Dragon Con Announces 2026 'Dragon Awards' Winners

Dragon Con, celebrating its 40^th anniversary as the internationally known pop culture, sci fi, fantasy, and gaming convention, announced the winners of its 11^th annual Dragon Awards as well as other convention awards.

Leading this year’s Dragon Awards, Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman was the fans’ choice in theBest Science Fiction Novel category. This is Dinniman’s second Dragon Award, after winning last year for This Inevitable Ruin. The Dragon Awards is a fans’ choice awards program to recognize the best in books, comics, games, and filmed entertainment.

Dragon Con also announced four convention awards, recognizing achievement in short fiction and lifelong contributions to the profession and fandom.

A.C. Wise was honored for her work, “Wolf Moon, Antler Moon,” with the Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction, established in the memory of the Nebula Award-winning author and long-time Dragon Con volunteer director. A juried award, the “Eugie” celebrates the best in innovative fiction. Past winners include Mary Robinette Kowal (2025), Rachael K. Jones (2024), Rich Larson (2023), and Sarah Pinsker (2022).

The Julie Award, presented to an industry professional for universal achievement spanning multiple genres, was awarded to Richard “Lord British” Garriott. Creator of the Ultima series of computer-based games, Garriott pioneered open-world fantasy role-playing video games and laid the foundation for modern open-world game design, living world simulations, choice-and-consequence narratives, and online multiplayer structures. The son of an early NASA astronaut, Garriott pursued his interest in spaceflight to become a private citizen astronaut, spending 12 days aboard the International Space Station in October 2008.

Eric J. Juneau received the Mike Resnick Memorial Award for Short Fiction for his work, “UFO TKO.” The Resnick award, sponsored by Galaxy’s Edge anthologies (published by Arc Manor) and Dragon Con, celebrates new, unpublished authors and is given in the memory of Mike Resnick, a prolific publisher who was widely known for helping new writers start their careers.

Finally, Dan Carroll was recognized with the Hank Reinhardt Fandom Award, given each year to an individual who has made significant contributions to fandom in Georgia. Carroll spent more than 20 years volunteering at convention, spending most of those years as the spokesman for Dragon Con and its partner convention, MomoCon. Dan invested himself in the role, becoming one of fandom’s best-known champions.

Now in its 11^th year, the Dragon Awards has become a mainstay of the science fiction and fantasy literature landscape, with authors and publishers using the recognition to boost marketing, book sales, and fan engagement. Created in 2016 as part of Dragon Con’s 30^th anniversary celebration, the Dragon Awards invites all fans – not just Dragon Con members or attendees – to nominate their favorite properties for the awards and then select winners by voting on the annual Dragon Awards ballot.

Nearly 6,000 fans cast ballots for this year’s Dragon Award winners, selected from among 64 entries in 11 categories covering the full range of fiction, comics, television, movies, video gaming, and tabletop gaming. Winners were announced on Sept. 6 at Dragon Con 2026 in downtown Atlanta.

Final voting was held via the dedicated Dragon Awards website, and the voting period ran from Aug. 3 to Sept. 5. The ballot was selected in an open nomination process in which fans nominated their favorite properties. The nomination period ran from early November 2025 until July 2026. The highest-rated nominations were elevated to the final ballot.

And the Dragon Award winners are …

Best Science Fiction Novel