The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, or Campbell Memorial Award, is an annual award presented by the
Center for the Study of Science Fiction
Founded by Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers Association Grand Master and Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductee James E. Gunn, the J Wayne and Elsie M Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction is an endowed research and educational institution ...
at the
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...
to the author of the best science fiction novel published in English in the preceding calendar year. It is the novel counterpart of the
Theodore Sturgeon Award
The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award is an annual literary award presented by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best short science fiction story ...
for best short story, awarded at the same conference by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust.
The award is named in honor of
John W. Campbell
John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later called '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact'') from late 1937 until his death ...
(1910–71), whose science fiction writing and role as editor of ''
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...
'' made him one of the most influential editors in the early history of science fiction.
The award was established in 1973 by writers and critics
Harry Harrison and
Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist, and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for ...
"as a way of continuing his efforts to encourage writers to produce their best possible work."
''Locus'' magazine has listed it as one of the "major awards" of written science fiction.
The winning novel is selected by a panel of science fiction experts, intended to be "small enough to discuss among its members all of the nominated novels".
Among members of the panel have been
Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is professor emeritus at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is a contributing editor of ''Reas ...
, Paul A. Carter,
James Gunn
James Francis Gunn Jr. (born August 5, 1966) is an American filmmaker and executive. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s, starting at Troma Entertainment with ''Tromeo and Juliet'' (1997). He then began working as a directo ...
,
Elizabeth Anne Hull
Elizabeth Anne Hull (January 10, 1937 – August 3, 2021) was an American academic, political activist and science fiction expert.
She was Professor Emerita of William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, where she taught English for o ...
,
Christopher McKitterick,
Farah Mendlesohn
Farah Jane Mendlesohn (born 27 July 1968) is a British academic historian, writer on speculative fiction, and active member of science fiction fandom. Mendlesohn is best-known for their 2008 book '' Rhetorics of Fantasy'', which classifies fant ...
,
Pamela Sargent
Pamela Sargent (born March 20, 1948) is an American feminist, science fiction author, and editor. She has an MA in classical philosophy and has won a Nebula Award.
Sargent wrote a trilogy concerning the terraforming of Venus that is sometim ...
, and
Tom Shippey
Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...
. In 2008 Mendlesohn was replaced with
Paul Kincaid
Paul Kincaid (born 22 September 1952 in Oldham, Lancashire) is a British science fiction critic.
Career
Kincaid's writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including New Scientist, Times Literary Supplement, Literary Review, New York ...
, in 2009 Carter left the panel while
Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo (born October 29, 1954) is an American science fiction writer. He is a regular reviewer for print magazines ''Asimov's Science Fiction'', ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', ''Science Fiction Eye'', ''The New York Re ...
and
Sheila Finch
Sheila Finch (born 1935) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. She is best known for her sequence of stories about the Guild of Xenolinguists.
Biography
Sheila Finch was born in London, UK, 29 October 1935. She attended Bishop O ...
joined, and
Lisa Yaszek
Lisa Yaszek is an American academic in the field of science fiction films, particularly the history and cultural implications of the genre and underrepresented groups in science fiction, including women and people of color. She is a Regents profess ...
replaced Di Filippo in 2016. Nominations are submitted by publishers and jurors, and are collated by the panel into a list of finalists to be voted on. The minimum eligible length that a work may be is not formally defined by the center. The winner is selected by May of each year, and is presented at the
Campbell Conference Campbell may refer to:
People Surname
* Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell
Given name
* Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer
* Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
awards banquet in June at the University of Kansas in
Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
as part of the centerpiece of the conference along with the Sturgeon Award. The award has been given at the conference since 1979; prior to then it was awarded at various locations around the world, starting at the
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...
in 1973.
Winners are always invited to attend the ceremony. The Center for the Study of Science Fiction maintains a trophy which records all of the winners on engraved plaques affixed to the sides, and since 2004 winners have received a smaller personalized trophy as well.
In 2019, the Center for the Study of Science Fiction announced plans to rename both the conference and the award, but did not announce any names. Both the conference and the award were cancelled in 2020, 2021, and 2022 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
and organizational changes at the Center for the Study of Science Fiction.
During the 47 years the award has been active, 183 authors have had works nominated; 47 of these authors have won. In two years, 1976 and 1994, the panel selected none of the nominees as a winner, while in 1974, 2002, 2009, and 2012 the panel selected two winners rather than one.
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satelli ...
and
Joan Slonczewski
Joan Lyn Slonczewski is an American microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer who explores biology and space travel. Their books have twice earned the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel: ''A Door i ...
have each won twice, the only authors to do so, out of four and two nominations, respectively.
Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published twenty-two novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many ...
and
Paul J. McAuley
Paul J. McAuley (born 23 April 1955) is a British botanist and science fiction author. A biologist by training, McAuley writes mostly hard science fiction. His novels dealing with themes such as biotechnology, alternative history/alternative re ...
have won once out of seven nominations, and
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt (born April 14, 1935) is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. Most of his books follow either superluminal pilo ...
,
Ian McDonald,
Adam Roberts, and
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert James Sawyer (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 24 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''Amazing Stories'', '' On Spec'', ''Nature'', and numerou ...
have won once out of five nominations, while
Nancy Kress
Nancy Anne Kress (born January 20, 1948) is an American science fiction writer. She began writing in 1976 but has achieved her greatest notice since the publication of her Hugo- and Nebula-winning 1991 novella ''Beggars in Spain'', which became a ...
,
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre.
Sterling's first ...
, and
Robert Charles Wilson
Robert Charles Wilson (born December 15, 1953
) is an American-Canadian science fiction author.
Career
Wilson was born in the United States in California, but grew up near Toronto, Ontario. Apart from another short period in the early 1970s ...
have won once out of four nominations.
Greg Bear
Gregory Dale Bear (August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict ('' Forge of God'' books), parallel universes ('' The Way'' series), ...
has the most nominations without winning at nine, followed by
Sheri S. Tepper at six,
James K. Morrow at five, and
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...
,
Ken MacLeod
Kenneth Macrae MacLeod (born 2 August 1954) is a Scottish science fiction writer. His novels ''The Sky Road'' and ''The Night Sessions'' won the BSFA Award. MacLeod's novels have been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, an ...
,
Charles Stross
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine '' ...
, and
Peter Watts at four.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novel was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a blue background and an asterisk (*) next to the writer's name have won the award; those with a white background are the other nominees on the shortlist. Entries with a gray background and a plus sign (+) indicate a year where no novel was selected as the winner.
* Winners
+ No winner selected
References
External links
*
{{science fiction
1973 establishments in the United States
Academic science fiction awards
American literary awards
Awards established in 1973
*
Lists of speculative fiction-related award winners and nominees
University of Kansas