,” by Dan Erickson & Mark Friedman (Apple TV+)
- Pluribus: Season One, by Vince Gilligan (Apple TV+)
- Superman, by James Gunn (Warner Bros Pictures)
- KPop Demon Hunters, by Danya Jimenez, Maggie Kang, & Hannah McMechan (Netflix)
- Winner: Murderbot: Season One, by Chris Weitz (Apple TV+)
Murderbot’s victory spread through fandom like wildfire, aided by Apple TV+ resources and a faithful adaptation of Martha Wells’s voice.
Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
At bookstore tables, kids reached for the same covers adults were recommending.
- The Tower, by David Anaxagoras (Recorded Books)
- Gemini Rising, by Jonathan Brazee (Semper Fi Press)
- Wishing Well, Wishing Well, by Jubilee Cho (Atthis Arts)
- Winner: Into the Wild Magic, by Michelle Knudsen (Candlewick)
- Goblin Girl, by K.A. Mielke (self-published)
- Sunrise on the Reaping, by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
Knudsen’s win underlines the continued strength of middle grade and YA voices that speak directly to younger readers without apology.
Best Game Writing
At the conference demo area, players lined up for one more run through key scenes.
- Spire, Surge, and Sea, by Stewart C. Baker (Choice of Games)
- Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, by Guillaume Broche & Jennifer Svedberg-Yen (Kepler Interactive), Developer: Sandfall Interactive, Sandfall S.A.S.
- Hollow Knight: Silksong, by Ari Gibson & William Pellen (Team Cherry)
- Dispatch, by Ashley Jeffalone, Suzee Matson, Chris Rebbert, Chad Rhiness, & Pierre Shorette (AdHoc Studios)
- Hades II, by Greg Kasavin (Supergiant Games)
- Blue Prince, by Tonda Ros (Raw Fury, Developer: Dogubomb)
Clair Obscur had run a strong awards season—its Game Awards momentum and Kepler Interactive’s push made it a favorite for many voters.
Best Comic
On social feeds, panels and splash pages circulated with near-instant commentary.
- Second Shift, by Kit Anderson (Avery Hill)
- Carmilla Volume 3: The Eternal, by Amy Chu (Berger)
- Helen of Wyndhorn, by Tom King (Dark Horse)
- Fishflies, by Jeff Lemire (Image)
- Winner: Mary Shelley’s School for Monsters: The Killing Stone, by Jessica Maison (Wicked Tree)
- Strange Bedfellows, by Ariel Slamet Ries (HarperAlley)
- The Flip Side, by Jason Walz (Rocky Pond)
- The Stoneshore Register, by G. Willow Wilson (Berger)
Maison’s mix of humor and horror earned the comic prize from a crowded field.
Best Poem
At readings, attendees leaned forward to catch every cadence.
- “Though You Always Are,” by Linda D. Addison & Jamal Hodge (Everything Endless)
- “They Said Robots Are”, by Casey Aimer (Penumbric 6/25)
- Winner: “The World To Come,” by Jennifer Hudak (Strange Horizons 12/22/25)
- “The Mourning Robot,” by Angela Liu (Uncanny 9-10/25)
- “To Be the Change,” by Nico Martinez Nocito (Strange Horizons 3/10/25)
- “Care for Lightning,” by Mari Ness (Uncanny 1-2/25)
Introducing a Best Poem category felt overdue; Hudak’s win proves verse has a firm place in speculative conversation.
Damon Knight Grand Master Award
In the awards program, old names sat beside new ones like bookmarks.
N. K. Jemisin
Toastmaster
At the podium, a familiar voice set an easy tone for the ceremony.
Tananarive Due
Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award
Backstage, colleagues toasted a lifetime of contribution in quiet groups.
David Langford
Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award
Volunteers nodded when the winner’s name was announced; they’d seen this work happen for years.
Gay Haldeman
Infinity Award
On a shelf of classics, one author’s name still pulls readers decades on.
Roger Zelazny
If you track awards across platforms—Apple TV+, Kepler Interactive, Team Cherry, Supergiant, Choice of Games, or outlets like Kotaku and Movies & TV—the 61st Nebulas give you a clear pulse on where storytelling attention is moving; what’s your read on which winners will age into canonical status?