THE HAMMER AWARD is given periodically to an HWA volunteer who has done a truly massive amount of work for our organization, often unsung and behind the scenes. It was instituted in 1996, and is decided by a vote of HWA's Board of Trustees.

The award is so named because it represents the careful, steady, continuous work of building HWA's "house" -- the many institutional systems that keep the organization functioning on a day-to-day basis. The award itself is a chrome-plated hammer with an engraved plaque on the handle. The chrome hammer is also a satisfying allusion to The Beatles' song, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," a miniature horror story in itself.

PAST RECIPIENTS of The Hammer Award include:

2011 - Guy Anthony De Marco
2010 - Angel Leigh McCoy
2009 - Kathryn Ptacek
2008 - Sephera Giron
2006 - Donna K. Fitch
2005 - Stephen Dorato
2004 - Robert Weinberg (second time)
2003 - Douglas E. Winter
2001 - Nancy Etchemendy
1998 - Sheldon Jaffery
1997 - Lawrence Watt-Evans; Robert Weinberg

(Photo: HWA President (and Bram Stoker Award® winner) Rocky Wood and 2011 Silver Hammer Award winner Guy Anthony De Marco; photo courtesy of Tonya L. De Marco)