Riverdale, New York, August 2025—Baen Books is pleased to announce Gideon P. Smith as the grand prize winner of the 2025 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award for short fiction. Smith’s story “Traitor to the Wolfguard’s Creed” was selected by Baen editorial staff and special guest judge, Baen author Kacey Ezell. Second place was awarded to April Pereira for her story “Guilded Dead.” The third-place winner was Kathleen Powell for her story “A Game with Death.” Also, honorable mentions go to “Staying Afloat” by Arthur H. Manners, and “The Void Within” by Tyler Bourassa.

Started in 2014, this is the twelfth annual Baen Fantasy Adventure Award. The award will be presented by Baen publisher Toni Weisskopf at DragonCon, which takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, from August 28 through September 1,2025. Baen Books presents this award to honor stories exemplifying the spirit of adventure, imagination, and great storytelling in a work of short fiction with a fantastic setting, whether epic fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, or contemporary fantasy.

As the grand prize winner, Smith will receive an engraved award and a prize package containing various Baen Books.

“When I saw the email, I thought maybe a band of trolls had hijacked my inbox—I had to read it three times before I believed it. It still feels surreal. Baen authors are the writers I grew up on; they’re my literary role models. So now to be a part of that tradition is both humbling and heartening,” Smith stated. He later went on to add, “I can’t think of a better home for this particular story than Baen. I’m thankful to the judges and Baen for recognizing my work, and look forward to continuing to tell the stories I care about.”

His story will be a featured story on the Baen.com main page starting September 2025 and available in the Baen Free Library after that.

For more information, visit Baen.com.