NEBULA

   Sf award given by the SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA (now the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) since 1966. The idea of funding such an award from the royalties of an annual anthology of award-winning short fiction was proposed in 1965 by the SFWA's then secretary-treasurer, Lloyd BIGGLE Jr. The awards are made in the spring and, unlike the HUGOS,are dated by the year of publication of the award-winning stories; thus the 1965 awards, the first, were made in 1966. The award takes the form of a metallic-glitter spiral nebula suspended over a rock crystal, both embedded in clear lucite; the original design by J.A. LAWRENCE was based on a drawing by Kate WILHELM and has been followed ever since.The original 4 classes of award, all for professional writing, have remained unchanged;a 5th class, for Best Dramatic Presentation, was added in 1974, changed to Best Dramatic Writing in 1976, and then immediately dropped. Severalspecial awards, taking the form of plaques or citations, have also been made; the only special category listed here is the Grand Master Award made from time to time by the Nebula committee for lifetime achievement in sf writing; it goes always to writers who are senior in both status and years.The 4 writing categories are Novel (over 40,000 words), Novella (17, 500-40,000 words), Novelette (7500-17,500 words) and Short Story (under7500 words). Voting is by SFWA members, using a final ballot paper made up from members' nominations. From 1970 a preliminary ballot of all nominated works was circulated early in the year, the entries receiving the most votes being entered on the final ballot. In 1980 procedures were changed (not for the first or last time): the year of a work's eligibility becamethe previous calendar year (not December 1 to November 30 as had earlier been the case); more importantly, perhaps, a Nebula jury system was set up, with each year's panel of judges allowed to add one item to the final ballot in each category. For some time authors have been allowed the option of choosing a one-year-later, usually mass-market, edition of their books to be eligible, rather than the original edition: many authors prefer to be judged on the basis of a widely read paperback rather than on the original hardcover.The procedures for Nebula awards have been more consistent than those for Hugos, but lobbying among the SFWA membership has received much criticism over the years, with some critics maintaining that the awards sometimes reflect political as much as literary ability. It may be partly as a result of this that the proportion of SFWA membersvoting is often not very high.Although the Nebulas have occasionally gone to rather more experimental writing than ever wins a Hugo, there has not been a great deal of difference between the choices. It might have been expected that the Nebula, inasmuch as it is given by a consensus of professional writers, would place a stronger emphasis on literary skills, but there is no evidence that this has been so. Neither Hugo nor Nebula has been given to non-genre sf or fantasy, and both have mostly gone, quite disproportionately, to US recipients. While the Nebula has certainly been awarded to some fine works, many critics have argued that the whole AWARDS system, in sf at least, is more a publicity exercise than aconsistently well judged measure of value.Anthologies of Nebula-winning short fiction, along with a selection of the runners-up, are published annually in the Nebula Award Stories series, each volume ed by an SFWA member. These books sometimes contain critical essays and accounts of the year in sf, as well as winners of the Rhysling Award for sf POETRY. Volumes to date are Nebula Award Stories 1965 (anth 1966; vt Nebula AwardStories 1 UK) ed Damon KNIGHT, Nebula Award Stories Two (anth 1967; vt Nebula Award Stories 2 UK) ed Brian W. ALDISS and Harry HARRISON, Three (anth 1968) ed Roger ZELAZNY, Four (anth 1969) ed Poul ANDERSON, Five (anth 1970) ed James Blish, Six (anth 1971) ed Clifford D. SIMAK, Seven (anth 1972) ed Lloyd Biggle Jr, Eight (1973) ed Isaac ASIMOV, Nine (anth 1974) ed Kate Wilhelm, Ten (anth 1975) ed James E. GUNN, Eleven (1976 UK) ed Ursula K. LE GUIN (Eleven appeared in 1977 in the USA; from then until 1983 the year of publication was 2 years behind the year for which theawards were given), Twelve (anth 1978) ed Gordon R. DICKSON, Thirteen (anth 1979) ed Samuel R. DELANY, Fourteen (anth 1980) ed Frederik POHL,Fifteen (anth 1981) ed Frank HERBERT, Sixteen (anth 1982) ed Jerry E. POURNELLE, Seventeen (anth 1983) ed Joe W. HALDEMAN, 18 (anth 1983) ed Robert SILVERBERG (with these latter, both published in the same year, the books went back to trailing the award year by only 1 year), 19 (anth 1984) ed Marta RANDALL, 20 (anth 1985) ed George ZEBROWSKI, 21 (anth 1986) ed Zebrowski (again the gap increased to 2 years), 22 (anth 1988) edZebrowski, 23 (anth 1989) ed Michael BISHOP, 24 (anth 1990) ed Bishop and 25 (anth 1991) ed Bishop.In 1969 the concept of SFWA members voting on stories was extended retroactively to cover those stories (but not novels) considered the all-time best prior to 1965. The chosen short stories were published as SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME (anth 1970) ed Robert SILVERBERG and the novellas in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume Two A (anth 1973; vt The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume Two UK) and The ScienceFiction Hall of Fame Volume Two B (anth 1973; vt The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume Three UK) ed Ben BOVA.

