HWA Announces Recipients of Richard Laymon Award

LOS ANGELES - March 15, 2016 - PRLog -- The Horror Writers Association (HWA), the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy, today announced Patrick Freivald and Andrew Wolter, moderators of HWA's Facebook group, as this year's recipients of the Richard Laymon President's Award.

The award is named for Richard Laymon, who died in 2000 while serving as the HWA's president. As its name implies, it is given by the HWA's sitting president. The Award is presented to a volunteer who has served in an especially exemplary manner and has shown extraordinary dedication to the organization. The award will be presented at HWA's inaugural StokerCon in Las Vegas, NV, during the Bram Stoker Awards® ceremony on Saturday, May 14, 2016. Tickets to the banquet and the convention are on sale to the public at www.stokercon2016.com. The awards presentation will also be live-streamed online.

"Our Facebook group is one of the most trafficked parts of HWA's online presence," said HWA's President Lisa Morton. "Keeping it focused and tidy is a difficult, time-consuming job. Patrick and Andrew put many hours every week into it, reviewing every post to make sure our rules are followed. They do so with good humor and thoughtful discussion, and HWA is lucky to have them."

Patrick Freivald is an author, high school teacher, and beekeeper. He lives in Western New York with his beautiful wife, two birds, three dogs, too many cats, and several million stinging insects. He is the author of Twice Shy, Bram Stoker Award®-nominated Special Dead, Blood List (with his twin brother Phil), Bram Stoker Award®-nominated Jade Sky, and the sequel Black Tide, as well as the novella Love Bites, a growing legion of short stories, and the Jade Sky graphic novella (with Joe McKinney) for Dark Discoveries magazine.

Seattle resident Andrew Wolter is the author of the books Seasons in His Abyss, Much of Madness, More of Sin, and Nightfall. He has published over three dozen short stories that have appeared both online and in print anthologies including Raw: Brutality as Art, Enter at Your Own Risk: Fires and Phantoms, and Anthology: Year Three, Distant Dying Ember. An advocate for LGBT rights, Andrew also freelances as a contributing columnist for a nationwide LGBT publication. Under the pseudonym Tristan Wilde, Andrew publishes homoerotic mystery novels.

About the Horror Writers Association

The Horror Writers Association is a nonprofit organization of writers and publishing professionals around the world, dedicated to promoting dark literature and the interests of those who write it. The HWA formed in 1985 with the help of many of the field's greats, including Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, and Joe Lansdale. The HWA is home to the prestigious Bram Stoker Award® and the annual StokerCon horror convention.

For more on the Horror Writers Associations, please visit www.horror.org.