Nigerian writers Somto Ihezue and Albert Nkereuwem have been announced as winners in two fiction categories at the 2026 Ignyte Awards, with Ihezue receiving the Outstanding Novelette award for We Begin Where Infinity Ends and Nkereuwem winning Outstanding Short Story for “Commensalism, Or the Labyrinth’s Vessels.”
The winners were announced on October 3, with the awards recognizing works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Founded by L. D. Lewis and Suzan Palumbo, established in 2020, The Ignyte Awards are annual literary awards to recognize outstanding works in speculative fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror, while promoting greater diversity and inclusion in the genre. Founded by L. D. Lewis and Suzan Palumbo alongside FIYAHCON, a convention celebrating Black, Indigenous and other people of colour in speculative fiction, the awards recognise works across several categories, including novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, poetry, anthologies and creative nonfiction.
Published in Clarkesworld, Somto Ihezue’s winning novelette adds to the writer’s recognition for the same story, which won the 2026 Locus Award for Best Novelette. A Nigerian-Igbo writer, editor, and filmmaker, Ihezue has published work in magazines including Reactor, Clarkesworld, POETRY Magazine, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, NIGHTMARE, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Podcastle, Flash Fiction Online, and others. His work has been shortlisted and nominated for the British Fantasy Award (Sydney J. Bounds Awards), the Nommo Awards, the Utopia Awards, the Pushcart Prize, and the British Science Fiction Award. He is also a co-editor of Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology.
Albert Nkereuwem’s winning short story, “Commensalism, Or the Labyrinth’s Vessels,” published in Will This Be a Problem: The Anthology, Issue V, follows a Lagos chef who encounters a super-intelligent slime mould that has conquered Earth. Born in Lagos, Nkereuwem spent his early adult years in Calabar. His short fiction and essays have been featured in publications such as Omenana, Fusion Fragment, FIYAH Magazine, Will This Be A Problem and more. He has been awarded the Dream Foundry Prize for Emerging Writers, and his debut novel, The Bone River, was longlisted for the BSFA Awards.
Congratulations, Somto Ihezue and Albert Nkereuwem!
