Categories for the
2026 Reader Views Fiction Awards
Browse the full list of eligible fiction categories for the 2026 awards season.
Category names align with BISAC classifications; category descriptions are provided for guidance and judging clarity.
CHILDRENS CATEGORIES
Children’s categories are open to both fiction and nonfiction titles. Nonfiction entries will be evaluated using our nonfiction criteria.
Books intended for older teens or crossover audiences (16+) should be submitted under Young Adult Fiction.
Books designed to be read aloud to young children, where illustrations carry as much (or more) of the storytelling as the text. These books focus on simple concepts, early emotional awareness, and engagement through rhythm, repetition, and visual storytelling.
Typical characteristics:
Board books and traditional picture books
Short text, simple language
Strong visual narrative
Intended for adults to read with children
Books designed for children who are beginning to read independently. These titles are often picture books or heavily illustrated stories that use controlled vocabulary, short sentences, and predictable language to support early reading skills.
Typical characteristics:
Simple plots with short, direct sentences
Repetition and predictable language patterns
Illustrations play a strong supporting role in comprehension
Text carries the story, with visuals reinforcing meaning
Intended for early independent readers, not chapter-based narratives
Chapter books written for independent readers that feature full story arcs, character development, and age-appropriate themes. This category includes both early chapter books and longer middle grade novels, with content suited to pre-teen readers.
Typical characteristics:
Chapter-based narratives
Protagonists typically ages 8–12
Emphasis on adventure, friendship, family, and personal growth
Minimal or no romantic themes
Appropriate for confident, independent readers
Fiction written for younger teen readers that explores identity, independence, friendships, and coming-of-age experiences. These books may include light romantic elements and more complex emotional themes while remaining appropriate for school and library teen audiences.
Typical characteristics:
Protagonists typically ages 13–16
Focus on self-discovery and social relationships
Moderate emotional complexity
Content appropriate for younger teens
GENERAL FICTION CATEGORIES
Fast-paced fiction driven by physical action, danger, and high-stakes challenges. These stories often focus on survival, quests, expeditions, and treasure-hunt narratives, with the plot propelled by a journey or mission rather than internal reflection alone.
Typical characteristics:
Survival stories and high-risk scenarios
Quests, expeditions, or mission-driven plots
Treasure-hunt and exploration narratives
Journey-driven storytelling
Emphasis on action, momentum, and external conflict
Romance set in the modern world, where the central focus is a developing romantic relationship between characters in a realistic, present-day setting. These stories emphasize emotional connection, relationship dynamics, and personal growth without historical, fantastical, or speculative elements.
Typical characteristics:
Modern-day, real-world settings
Relationship-driven plots
Focus on emotional intimacy and romantic development
Realistic conflicts and resolutions
Contemporary social and cultural context
Fiction set in the present day that reflects modern life and social realities. These stories are typically character-driven and focus on realistic situations, personal relationships, and internal conflict rather than genre-based plots or speculative elements.
Typical characteristics:
Modern-day settings
Realistic characters and situations
Character-driven storytelling
Relationship-focused narratives
Emphasis on personal growth, emotional depth, or social themes
Romance set in a past historical era, where the romantic relationship unfolds within the social customs, constraints, and expectations of the time. The historical setting plays an essential role in shaping character interactions and the course of the romance.
Typical characteristics:
Clearly defined historical time period
Romantic relationships shaped by historical norms
Attention to period detail and setting
Emotional and relational stakes influenced by the era
Settings may include Regency, Victorian, medieval, or other historical periods
Fiction written with the primary intent to arouse the reader through explicit sexual content. These stories place sexual exploration and physical intimacy at the center of the narrative, with plot and character development serving to support erotic themes.
Typical characteristics:
Explicit sexual content intended to arouse
Sexual relationships and encounters as the primary narrative focus
Adult themes and situations throughout
May span a wide range of settings and subgenres
Written for mature audiences only
Romance that blends a central love story with speculative elements such as magic, supernatural beings, alternate worlds, or futuristic settings. The romantic relationship remains the primary narrative focus, with speculative elements enhancing rather than overshadowing the romance.
