There are few prizes/awards for Speculative Fiction. One of the most known in the fandom is “Prémio Editorial Caminho de Ficção Científica” (Science Fiction Editorial Prize Caminho ): every two years, between 1982 and 1999, a famous Portuguese publishing house (“Caminho”) would choose a science-fiction submission from a Portuguese author to publish.
This award represented a serious, continuous investment in speculative fiction, inspiring a generation of authors to keep on writing.
Around 20 years later, aside from Adamastor Award (part of the Forum Fantástico convention, with the public voting for the best works of fiction published during the current year), no other honor was specifically addressed to speculative fiction.
In 2018, a group of stakeholders of the Portuguese fandom , namely Fórum Fantástico, Imaginauta, Divergência, and The Portuguese Portal of Fantasy and Science Fiction, decided to create the Ataegina Award (Prémio Ataegina).
Ataegina is an old Iberian goddess associated with nature, fertility and the moon.
Ataegina Award’s submissions opens at the begining of each year (now up to the 28th of February) and the winner is announced during the last three months of the year.
Ataegina awards the best (submitted) short story up to 5000 words, chosen by a jury selected by the projects above mentioned. Along with the title award, the writer receives a prize of 50€ value (ain’t much, but it’s honest work). The award has been running since 2018 and during the last two editions it has gained a new perk: the short story is published in a bilingual edition by Imaginauta and The Portuguese Portal of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
“O Último Extraterrestre/The Last Extraterrestrial”
by Jorge Borbinha
“projecto: MOTHER/ project:MOTHER “
by Mónica Cunha
The Ataegina Award aims to promote Portuguese speculative fiction literature inside and outside borders, with editions that are inexpensive, but with good quality, and that can be found in events in which the organizers participate. Unfortunatelly, due to the covid pandemic it was not yet possible to disseminate these books as much as desired, but soon they will reach abroad.
In the future, the organizers want to strenghten the award reputation by increasing the perks awarded to the writers and by having a bigger presence in the traditional media.
The Portuguese Portal of Fantasy and Science Fiction 
This a great incentive for writers of speculative fiction in short form. The bilingual aspect is clearly a plus and I congratulate all involved.
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