World Fantasy Award—Artist
World Fantasy Award—Artist is an annual prize given by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy artwork published in the previous calendar year. It has been awarded every year since 1975 and is considered one of the most prestigious prizes in speculative fiction, alongside the Hugo and Nebula Awards. The most recent winner is Liv Rainey-Smith. Artists who create fantasy-related art can also be nominated for the Special Award—Professional.
How the winner is chosen: Nominations are decided by attendees and a panel of five judges. In June, a ballot is sent to attendees of the current and the previous two World Fantasy Conventions to determine two finalists. The judges then add three or more nominees and vote to choose the winner. The judging panel is usually made up of fantasy authors and is appointed each year by the World Fantasy Awards Administration, which can break ties. The final results are announced at the World Fantasy Convention in late October.
Prize design: Until 2015, winners received a bust of H. P. Lovecraft. Since then, the prize has been a statuette of a tree.
Statistics and records: In 51 nomination years, 107 artists have been nominated and 43 have won (including ties). Three artists have won three times: Shaun Tan, Charles Vess, and Michael Whelan. Six artists have won twice: J. K. Potter, Thomas Canty, Kinuko Y. Craft, Edward Gorey, Rovina Cai, and Lee Brown Coye. Potter and John Picacio have the most nominations, with ten each; Canty, Don Maitz, and Whelan have nine; Stephen Fabian and John Jude Palencar have eight nominations without a win.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 05:23 (CET).