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The Search for the Best Fantasy Fiction of 2025 is on!
The submissions for the 2025 Awards are well underway, and Ozma closes submissions at the end of June!
Fantasy isn’t just elves and magic—there are so many possibilities for a Fantasy tale, and we love that! From epic quests to urban magic, from steampunk adventures to mythical retellings, the Ozma Awards celebrate the boundless imagination that fantasy fiction offers.
Let’s Dive into the Categories!
- Magic, Heroes and Villains is the great variety of books that involve big archetypes and adventures like Five of Crows or The Fourth Wing.
- Coming of Age Fantasy typically looks at someone coming into their own, like Harry Potter discovering his magical heritage, but it can also be aimed at a younger audience. For YA Fantasy, check out the Dante Rossetti Awards, and for Middle Grade Fantasy, explore the Gertrude Warner Awards!
- Steampunk/Dieselpunk/Gaslight Fantasy are types of Alternative History and Counterculture. Steampunk features Victorian-era sci-fi or fantasy with an emphasis on steam-powered technology and historical fashions. Dieselpunk has more of an industrial Art Deco, Film Noir aesthetic with elements from the World Wars and Early Cold War—think Bioshock or Blade Runner.
- Modern and Urban Fantasy is exactly what it sounds like—Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files is a perfect example. Fantasy elements in realistic, contemporary settings.
- Myths and Legends and Fairy Tales feature classic Fantasy elements: fairies, King Arthur, folktale-type stories that have enchanted readers for generations.
- Fantasy – Classic is High Fantasy like Lord of the Rings—epic battles between good and evil in richly imagined worlds.
- Historical Fantasy is history with magic, where dark sorcerers move in ancient Viking battles or Nazis attempt to secure the Holy Grail.
Celebrating Our 2024 Grand Prize Winner!
After months of reviewing hundreds of entries, we are delighted to announce that Erin Lark Maples claimed the 2024 Ozma Grand Prize with her extraordinary novel A Circle of Stars! Throughout last year’s Ozma Book Awards, we’ve had the pleasure of promoting nearly 60 books as they advanced through our competition tiers.
Erin Lark Maples’s reluctant hero, compelling narrative, and richly layered world that exemplifies the innovative fantasy storytelling we seek to recognize. In addition to all the featured posts that have already gone out for the Ozma Awards, A Circle of Stars will be regularly promoted throughout the year on the Ozma Awards page and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame post. Erin Lark Maples will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and you can read the Chanticleer Editorial Review for A Circle of Stars here!
Looking for Your Next Fantasy Read?
Check out some of these incredible books we’ve reviewed recently that showcase the amazing diversity of fantasy fiction!
DIOMEDES In KYPRIOS: Diomedia Series Book 2
By Gregory Michael Nixon
Gregory Michael Nixon’s Diomedes in Kyprios, book 2 in the Diomedeia Series, continues the adventures of the godlike yet all too human hero, Diomedes of Tiryns, as he seeks to discover a meaningful destiny in the chaos of the Bronze Age Collapse.
We begin after the fall of the Hittite Empire, four years after the destruction of Troy. He emerges from the dark river that runs through the underworld where the sacrifice of the Hittite Great King has just occurred, and he has rescued the Hittite Queen from certain death. Nearly drowned but still alive, he recalls only that he had vowed to reunite with the former Queen of the Hittites, the woman he loves named Lieia, at Paphos on the island of Kyprios (ancient Cyprus).
Lieia must undergo her own “odyssey” to get to Paphos to meet Diomedes. She depends on her band of protectors, but they pay for fare aboard a ship with evil men who cannot be trusted.
THE WINTER HEIR: Fractured Kingdoms Book 2
By J.A. Nielsen
Dante Rossetti First Place Winner
The Winter Heir, the second book in J.A. Nielsen’s Fractured Kingdoms series, picks up where the first book, The Claiming, leaves off—with its protagonists struggling under the weight of a vital bargain.
Lady Dew Drop, Dewy to her friends—and her frenemies—is languishing in the court of the Winter Fae, a summer princess nearly frozen in both heart and spirit as she does her best to fulfill the pact she made with the Winter King. Meanwhile, the man who got her into this mess, the human mage and illegitimate princeling of Telridge—Spence Ferrous—tries to fulfill the deal for her.
But the story is much bigger than these two young lovers. The Winter King is dying without a legitimate heir. And it’s his own proud, arrogant fault. As much as both the humans and the Summer Fae would be willing to let him suffer the consequences of his own actions—he’s not the only one who will.
SUMMER CYCLONE: Magic at Myers Beach Book 4
By Alan B. Gibson
The citizens of the three fairy kingdoms clash, forced to live shoulder-to-shoulder alongside ungoverned Outliers. In Summer Cyclone, fourth book of Alan B. Gibson’s Magic at Myers Beach series, unassuming tea-shop manager Stefán tries to find love while keeping all of fairy society from fracturing.
The three fairy kings, Theos, Zsombor, and Christophe, evacuate their people to Myers Beach. It’s only here that they have any chance of recreating fairy dust after their old sources had been poisoned, and saving every fairy life. They take in the Outliers, remnants of a fallen kingdom, and at first find good will between the groups. But with thousands of fairies moving in, they have to keep everyone on a short leash or else risk humans catching wind of their new neighbors. Resentment of these strange Outliers builds.
Stefán, a close confidant to Theos, struggles to keep anti-Outlier sentiment at bay with the help of some enigmatic and knowledgeable new friends. Rumors of him giving the Outliers special treatment grow stronger as some fairies begin to suspect that he’s actually one of them.
BOOK Of LEPRECHAUNS: The Lore Gatherers
By Jonathan Uffelman
Ozma First Place Winner
Three leprechauns, Molly, Shaun, and Dorker, have their lives turned upside down when a sinister figure returns to their peaceful village with greed and revenge on his mind. In Jonathan Uffelman’s middle-grade fantasy, Book of Leprechauns: The Lore Gatherers, they embark on a treacherous journey to recover their lost home.
Shaun McClanahan struggles to support his daughter Molly as she fails a crucial test for young Lore Gatherers—a subculture of Leprechauns who respect the power of stories. Though he’s weighed down by his responsibilities as the protector of his village’s communal gold stash, Shaun tries to overcome his worrying nature by trusting Molly to check on the gold by herself, hopeful that she can prove her worth to the village.
But when Molly follows her father’s magical instructions to the letter, she discovers with horror that the treasure is missing, save one ancient Roman coin.
These reviews represent just a glimpse of the fantastic worlds waiting to be discovered in today’s fantasy fiction.
See the Chanticleer Difference for Yourself!
We’re so excited about all the great books we receive every year for both the CIBAs and for our Editorial Reviews. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!
This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each advancement tier is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter! Your book deserves to be discovered.
Don’t Let Your Tale Remain Untold!
The magic of storytelling lies in sharing your vision with the world. Whether your fantasy features dragons soaring over ancient kingdoms or witches working spells in modern cities, the Ozma Awards are your gateway to recognition and readership.
Fantasy has the power to transport readers beyond the mundane into realms of infinite possibility. Don’t let your story remain hidden in an enchanted vault—submit to the Ozma Awards today and join the ranks of celebrated fantasy authors who’ve found their audience through Chanticleer!
You know you want it…
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