A ballot is posted in June for attendees of the current and previous two conferences to determine two of the finalists, and a panel of five judges adds three or more nominees before voting on the overall winner.
[4][7] The panel of judges is typically made up of fantasy authors[8] and is chosen each year by the World Fantasy Awards Administration, which has the power to break ties.
[4] The final results are presented at the World Fantasy Convention at the end of October.
Of authors who have won at least once, Jeffrey Ford and Kelly Link have the most nominations at five, followed by Dennis Etchison and Avram Davidson, who along with Campbell and Blaylock received four nominations.
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the work was first published.