The Otherwise Award, for works of speculative fiction which explore and expand gender, has been given to either one or two works each year since 1991. A panel of five jurors chooses each year’s award winners, as well as an honor list (originally called a “short list”) of works to recognize. Some juries also choose a “long list” of works they want to call to people’s attention.
The award database contains lists of the award winners, honor list works, long list works, and jurors by year. Where possible, we have also included information on the ceremony — including description and photo of the original art prize received by the winner and the lyrics of a song written to serenade the winner at the ceremony.
Search the Otherwise Award Database
The Awards Pages
- Year 34, 2024
- Awards Pages:
- Year 33, 2023
- Awards Pages:
- Year 32, 2022
- Awards Pages:
- Year 31, 2021
- Award Winners:
- Light from Uncommon Stars — Ryka Aoki
- Sorrowland — Rivers Solomon
- Awards Pages:
- Year 30, 2020
- Award Winner:
- Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon — Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
- Awards Pages:
- Year 29, 2019
- Award Winner:
- Freshwater — Akwaeke Emezi
- Awards Pages:
- Year 28, 2018
- Award Winner:
- They Will Dream In the Garden — Gabriela Damián Miravete
- Conference:
- WisCon 43
- Date: 26-05-2019
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 27, 2017
- Award Winner:
- Who Runs the World? — Virginia Bergin
- Awards Pages:
- Year 26, 2016
- Award Winner:
- When the Moon Was Ours — Anna-Marie McLemore
- Conference:
- WisCon 41
- Date: 26-05-2017
- Location: Madison, Wisconsin
- Awards Pages:
- Year 25, 2015
- Award Winners:
- The New Mother — Eugene Fischer
- Lizard Radio — Pat Schmatz
- Conference:
- Wiscon 40
- Date: 27-05-2016
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 24, 2014
- Award Winners:
- The Girl in the Road — Monica Byrne
- My Real Children — Jo Walton
- Conference:
- Wiscon 39
- Date: 25-05-2015
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 23, 2013
- Award Winner:
- Rupetta — Nike A. Sulway
- Conference:
- Wiscon 38
- Date: 23-05-2014
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 22, 2012
- Award Winners:
- The Drowning Girl — Caitlin R. Kiernan
- Ancient, Ancient — Kiini Ibura Salaam
- Conference:
- Wiscon 37
- Date: 27-05-2013
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 21, 2011
- Award Winner:
- Redwood and Wildfire — Andrea Hairston
- Conference:
- WisCon 36
- Date: 27-05-2012
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 20, 2010
- Award Winner:
- Baba Yaga Laid an Egg — Dubravka Ugresic
- Conference:
- WisCon 35
- Date: 30-05-2011
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 19, 2009
- Award Winners:
- Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales — Greer Gilman
- Ooku: The Inner Chambers, volumes 1 & 2 — Fumi Yoshinaga
- Conference:
- WisCon 34
- Date: 31-05-2010
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 18, 2008
- Award Winners:
- The Knife of Never Letting Go — Patrick Ness
- Filter House — Nisi Shawl
- Conference:
- Wiscon 33
- Date: 25-05-2009
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 17, 2007
- Award Winner:
- The Carhullan Army — Sarah Hall
- Conference:
- WisCon 32
- Date: 26-05-2008
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 16, 2006
- Award Winners:
- Half Life — Shelley Jackson
- The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden — Catherynne M. Valente
- Conference:
- WisCon 31
- Date: 28-05-2007
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 15, 2005
- Award Winner:
- Air: Or, Have Not Have — Geoff Ryman
- Conference:
- WisCon 30
- Date: 30-05-2006
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 14, 2004
- Award Winners:
- Camouflage — Joe Haldeman
- Not Before Sundown — Johanna Sinisalo
- Conference:
- Gaylaxicon
- Date: 01-07-2005
- Location: Boston, MA
- Awards Pages:
- Year 13, 2003
- Award Winner:
- Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls — Matt Ruff
- Conference:
- WisCon 28
- Date: 30-05-2004
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 12, 2002
- Award Winners:
- Light — M. John Harrison
- Stories for Men — John Kessel
- Conference:
- WisCon 27
- Date: 25-05-2003
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 11, 2001
- Award Winner:
- The Kappa Child — Hiromi Goto
- Conference:
- Readercon 14
- Date: 14-07-2002
- Location: Boston, MA
- Awards Pages:
- Year 10, 2000
- Award Winner:
- Wild Life — Molly Gloss
- Conference:
- WisCon 25
- Date: 27-05-2001
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 9, 1999
- Award Winner:
- The Conqueror’s Child — Suzy McKee Charnas
- Conference:
- Diversicon 8
- Date: 28-07-2000
- Location: Minneapolis, MN
- Awards Pages:
- Year 8, 1998
- Award Winner:
- Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation — Raphael Carter
- Conference:
- ICFA International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts 20
- Date: 21-03-1999
- Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Awards Pages:
- Year 7, 1997
- Award Winners:
- Black Wine — Candas Jane Dorsey
- Travels With The Snow Queen — Kelly Link
- Conference:
- Readercon 10
- Date: 12-07-1998
- Location: Westborough, MA
- Awards Pages:
- Year 6, 1996
- Award Winners:
- Mountain Ways — Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Sparrow — Mary Doria Russell
- Conference:
- ICFA International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts 18
- Date: 30-03-1997
- Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Awards Pages:
- Year 5, 1995
- Award Winners:
- Waking the Moon — Elizabeth Hand
- The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein — Theodore Roszak
- Conference:
- WisCon 20
- Date: 26-05-1996
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 4, 1994
- Award Winners:
- The Matter of Seggri — Ursula K. Le Guin
- Larque on the Wing — Nancy Springer
- Conference:
- Potlatch 4
- Date: 12-02-1995
- Location: Berkeley, CA
- Awards Pages:
- Year 3, 1993
- Award Winner:
- Ammonite — Nicola Griffith
- Conference:
- Readercon 7
- Date: 10-07-1994
- Location: Worcester, MA
- Awards Pages:
- Year 2, 1992
- Award Winner:
- China Mountain Zhang — Maureen McHugh
- Conference:
- WisCon 17
- Date: 07-03-1993
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages:
- Year 1, 1991
- Award Winners:
- A Woman of the Iron People — Eleanor Arnason
- White Queen — Gwyneth Jones
- Conference:
- WisCon 16
- Date: 07-03-1992
- Location: Madison, WI
- Awards Pages: