The Winners of the 61st Nebula Awards Are Here

The nonprofit Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America held its 61st annual Nebula Awards over the weekend, celebrating the best sci-fi and fantasy writing from 2025. The awards cover a broad swath of mediums, including literature, film, television, and games writing.

Stephen Graham Jones took home the top prize for his novel The Buffalo Hunter Hunterwhile the underappreciated Apple TV series Murderbotbased on The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, scooped up the Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. The award for Best Game Writing, perhaps unsurprisingly, given its incredible reception and near-total domination at the 2025 Game Awards, went to Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33. The Nebulas also introduced a new award for Best Poem this year, which went to “The World To Come” by Jennifer Hudak.

Check out the full list of winners below.

Best Novel

• When We Were Realby Daryl Gregory (Saga)
• Winner: The Buffalo Hunter Hunterby Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK)
• Katabasisby R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
• Death of the Authorby Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)
• The Incandescentby Emily Tesh (Tor; Orbit UK)
• Sour Cherryby Natalia Theodoridou (Tin House; Wildfire)
• Wearing the Lionby John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia)

Best Novella

• Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needleby Renan Bernardo (Dark Matter INK)
• Winner: The River Has Rootsby Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia)
• The Death of Mountainsby Jordan Kurella (Lethe)
• Automatic Noodleby Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom)
• But Not Too Boldby Hache Pueyo (Tordotcom)
• “Descent,” by Wole Talabi (Clarkesworld 5/25)

Best Novelette

• “Our Echoes Drifting Through the Marsh,” by Marie Croke (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 1/9/25)
• Winner: “Uncertain Sons,” by Thomas Ha (Uncertain Sons)
• “We Begin Where Infinity Ends,” by Somto Ihezue (Clarkesworld 2/25)
• “The Name Ziya,” by Wen-Yi Lee (Tor)
• “Never Eaten Vegetables,” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld 1/25)
• “The Life and Times of Alavira the Great as Written by Titos Pavlou and Reviewed by Two Lifelong Friends,” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 3-4/25)

Best Short Story

• “Through the Machine,” by P.A. Cornell (Lightspeed 5/25)
• “Six People to Revise You,” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny 1-2/25)
• “The Tawlish Island Songbook of the Dead,” by E.M. Linden (PodCastle 2/18/25)
• “In My Country,” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 4/25)
• “Because I Held His Name Like a Key,” by Aimee Ogden (Strange Horizons 6/16/25)
• Winner: “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything,” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots 5/25)

Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Sinnersby Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros Pictures)
• Severance: “Chikhai Bardo,” by Dan Erickson & Mark Friedman (Apple TV+)
• To many: Season One, by Vince Gilligan (Apple TV+)
• Supermanby James Gunn (Warner Bros Pictures)
• KPop Demon Huntersby Danya Jimenez, Maggie Kang, & Hannah McMechan (Netflix)
• Winner: Murderbot: Season One, by Chris Weitz (Apple TV+)

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

• The Towerby David Anaxagoras (Recorded Books)
• Gemini Risingby Jonathan Brazee (Semper Fi Press)
• Wishing Well, Wishing Wellby Jubilee Cho (Atthis Arts)
• Winner: Into the Wild Magicby Michelle Knudsen (Candlewick)
• Goblin Girlby K.A. Mielke (self-published)
• Sunrise on the Reapingby Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)

Best Game Writing

• Spire, Surge, and Seaby Stewart C. Baker (Choice of Games)
• Winner: Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33by Guillaume Broche, & Jennifer Svedberg-Yen (Kepler Interactive), Developer: Sandfall Interactive, Sandfall S.A.S.
• Hollow Knight: Silksongby Ari Gibson & William Pellen (Team Cherry)
• Dispatchby Ashley Jeffalone, Suzee Matson, Chris Rebbert, Chad Rhiness, & Pierre Shorette (AdHoc Studios)
• Hades IIby Greg Kasavin (Supergiant Games)
• Blue Princeby Tonda Ros (Raw Fury, Developer: Dogubomb)

Best Comic

• Second Shiftby Kit Anderson (Avery Hill)
• Carmilla Volume 3: The Eternalby Amy Chu (Berger)
• Helen of Wyndhornby Tom King (Dark Horse)
• Fishfliesby Jeff Lemire (Image)
• Winner: Mary Shelley’s School for Monsters: The Killing Stoneby Jessica Maison (Wicked Tree)
• Strange Bedfellowsby Ariel Slamet Ries (HarperAlley)
• The Flip Sideby Jason Walz (Rocky Pond)
• The Stoneshore Registerby G. Willow Wilson (Berger)

Best Poem

• “Though You Always Are,” by Linda D. Addison & Jamal Hodge (Everything Endless)
• “They Said Robots Are”, by Casey Aimer (Penumbric 6/25)
• Winner: “The World To Come,” by Jennifer Hudak (Strange Horizons 12/22/25)
• “The Mourning Robot,” by Angela Liu (Uncanny 9-10/25)
• “To Be the Change,” by Nico Martinez Nocito (Strange Horizons 3/10/25)
• “Care for Lightning,” by Mari Ness (Uncanny 1-2/25)

Damon Knight Grand Master Award

NK Jemis

Toastmaster

Tananarive Due

Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award

David Langford

Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award

Gay Haldeman

Infinity Award

Roger Zelazny

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