Slashic Horror Press Presents...

The OutWrite Scary Awards

How do they work?

The purpose of the awards is to recognise authors, rather than just vote for the authors you are familiar with. The below outlines how the awards work, including nomination, voting, finalists, and ceremony. See "Eligibility" for more details.

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Entry Fee: FREE

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Timeline:​​

• 2025 Entry Dates: November 1, 2025 – January 31, 2026

• ​Nomination Google Form: Here

• Voting Dates: Feb 1, 2026 – May 30, 2026

  • Voting Google Form: TBA​

• Finalists Announced: Early-Mid June

• ​Winners Announced: Late June

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Phase I: A Google Doc has been created (link above) where people can nominate themselves in any category, once per title. For example, you cannot submit two Google Doc forms where you nominate yourself for Best Novel for the same title. Entry is FREE. I do not want authors to pay for an award. You can nominate for ONE sub-genre only per title (i.e., you cannot list the same title for best creature feature and best splatterpunk), so think about which sub-genre your title mostly aligns with.

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Phase II: Once the nomination period closes, the public voting will open (link above). Voting will be open for 4 months; this gives people time to read as many titles as they can before voting. To minimise these awards becoming a popularity contest, nominated authors can ONLY do the following in terms of promo:

•  ONE social media post announcing their eligible titles and categories, inclusive of the link to vote. This can be shared across platforms, but must be posted at the same time AND be the same post (i.e., not a photo for FB and a video for TikTok).

• ONE post in an author newsletter. This can be posted at a different time to the social media post, and also BE different from that post. If you don't have a newsletter, please let me know, because this will mean you can post a SECOND social media announcement. 

• If any dishonesty is discovered around this, the person/people involved will be immediately disqualified. What's the point of an award you didn't earn and had to cheat to get? So, please, let's keep the awards clean, professional, and respectful.

• Voters can vote ONCE.

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Phase III: Once public voting has closed, I will be outsourcing data collation to a third-party. This is purely due to potential conflict of interest. I do not want anyone thinking I am referencing Slashic authors; that is not the point of these awards. I want to recognise ALL queer horror authors. The third-party (yet to be decided) will collate data. Here is how finalists will be determined:

• A list of Top 3 for each category will be announced.​

• Finalists can post as much as they like about the awards at this point. 

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Phase IV: Winners announced, by David-Jack Fletcher, via livestream. Platform to be determined.

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A note about conflict of interest: 

I am well aware that a press running these awards holds risks. These awards are not designed to give Slashic authors an award. They are designed to recognise the outstanding horror literary contributions made by indie authors. As such, I WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE for any award in any category at any time. Further, as noted in Phase III, the data collation on public votes will be managed by a third party who is not associated with Slashic Horror Press. Once that person/people/organisation is determined, it will be shared publicly. Hence, I (David-Jack Fletcher) will never see the number of votes or who was nominated. I will only be handed the TOP 3 for each category, along with the official winners.

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Eligibility:

Any horror work produced by an indie publisher, or self-published, between January 1 – December 31, 2025, is eligible to enter.

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Do I have to LGBTQ+ to enter?

These award are a space for celebrating LGBTQ+ authors and their stories. Our straight allies are eligible for the "Best Ally" award, but the work MUST have strong LGBTQ+ themes (character, plot etc.).

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How LGBTQ+ does it have to be?

In short, LGBTQ+ themes and content need to be central to the manuscript.