The winners of the 2015 Kitschie Awards have been announced at London’s Star of Kings. The Kitschies are highly regarded by the publishing industry and are given annually to books that fulfil the criteria of being progressive and intelligent as well as entertaining. They are sponsored by Failbetter Game’s award-winning browser-based adventure, Fallen London. The awards are tentacle themed.

The Golden Tentacle for debut work went to a gritty thriller set in modern-day Nigeria called Making Wolf by Tade Thompson (Rosarium). The judges were Sarah Lotz, James Smythe, Nikesh Shukla, Nazia Khatun, and Glen Mehn.

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood (Bloomsbury) won The Red Tentacle. That award is given to the book that best fulfils the Kitschies’ criteria. The book is described as a savage, surreal adventure that examines self-deception and corporate control.

The Invisible Tentacle, which is awarded to natively digital fiction, went to Square Enix game Life Is Strange. The Inky Tentacle for cover art went to The Door That Led to Where by Sally Gardner, art direction and design by Jet Purdie, illustration by Dover Publications Inc & Shutterstock and published by Hot Key Books.

The Black Tentacle award is granted those who encourage and elevate the conversation around genre literature. This year it went to A Monster Calls author Patrick Ness for rallying the genre community over the humanitarian refugee crisis. Ness raised £689,793.56 for Save the Children.