Which J.R.R. Tolkien book won the 1957 International Fantasy Award for fiction?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings won the 1957 International Fantasy Award for fiction.

The award recognized Tolkien’s epic as a major work of imaginative literature after its three-volume publication in the 1950s. The International Fantasy Award was presented at the annual World Science Fiction Convention, and the 1957 convention took place in London.

The Lord of the Rings had already attracted intense attention from readers and critics, though its reputation developed over time. Its combination of invented languages, historical depth, moral conflict, and large-scale narrative helped establish modern high fantasy as a major literary form.

The award is sometimes confused with later honors connected to the books or their film adaptations. The International Fantasy Award was a mid-century literary award, not an Academy Award or a prize created for Peter Jackson’s films. The winning work was Tolkien’s complete Lord of the Rings story.