Sydney J. Bounds Award For Best Newcomer

The Sydney J. Bounds Award For Best Newcomer is given annually by the British Fantasy Society as part of the British Fantasy Awards, and recognizes a new fiction writer based on one or more specific works. From 1988 to 1995, it was called the Icarus Award; in 2007 and 2008, it was the Best Newcomer Award. These earlier versions of the award went to individuals, without singling out specific work(s) as the basis for the decision. In 2009, the award was renamed to honor longtime BFS member Sydney J. Bounds.

This award is sponsored and funded by the estate of Sydney J. Bounds, and the winner receives a cheque for £100. The winner is decided by a special panel of readers appointed by the BFS, which includes representatives from the Bounds estate and the BFS.

Many genre experts see this award as the British equivalent of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in the United States.

Year	Winner
Icarus Award
1988	Carl T. Ford
1989	John Gilbert
1990	Nancy A. Collins
1991	Michael Marshall Smith
1992	Melanie Tem
1993	Conrad Williams
1994	Poppy Z. Brite
1995	Maggie Furey
1996-2006 – not given
Best Newcomer Award
2007	Joe Hill
2008	Scott Lynch
Sydney J. Bounds Award For Best Newcomer
Year	Winner	Work
2009	Joseph D'Lacey	Meat
2010	Kari Sperring	Living with Ghosts
2011	Robert Jackson Bennett	Mr. Shivers
2012	Kameron Hurley	God's War
2013	Helen Marshall	Hair Side, Flesh Side
2014	Ann Leckie	Ancillary Justice
2015	Sarah Lotz	The Three
2016	Zen Cho	Sorcerer to the Crown
2017	Erica L. Satifka	Stay Crazy
2018	Jeannette Ng	Under the Pendulum Sun

---

Award

Website

1988—

This is an award page. If you know something about it, such as who awarded it, who the winners were, what the criteria were, and when it was awarded, please add it! See Standards for Awards.