Typical characteristics:
Central romantic relationship
Speculative elements such as magic, paranormal beings, or advanced technology
Fantasy, paranormal, or science fiction settings
Emotional stakes tied closely to both romance and worldbuilding
Often includes subgenres such as fantasy romance, paranormal romance, romantasy, or sci-fi romance
Fantasy set in fully imagined worlds with their own histories, cultures, and systems of magic. These stories often involve large-scale conflicts, quests, or battles for power, survival, or the fate of a kingdom or world.
Typical characteristics:
Fully invented worlds or realms
Kingdoms, empires, or large-scale societies
Quest-driven or destiny-driven narratives
Complex magic systems and lore
High stakes that affect entire worlds or civilizations
Science fiction that explores futures shaped by societal collapse, oppressive systems, environmental catastrophe, or advanced technology gone wrong. These stories often focus on survival, resistance, or the human cost of change.
Typical characteristics:
Oppressive or collapsed societies
Post-apocalyptic or climate-driven futures
Cyberpunk or tech-noir environments
Survival after global or societal catastrophe
Themes of control, resistance, or adaptation
Fantasy that incorporates supernatural beings, occult elements, or darker magical themes. These stories often explore the shadowed side of magic and power, blending fantasy with horror, gothic, or macabre influences.
Typical characteristics:
Supernatural creatures or entities
Witchcraft, demons, necromancy, or forbidden magic
Dark, eerie, or gothic tones
Moral ambiguity or darker thematic elements
Emphasis on atmosphere as well as plot
Science fiction grounded in realistic or plausible science, where scientific principles, technology, and engineering challenges play a central role in the narrative. These stories often explore near-future developments and their practical consequences.
Typical characteristics:
Science-based or physics-driven storytelling
Plausible or near-future technology
Engineering, scientific, or technical problem-solving
Logical extrapolation of scientific ideas
Emphasis on accuracy and realism
Fantasy set in the modern world or a recognizable real-world environment, where magic or supernatural elements exist alongside everyday life. These stories often feature hidden magical communities or parallel supernatural societies operating beneath the surface of the real world.
Typical characteristics:
Real-world or contemporary settings
Magic, supernatural beings, or hidden powers
Secret or parallel magical societies
Blending of everyday life with fantastical elements
Strong connection between setting and magical premise
Science fiction centered on large-scale adventures across space, often involving interplanetary travel, alien civilizations, and high-stakes conflict. These stories emphasize epic scope, dramatic action, and expansive worldbuilding.
Typical characteristics:
Interplanetary or interstellar settings
Starships, space travel, and advanced civilizations
Alien species or cultures
Galactic-scale conflict or exploration
Action-driven or epic narratives
Fiction set in a real historical period prior to the author’s present, where the setting, events, and social conditions of the time play a central role in the story. These narratives blend imaginative storytelling with historically grounded detail to bring the past to life.
Typical characteristics:
Clearly defined historical time period
Settings and events rooted in real historical contexts
Attention to period detail and authenticity
Fictional characters and plots may interact with real historical events or figures
Story and setting are shaped by the norms and realities of the time
Fiction in which a specific season or holiday plays a central role in the story’s setting, themes, or emotional arc. These narratives often reflect traditions, rituals, and the cultural or personal significance of seasonal moments, using the time of year to shape character experiences and plot.
Typical characteristics:
Story centered around a specific holiday or season
Seasonal atmosphere integral to the narrative
Themes of tradition, reflection, celebration, or transition
May span a wide range of genres and tones
The holiday or season meaningfully influences the story’s events
Fiction intended to evoke fear, dread, or unease by exploring the darker aspects of human experience or the unknown. These stories often rely on atmosphere, suspense, and disturbing elements to create emotional and psychological tension.
