Jury-selected genre Awards presented annually from 2009, not specifically for sf but for "the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic". The name reflects that of the Pornokitsch "geek culture" blog run by Anne C Perry and Jared Shurin, who launched the Kitschies; the "tentacle" names for categories are a nod to the initial award sponsor The Kraken Rum. These categories are Red Tentacle for best novel; Golden (added 2011) for best debut novel; Inky (added 2012) for cover art; Black (added 2011) as a catchall category for special and "judges' discretion" awards, not necessarily presented each year; and Invisible (added 2015) for "Natively Digital Fiction".
Presentations are made in the year following the year of eligibility, which is that of first publication in Great Britain (hence the 2012 debut-novel award to a 2010 title). Winners to date are listed below. No awards were presented in 2017, when a new sponsor was being sought. The current sponsor is the bookshop chain Blackwell's. [DRL]
Red Tentacle: Novel
Golden Tentacle: Debut Novel
Inky Tentacle: Cover Art
Black Tentacle: Special/Judges' Discretion
- 2011: Donald Westlake, Memory (2010)
- 2012: Selfmadehero (Comics and Graphic Novels publisher)
- 2013: The World SF Blog
- 2014: Malorie Blackman, OBE, as UK Children's Laureate
- 2015: not awarded
- 2016: Patrick Ness's refugee-crisis Save the Children fundraiser (phrased "for the genre community, personified by Ness, for the response to the humanitarian refugee crisis")
- 2017: not awarded
- 2018: not awarded
- 2019: not awarded
Invisible Tentacle: Natively Digital Fiction
- 2015: Cardboard Computer: Kentucky Route Zero, Act III
- 2016: Life Is Strange
- 2017: not awarded
- 2018: not awarded
- 2019: not awarded
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