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   Novels:

   1965: Frank HERBERT, DUNE

   1966: Daniel KEYES, FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON, and Samuel R. DELANY, BABEL-17 (tie)

   1967: Samuel R. Delany, THE EINSTEIN INTERSECTION

   1968: Alexei PANSHIN, RITE OF PASSAGE

   1969: Ursula K. LE GUIN, THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS

   1970: Larry NIVEN, RINGWORLD

   1971: Robert SILVERBERG, A TIME OF CHANGES

   1972: Isaac ASIMOV, THE GODS THEMSELVES

   1973: Arthur C. CLARKE, RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA

   1974: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

   1975: Joe HALDEMAN, THE FOREVER WAR

   1976: Frederik POHL, MAN PLUS

   1977: Frederik Pohl, GATEWAY

   1978: Vonda N. MCINTYRE, DREAMSNAKE

   1979: Arthur C. Clarke, THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE

   1980: Gregory BENFORD, TIMESCAPE

   1981: Gene WOLFE, The Claw of the Conciliator

   1982: Michael BISHOP, NO ENEMY BUT TIME

   1983: David BRIN, STARTIDE RISING

   1984: William GIBSON, NEUROMANCER

   1985: Orson Scott CARD, ENDER'S GAME

   1986: Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead

   1987: Pat MURPHY, The Falling Woman

   1988: Lois McMaster BUJOLD, FALLING FREE

   1989: Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, The Healer's War

   1990: Ursula K. Le Guin, Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea

   1991: Michael SWANWICK, STATIONS OF THE TIDE

   1992: Connie WILLIS, DOOMSDAY BOOK

   1993: Kim Stanley ROBINSON, RED MARSNovellas:

   1965: Brian W. ALDISS, "The Saliva Tree", and Roger ZELAZNY, "He who Shapes" (tie)

   1966: Jack VANCE, "The Last Castle"

   1967: Michael MOORCOCK, "Behold the Man"

   1968: Anne MCCAFFREY, "Dragonrider"

   1969: Harlan ELLISON, "A Boy and his Dog"

   1970: Fritz LEIBER, "Ill Met in Lankhmar"

   1971: Katherine MACLEAN, "The Missing Man"

   1972: Arthur C. Clarke, "A Meeting with Medusa"

   1973: Gene Wolfe, "The Death of Dr Island"

   1974: Robert Silverberg, "Born with the Dead"

   1975: Roger Zelazny, "Home is theHangman"

   1976: James TIPTREE Jr, "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?"

   1977: Spider and Jeanne ROBINSON, "Stardance"

   1978: John VARLEY, "The Persistence of Vision"

   1979: Barry B. LONGYEAR, "Enemy Mine"

   1980: Suzy McKee CHARNAS, "Unicorn Tapestry"

   1981: Poul ANDERSON, "The Saturn Game"

   1982: John KESSEL,"Another Orphan"

   1983: Greg BEAR, "Hardfought"

   1984: John Varley, "PRESS ENTER"

   1985: Robert Silverberg,"Sailing to Byzantium"

   1986: Lucius SHEPARD,"R \& R"

   1987: Kim Stanley ROBINSON,"The Blind Geometer"

   1988: Connie WILLIS, "The Last of the Winnebagos"

   1989: Lois McMaster Bujold,"The Mountains of Mourning"

   1990: Joe Haldeman,"The Hemingway Hoax"

   1991: Nancy KRESS, "Beggars in Spain"

   1992: James MORROW, "City of Truth"