Typical characteristics:
Themes of fear, terror, or the macabre
Supernatural, psychological, or monstrous elements
Dark or unsettling tone
Emphasis on atmosphere and suspense
Exploration of humanity’s fears, anxieties, or moral limits
Fiction written in shorter or condensed formats, including short story collections, novellas, and graphic novels. These works emphasize focused storytelling, concise structure, and thematic or emotional impact within a limited length, whether delivered through prose, visual narrative, or a combination of both.
Typical characteristics:
Short story collections, standalone novellas, or graphic novels
Compact narrative structure with a clear beginning, middle, and end
Emphasis on precision, voice, pacing, and narrative economy
Stories may be interconnected or stand alone within a cohesive work
Graphic novels that use sequential art to convey a complete fictional narrative
This category includes collections of flash fiction and flash novels, provided the submission constitutes a cohesive body of work.
Single short story or single flash fiction submissions are not eligible.
Fiction that uses humor, wit, or satire as a primary storytelling element. These stories may aim to entertain, critique, or provoke thought through comedy, irony, exaggeration, or social commentary.
Typical characteristics:
Humor as a central feature of the narrative
Comedic tone, voice, or situations
Use of wit, irony, parody, or satire
May include social, cultural, or political commentary
Plot and character development support the comedic intent
Thrillers driven by criminal activity and immediate danger, where the story centers on stopping or surviving violent acts rather than uncovering clues. These narratives emphasize speed, risk, and escalating stakes as characters confront criminal threats under intense pressure.
Typical characteristics:
Criminal threats central to the plot
Serial crimes, manhunts, or organized crime
Vigilante justice or high-risk pursuits
Gritty or high-stakes urban settings
Fast pacing and escalating danger
Crime Thrillers emphasize urgency, danger, and high-stakes action driven by criminal threats, rather than the investigative process central to Crime Fiction.
Fiction that centers LGBTQIA+ identities, relationships, and lived experiences as a core element of the narrative. These stories may span a wide range of genres and tones, with LGBTQIA+ characters, themes, or perspectives integral to the story rather than incidental.
Typical characteristics:
LGBTQIA+ protagonists or central characters
Exploration of identity, relationships, or community
Stories grounded in LGBTQIA+ lived experience
May include contemporary, historical, speculative, or genre elements
Sexual orientation or gender identity is a meaningful part of the narrative
Thrillers focused on espionage, political intrigue, or national and international security threats. These stories often involve covert operations, intelligence agencies, military action, or large-scale conspiracies with far-reaching consequences.
Typical characteristics:
Espionage, spycraft, or intelligence operations
Political conspiracies or global threats
Military or special-operations involvement
International or geopolitical settings
High-stakes action with national or global impact
Fiction that emphasizes language, character, and thematic depth over plot-driven storytelling. These works often explore complex ideas, emotional nuance, or social questions, with careful attention to voice, structure, and style.
Typical characteristics:
Strong focus on character development and internal conflict
Emphasis on language, voice, and narrative craft
Exploration of meaningful or challenging themes
Slower or less conventional pacing
Plot serves theme and character rather than driving the story
Thrillers that rely on psychological tension, emotional manipulation, or personal danger rather than large-scale action. These stories often explore intimate threats, unreliable perspectives, and escalating mental or emotional conflict.
Typical characteristics:
Psychological suspense and emotional tension
Domestic or close-relationship settings
Unreliable narrators or shifting perspectives
Themes of obsession, control, or manipulation
Tension driven by mental and emotional stakes
Fiction centered on crime, investigation, or the pursuit of truth, where uncovering facts, solving a mystery, or confronting criminal activity drives the narrative. These stories may range from light, puzzle-based mysteries to darker, crime-focused narratives.
Typical characteristics:
A central mystery, crime, or investigation
Detective, amateur sleuth, or law-enforcement perspectives
Plot structured around clues, discoveries, and revelations
Subgenres may include cozy mystery, police procedural, noir, or private investigator fiction
Resolution often involves solving the crime or revealing hidden truths
Crime Fiction focuses on investigation and uncovering the truth, while Crime Thrillers emphasize urgency, danger, and high-stakes action driven by criminal threats.
