Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement

The Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement annually recognizes one to three living artists for "superior achievement in an entire career" which has "substantially influenced the horror genre". It is conferred by the Horror Writers Association, and most winners have been horror fiction writers, but other creative occupations are eligible.

The Bram Stoker Awards, including the lifetime honor in particular, were established along with the Association itself in 1987. They are presented in the year following the award year, which is the publication year for most of the awards program.

The winners are selected by the annual Lifetime Achievement Award Committee, which comprises five HWA members appointed by the President. Unlike the literary awards, which are determined by vote of all members, there are no official runners-up.

Elizabeth Massie, Nuzo Onoh, and John Saul are the most recent winners, all three receiving the award on June 17, 2023.

Recipients

The annual committee may bestow up to fu awards, by unanimous agreement, and it need not bestow any. In fact, though, there has been at least a single winner every year, and there were three winners for 1987, and more recently 2020 and 2021. There were 40 Lifetime Achievement Awards in the first 25 years, through the 2011/2012 cycle.

Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement winners
Eligibility Year
(for Other Categories)
Year Awarded
(Ceremony Year)
Winner Ref
1987 1988 Fritz Leiber
Frank Belknap Long
Clifford D. Simak
1988 1989 Ray Bradbury
Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes
1989 1990 Robert Bloch
1990 1991 Hugh B. Cave
Richard Matheson
1991 1992 Gahan Wilson
1992 1993 Ray Russell
1993 1994 Joyce Carol Oates
1994 1995 Christopher Lee
1995 1996 Harlan Ellison
1996 1997 Ira Levin
Forrey Ackerman
1997 1998 William Peter Blatty
Jack Williamson
1998 1999 Ramsey Campbell
Roger Corman
1999 2000 Edward Gorey
Charles L. Grant
2000 2001 Nigel Kneale
2001 2002 John Farris
2002 2003 Stephen King
J. N. Williamson
2003 2004 Martin H. Greenberg
Anne Rice
2004 2005 Michael Moorcock
2005 2006 Peter Straub
2006 2007 Thomas Harris
2007 2008 John Carpenter
Robert Weinberg
2008 2009 F. Paul Wilson
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
2009 2010 Brian Lumley
William F. Nolan
2010 2011 Ellen Datlow
Al Feldstein
2011 2012 Rick Hautala
Joe R. Lansdale
2012 2013 Clive Barker
Robert McCammon
2013 2014 R. L. Stine
Stephen Jones
2014 2015 Jack Ketchum
Tanith Lee
2015 2016 Alan Moore
George Romero
2016 2017 Dennis Etchison
Thomas Monteleone
2017 2018 Linda Addison
2018 2019 Graham Masterton
2019 2020 Owl Goingback
Thomas Ligotti
2020 2021 Carol J. Clover
Jewelle Gomez
Marge Simon
2021 2022 Jo Fletcher
Nancy Holder
Koji Suzuki


Multiple awards

Six of the Stoker Award winners have also been named SFWA Grand Masters by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: Leiber, Simak, Bradbury, Ellison, Jack Williamson, and Moorcock.

See also