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Anthony Awards
Bouchercon (World Mystery Convention), administered by each year's local organizing committee
In short
The Anthony Awards are presented at Bouchercon for crime and mystery writing. Registered convention attendees nominate and vote, so there's no entry form or fee and authors can't submit a book. Check the current nomination window, make sure the book is easy for attendees to identify, and decide separately whether attending Bouchercon makes sense for you.
Next cycle not announcedChecked September 13, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Every label is a fact from the official rules, never a judgment about whether the award is worth entering. How we describe awards.
This program has not published a verified deadline for its next cycle. Use the official link before making plans.
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The Anthony Awards are presented every year at Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, and are named for the critic Anthony Boucher. The 2026 program lists seven categories: Best Hardcover Novel; Best Paperback Original, E-Book, or Audiobook Original Novel; Best Short Story; Best First Novel; Best Juvenile or Young Adult; Best Critical or Nonfiction Work; and Best Anthology or Collection.
There is no entry form and no fee. Under Bouchercon's standing rules, nomination ballots go to registrants of the current convention and the immediately preceding one, and the final ballot is voted on at the convention itself: you must be in attendance to vote. Works are eligible in the year after their publication year.
The convention moves each year, and each host committee runs the ballot, so the exact nomination window is published on that year's convention site.
Why it may matter
The nominations reflect the readers, booksellers, and writers who attend Bouchercon and are noticed within the mystery community. Because only registrants nominate, there's nothing to submit. Your part is to keep the book's category and publication details clear before ballots open.
2026 cycle: Bouchercon 2026, Calgary (works published in 2025)
- Eligible publication dates
- January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025
- Deadline note
- Nomination ballots for the 2026 awards closed before the convention; the final ballot is voted on by attendees at Bouchercon
- Entry fee
- No entry; convention registration is required to nominate or voteChecked September 13, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Results
- Winners announced at the live ceremony on Saturday, October 24, 2026
Worth knowing
Our reading, not a rule the organization published. We judge an award on the rubric in how we describe awards.
The Bouchercon standing rules, which describe who receives nomination ballots and the nomination window, live on the main Bouchercon site, which was redirecting to the 2027 convention site and could not be opened at verification time. Confirm the current rules there before relying on the nomination details above. Bouchercon 2026 is in Calgary with the Anthony ceremony on Saturday, October 24, 2026.
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 13, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.
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