The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation (formerly the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation) is given each year by the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. While ...
(SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy dramatic works such as movies or television episodes. To be eligible for
Nebula Award
The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...
consideration a work must be published in English in the United States. Works published in English elsewhere in the world are also eligible provided they are released either on a website or in an electronic edition. Only individual works are eligible, not serials such as television series, though miniseries of three or fewer parts are allowed.
The award, named to honor prolific author and screenwriter
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...
, was begun in 1992 as the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. It was not considered a Nebula Award, despite being awarded at the same ceremony, and was chosen by the President of SFWA instead of by a vote.
This form of the award was given in 1992, 1999, 2001, and 2009. In 2010, the
Nebula Award for Best Script
The Nebula Award for Best Script was given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy scripts for movies or television episodes. Awards are also given out for published literary works in ...
, which was awarded for scripts from 1974 to 1978 and from 2000 to 2009, was discontinued. The Ray Bradbury Award, though still not considered an official Nebula category, was converted to follow the normal nomination and voting procedures of the Nebula Awards in its place.
In 2019 SFWA announced that the award was considered a Nebula category, and the following year the award was retitled the Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation.
Nebula Award nominees and winners are chosen by members of SFWA, though the creators of the nominees do not need to be members. Works are nominated each year by members in a period around December 15 through January 31, and the six works that receive the most nominations then form the final ballot, with additional nominees possible in the case of ties. Soon after, members are given a month to vote on the ballot, and the final results are presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony in May. Members are not permitted to nominate their own works, and ties in the final vote are broken, if possible, by the number of nominations the works received.
Prior to the 2009 awards, the eligibility period for nominations was defined as one year after the publication date of the work, which allowed the possibility for works to be nominated in the calendar year after their publication and then be awarded in the calendar year after that.
During the 13 nomination years, 78 works have been nominated, with 13 winners in addition to the 4 awards chosen without nominees in 1992–2009. A few franchises have seen multiple nominations; the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
has earned the most nominations with nine films, two television seasons, and one television episode, with one film and one television season winning. Other franchises with multiple nominations are ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' with one win out of three nominated television episodes, ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' with three film and two television episode nominations, and ''
The Good Place
''The Good Place'' is an American fantasy comedy television series created by Michael Schur. It premiered on NBC on September 19, 2016, and concluded on January 30, 2020, after four seasons and 53 episodes.
Although the plot evolves significa ...
'' with one win out of three nominated television episodes. The award is typically for television episodes and films, but occasionally rewards works in other formats: the 1999 award was given to an entire television series and three other seasons have been nominated since, the 2001 award was given to a radio anthology series, the 2009 award was given to a creator's entire filmography to date, and one of the 2019 nominations was a music album.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the work was first published. Entries with a blue background and an asterisk (*) next to the work's name have won the award; those with a white background are the other nominees on the shortlist. The creators listed are the people and roles identified by SFWA, and may not match the full credited people or titles for the work; SFWA states in its rules that the award is given to the "principal" director and writers.
* Winners and joint winners
References
External links
Nebula Awards official siteRay Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
{{featured list
American speculative fiction awards
Awards established in 1992
Nebula Awards
Ray Bradbury
Science fiction awards