The Mythies are out! The Mythopoeic Society released its 2025 Awards shortlists earlier this year in five categories (three fiction and two scholarship awards). Award committee members read each of the books in their category and then vote on which works should receive the coveted Mythopoeic Award. Here are the results (with US Amazon links–but ensure you order from your local independent bookstore):

• Adult Fantasy: Minsoo Kang, The Melancholy of Untold History (William Morrow, 2024)
• Young Adult Fantasy: Amie Kaufman, The Isles of the Gods duology (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2023-2024)
• Children’s Fantasy: Frances Hardinge (author) and Emily Gravett (illustrator), Island of Whispers (Harry N. Abrams, 2024)
• Inklings Studies: Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, editors, The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (William Morrow, 2024)
• Myth and Fantasy Studies: Stefan Ekman, Urban Fantasy: Exploring Modernity through Magic (Lever Press, 2024)

While a Hugo Award or a Grammy nod would probably help my career a bit more, the Mythopoeic Award is the one that I secretly want to win. By “secret,” I mean that I tell everyone I meet about my life’s dream to have that Aslan statue on my shelf with my other awards (like the Teacher of the Year awards, scholarship awards, and that 8th-place ribbon in Morris Dancing Mockery I won in Cheltenham some years back).

You will notice that the award winners are not all bestsellers. Some of the fiction is new to me, and the Myth and Fantasy Studies Award-winner was up against a master in the field (Jack Zipes), as well as a groundbreaking collection on speculative poetry, a popular book about epic fantasy, and a brilliant translation: Enheduanna: The Complete Poems of the World’s First Author by Sophus Helle (2023). These awards are different in the way they value the “mythopoeic” elements–the life-giving, all-encompassing mythmaking essence of their particular story or focus of study. It’s pretty great, honestly, and I look forward to reading the winners.

After the award voting had closed, I posted my thoughts on the category where I worked with all of the finalists: the Inklings Studies scholarship award. This year’s slate of finalists was entirely Tolkien-focussed—four monograph (single-book) studies and a manuscript study. From my peculiar perspective, you can read all about the finalists here:

Given how strong some of these monographs were, I was mildly surprised–but far from astonished–that the winner was the edited three-volume collection by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien (2024). I haven’t said a lot about these texts because I am working on a larger review (sort of a visual invitation to the series). I feel blessed to say that this beautifully designed and carefully edited 3-volume boxset has a treasured place on my shelf.

As entire volumes are dedicated to Tolkien’s poetic works, it is not an exhaustive collection. The selection seems to me wise, careful, and illustrative of Tolkien’s poetic life and work. I used the volume for a careful look at Tolkien’s WWI-era period, including his first forays into verse, his growth and development as a student, his artistic fellowship (the TCBS), and his lifelong editorial and revision habits.

The Collected Poems is, in my view, the most important Tolkien legendarium literary event since The Collected Letters, The History of Middle-earth, and The Nature of Middle-earth. Scull and Hammond have done us a tremendous service—and did it well.

For the full 2025 Mythopoeic Awards press release, see here. For more information about the Mythopoeic Awards, visit the Awards section of the Mythopoeic Society website. The Mythopoeic Society is made up of lovers of story. Some are professional scholars or writers, while most are avid readers who enjoy the community. Consider getting involved.