Thrillers set within the legal system, where attorneys, judges, or legal proceedings play a central role in confronting danger or exposing corruption. These stories combine courtroom tension with criminal or political threats under urgent, high-stakes conditions.
Typical characteristics:
Legal professionals as central characters
Courtroom or litigation-driven conflicts
High-risk cases tied to crime or power
Ethical dilemmas and procedural tension
Suspense driven by legal maneuvering and revelations
Fiction in which animals play a central role in the story, whether as primary characters, companions, or a driving force in the narrative. These stories may be written for children or adults and can range from realistic portrayals of animals to more imaginative or anthropomorphic interpretations.
Typical characteristics:
Animals as central characters or key figures
Stories focused on the bond between humans and animals, or animal perspectives
May feature realistic, symbolic, or anthropomorphic animals
Suitable for a wide range of tones, from lighthearted to emotionally complex
Can be written for children or adult audiences
Fiction that centers women’s experiences, relationships, and personal growth as the core of the narrative. These stories are typically character-driven and explore emotional journeys, life transitions, and the complexities of identity, family, and community within realistic or contemporary settings.
Typical characteristics:
Women-centered perspectives and protagonists
Strong focus on relationships, personal change, and emotional depth
Character-driven storytelling
Themes of identity, resilience, family, friendship, or self-discovery
Emphasis on internal growth rather than action-driven plots
Works written primarily in verse, where language, rhythm, imagery, and form are central to expression. Poetry may explore personal, emotional, social, or philosophical themes and can range widely in style, structure, and voice.
Typical characteristics:
Written in verse rather than traditional prose
Emphasis on language, imagery, and rhythm
May include traditional, free verse, or experimental forms
Often explores emotion, identity, experience, or observation
Presented as a poetry collection or cohesive body of work
Fiction written for a young adult audience, typically featuring protagonists ages 13–18, with themes centered on identity, independence, relationships, and coming-of-age experiences, often shaped by personal, social, or moral challenges, and appropriate in scope and emotional complexity for this audience.
Classification is based on intended readership, thematic focus, narrative voice, and overall content level rather than character age alone.
Typical characteristics:
Protagonists typically ages 13–18
Focus on identity, autonomy, and self-discovery
Emotional and thematic intensity appropriate for teen readers
May span a wide range of genres, including contemporary, fantasy, science fiction, romance, or thriller
Books written primarily for adult readers should be submitted under the appropriate Adult Fiction category rather than Young Adult.
Fiction that explores faith, spirituality, or moral growth as a central element of the narrative. These stories often emphasize hope, personal transformation, and the search for meaning, drawing on religious traditions or inspirational themes to guide the characters’ journeys.
Typical characteristics:
Faith, spirituality, or belief systems central to the story
Themes of hope, redemption, forgiveness, or moral reflection
Characters shaped by religious or spiritual values
Inspirational tone focused on inner growth or purpose
May reflect specific religious traditions or broader spiritual perspectives
REGIONAL AND GLOBAL CATEGORIES Entries include Regional (for U.S. authors) and Global (for all authors) category consideration. These designations may refer to either the book’s subject matter or the author’s residence.
Regional and Global categories are complimentary with the submission of at least one standard category.
REGIONAL CATEGORIES (NORTH AMERICA ONLY):
Canada East (ON, QB, NF, NB, NS, PE, NT)
Canada West (BC, AB, SK, MB, NWT, YK)
Great Lakes (OH, MI, IN, IL, WI)
Mexico
Mid-Atlantic (PA, WV, VA, DE, MD, DC, NJ)
Midwest (MN, IA, MO, OK, KS, NE, SD, ND)
North East (ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY)
South (MS, LA, AR, TX, TN)
South East (KY, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL)
Western Mountain (MT, WY, ID, UT, CO, NM)
Western Pacific (CA, OR, WA, HI, AK)
GLOBAL CATEGORIES:
Asia
Africa
Antarctica
Australia/New Zealand/Australasia
Europe
North America
South America