   1993: Jack Cady,"The Night We Buried Road Dog"Novelettes:

   1965: Roger Zelazny, "The Doors of his Face, the Lamps of his Mouth"

   1966: Gordon R. DICKSON, "Call Him Lord"

   1967: Fritz Leiber, "Gonna Roll the Bones"

   1968: Richard WILSON, "Mother to the World"

   1969: Samuel R. Delany, "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones"

   1970: Theodore STURGEON, "Slow Sculpture"

   1971: Poul Anderson, "The Queen of Air and Darkness"

   1972: Poul Anderson, "GoatSong"

   1973: Vonda McIntyre, "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand"

   1974: Gregory Benford and Gordon EKLUND, "If the Stars are Gods"

   1975: Tom REAMY, "San Diego Lightfoot Sue"

   1976: Isaac Asimov, "The Bicentennial Man"

   1977: Raccoona Sheldon (James Tiptree Jr), "The Screwfly Solution"

   1978: Charles L. GRANT, "A Glow of Candles, A Unicorn's Eye"

   1979: George R.R. MARTIN, "Sandkings"

   1980: Howard WALDROP, "The Ugly Chickens"

   1981: Michael Bishop, "The Quickening"

   1982: Connie Willis, "Fire Watch"

   1983: Greg Bear, "Blood Music"

   1984: Octavia E. BUTLER, "Bloodchild"

   1985: George R.R. Martin, "Portraits of his Children"

   1986: Kate WILHELM, "The Girl who Fell into the Sky"

   1987: Pat MURPHY, "Rachel in Love"

   1988: George Alec EFFINGER, "Schrodinger's Kitten"

   1989: Connie Willis, "At the Rialto"

   1990: Ted Chiang, "Tower of Babylon"

   1991: Mike CONNER, "Guide Dog"

   1992: Pamela SARGENT, "Danny Goes To Mars"

   1993: Charles SHEFFIELD, "Georgia on my Mind"Short Stories:

   1965: Harlan Ellison, "'Repent Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman"

   1966: Richard MCKENNA "The Secret Place"

   1967: Samuel R. Delany, "Aye, and Gomorrah . . ."

   1968: Kate Wilhelm, "The Planners"

   1969: Robert Silverberg, "Passengers"

   1970: no award

   1971: Robert Silverberg, "Good News from the Vatican"

   1972: Joanna RUSS, "When it Changed"

   1973: James Tiptree Jr, "Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death"

   1974: Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Day Before the Revolution"

   1975: Fritz Leiber, "Catch that Zeppelin!"

   1976: Charles L. Grant, "A Crowd of Shadows"

   1977: Harlan Ellison, "Jeffty is Five"

   1978: Edward BRYANT, "Stone"

   1979: Edward Bryant, "giANTS"

   1980: Clifford D. SIMAK, "Grotto of the Dancing Deer"

   1981: Lisa TUTTLE, "The Bone Flute"

   1982: Connie Willis, "A Letter From the Clearys"

   1983: Gardner DOZOIS, "The Peacemaker"

   1984: Gardner Dozois, "Morning Child"

   1985: Nancy Kress, "Out of All Them Bright Stars"

   1986: Greg Bear, "Tangents"

   1987: Kate Wilhelm, "Forever Yours, Anna"

   1988: James MORROW, "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge"

   1989: Geoffrey A. Landis, "Ripples in the Dirac Sea"

   1990: Terry BISSON, "Bears Discover Fire"

   1991: Alan BRENNERT, "Ma Qui"

   1992: Connie Willis, "Even the Queen"

   1993: Joe Haldeman, "Graves"Dramatic presentation/writing:

   1973: SOYLENT GREEN (presentation)

   1974: SLEEPER (presentation)

   1975: Young Frankenstein (FRANKENSTEIN) (writing)Grand Master Award:(The years given are the years in which the award was made)

   1975: Robert A. HEINLEIN

   1976: Jack WILLIAMSON

   1977: Clifford D. Simak

   1979: L. Sprague DE CAMP

   1981: FritzLeiber

   1984: Andre NORTON

   1986: Arthur C. Clarke

   1987: Isaac Asimov

   1988: Alfred BESTER

   1989: Ray BRADBURY

   1991: Lester DEL REY

   1993: Frederik Pohl

   See also: WOMEN SF WRITERS.