The
British Fantasy Awards are administered annually by the
British Fantasy Society (BFS) and were first awarded in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see
August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (The Knight of Swords by
Michael Moorcock) only for novels, the number of award categories increased and in 1976 the BFS renamed them collectively the British Fantasy Awards. The current award categories are Best Fantasy Novel (the
Robert Holdstock Award), Best Horror Novel (the
August Derleth Award), Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Independent Press, Best Artist, Best Anthology, Best Collection, Best Comic/Graphic Novel, Best Non-Fiction, and Best Newcomer (the
Sydney J. Bounds Award), while the
Karl Edward Wagner Award is given at the discretion of the BFS committee. The membership of the BFS vote to determine the shortlists of the awards, the winners being decided by juries.