Awards are given out in five categories:
Red Tentacle for the best novel (£1,000) Golden Tentacle for the best debut novel (£500) Inky Tentacle for the best cover art (£500) Invisible Tentacle for the best natively digital fiction Glentacle, named in memory of Kitschies co-founder Glen Mehn: “a discretionary award for a person or group who, the directors determined, contributed something significant and special to the community”
This year, they had 177 submissions to choose from. M.R. Carey, Red & Gold Tentacle judge and author of The Girl With All the Gifts, said:
2020 Kitschies Award Winners
The Golden Tentacle (Debut Novel)
Runners up: The Space Between Worlds explores multiverse travel, which has become a surprisingly corporate affair. Cara grew up in the wastelands and has just managed to scrape out an existence. In fact, almost all of her parallel selves didn’t survive to this point. That’s good news for her, though, because people can only travel to universes where their double is dead. This makes her a perfect candidate for multiverse travel, which means that she gets to live a comfortable life now. Between all these different worlds, though, and pulled between the wastelands and her new walled-in life, Cara has to figure out where she belongs. This is an absorbing science fiction story with a Black bisexual main character.
Sharks in the Time of Saviours by Kawai Strong Washburn The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
The Red Tentacle (Novel)
Runners up: It’s set in an alternate reality, where Piranesi lives in a labyrinth of a house lined with thousands of unique statues. Within the winding walls, an ocean is trapped. Waves break on staircases and can flood rooms in an instant. A man called The Other visits twice a week, researching A Great and Secret Knowledge. But there are more secrets hidden in this place than even Piranesi knows.
A Tall History of Sugar by Curdella Forbes The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Inky Tentacle (Cover Design)
Runners up: Paul Wiseall, judge for the 2020 Inky Tentacle, shared: “The quality of book covers this year was astonishing which made picking a shortlist for the Kitchies 2020 an incredibly tough one. Whittling away from the hundreds of entries, we had to discard some truly beautiful book covers but what we’ve been left with is a stunning shortlist. The book covers that make up the Kitschies 2020 shortlist truly showcase some of the most exciting, entertaining and progressive artwork that should adorn every modern bookshelf.”
Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin, cover design by Ben Summers Monstrous Heart by Claire McKenna, cover design by Andrew Davis The Harpy by Megan Hunter, cover design by Lucy Scholes and illustration by Amy Judd The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin, cover design by Lauren Panepinto
The 2020 Glentacle was awarded to Simon Key of the Big Green Bookshop, for his “extraordinary generosity and selflessness to readers.” Looking for more SFF award winners? Check out the winners of the 2021 Nebula Awards!
