Nova Award

The Nova Awards were presented annually between 1973 and 2014 at the UK convention Novacon and recognised achievement in British and (later) Irish sf fanzines.

In a letter in Checkpoint #31 (February 1973), Keith Walker floated the idea of a British fanzine award. #34 (March 1974) reported Walker saying that he'd learned that the Novacon committee were planning something similar and he'd support that. #39 (June 1974) announced that the award would be called The Nova. Members of Novacon could propose fanzines to be considered by a panel of judges and suggestions could be sent to the administrator, Gillon Field, who is usually cited as the founder/creator of the award. It's unclear how this judging panel was selected but for the award's second year, 1974, judges were chosen by Field before her death in March

That 1974 judging panel were unable to reach a consensus and so the award was given jointly to Zimri and Big Scab. In 1975 the panel announced that while they had wanted to give the award to Wrinkled Shrew they felt that under the rules it had to go to Maya. The manner of the presentation led to some criticism in fanzines at the time.

From 1977 the judging panel was discontinued and the award was decided by popular vote of Novacon members able to demonstrate a basic familiarity with the field. Following a debate at Novacon 39 and follow-up discussions at Novacon 40, the rules were changed in 2011 to allow voting by non-Novacon members resident in the UK and Ireland able to meet the 'familiarity' criterion.

Originally there was a sole award for best fanzine. From 1981 Novas were also presented to the best fanzine writer and best fanzine artist and from 1995 there were occasional committee awards for 'best fan'.

Past administrators have included Gillon Field, Hazel Reynolds, Dave Langford, Pam Wells, Paul Vincent, Martin Tudor, Sandra Bond and Tony Berry.

In early years the award took various physical forms but from the mid-1990s it was standardised as a silver rocketship designed by Birmingham fan Ray Bradbury.

In March 2015, Novacon 45 announced the main categories were being retired, although occasional 'committee awards' might still be made.

Year	Best Fanzine	Best Fan Writer	Best Fan Artist	Notes
1973	Speculation ed. Peter Weston	N/A	N/A
1974	Zimri ed. Lisa Conesa & Big Scab ed. John Brosnan (tie)	N/A	N/A
1975	Maya ed. Rob Jackson	N/A	N/A
1976	Maya ed. Rob Jackson	N/A	N/A
1977	Twll-Ddu ed. Dave Langford	N/A	N/A	The first popular vote award.
1978	Gross Encounters ed. Alan Dorey	N/A	N/A
1979	Seamonsters ed. Simone Walsh	N/A	N/A
1980	One-Off ed. Dave Bridges	N/A	N/A
1981	Tappen ed. by Malcolm Edwards	Chris Atkinson	Pete Lyon
1982	Epsilon ed. by Rob Hansen	Chris Atkinson	Rob Hansen	This was the first occasion one fan received two Novas in the same year.
1983	A Cool Head ed. by Dave Bridges	Dave Bridges	Margaret Welbank
1984	Xyster ed. by Dave Wood	Anne Hamill	D. West
1985	Prevert ed. by John Jarrold	Abi Frost	Ros Calverly
1986	Variously named fanzines by Owen Whiteoak	Owen Whiteoak	Arthur "ATom" Thomson
1987	Lip ed. by Hazel Ashworth	D. West	D. West
1988	Lip ed. by Hazel Ashworth	Michael Ashley	D. West
1989	VSOP ed. by Jan Orys	Simon Polley	Dave Mooring
1990	FTT* ed. by Joseph Nicholas, Judith Hanna	Dave Langford	Dave Mooring	*A polite acronym for Fuck The Tories.
1991	Saliromania ed. by Michael Ashley	Michael Ashley	D. West
1992	Bob? ed. by Ian Sorensen	Michael Ashley	Dave Mooring
1993	Lagoon ed. by Simon Ounsley	Simon Ounsley	Dave Mooring
1994	Rastus Johnson's Cakewalk ed. by Greg Pickersgill	Greg Pickersgill	D. West
1995	Attitude ed. by Michael Abbott, John Dallman and Pam Wells	Simon Ounsley	D. West	Intriguingly, Attitude was intended both as a fanzine and a thematic progress report for the eponymous 1997 convention.
1996	Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer	Alison Freebairn	D. West	This year's "best fanzine" began as two separate titles, which merged after their first issues, Waxen Wings & Banana Skins -- later contracted to Banana Wings -- carried on the numbering and made its debut with #2.
1997	Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer	Mark Plummer	Sue Mason
1998	Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer	Maureen Kincaid Speller	D. West
1999	Barmaid ed. by Yvonne Rowse	Yvonne Rowse	Sue Mason
2000	Plokta ed. by Alison Scott, Steve Davies and Mike Scott	Yvonne Rowse	Sue Mason
2001	Head! ed. by Doug Bell and Christina Lake	Alison Freebairn	Dave Hicks
2002	Plokta ed. by Alison Scott, Steve Davies and Mike Scott	Claire Brialey	Dave Hicks
2003	Zoo Nation ed. by Pete Young	Claire Brialey	Sue Mason
2004	Zoo Nation ed. by Pete Young	Claire Brialey	Sue Mason
2005	Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer	Claire Brialey	Alison Scott
2006	Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer	Claire Brialey	Sue Mason
2007	Prolapse ed. by Peter Weston	Mark Plummer	Alison Scott	Peter Weston was also presented with one of the occasional "best fan" Novas, awarded by the Novacon committee.
2008	Prolapse ed. by Peter Weston	Claire Brialey	Alison Scott
2009	Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer	Claire Brialey	Sue Mason
2010	Journey Planet ed. by James Bacon, Claire Brialey, James Bacon and Chris Garcia (with guest editor Pete Young)	Mark Plummer	Arthur "ATom" Thomson	Chris Garcia and Pete Young were the first non-UK/Irish residents to win a Nova, ATom the first person to be awarded one posthumously.
2011	Head! ed. by Doug Bell & Christina Lake	Claire Brialey	Dave Hicks
2012	Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer	Mark Plummer	Sue Mason & D. West (tie)
2013	Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer	Mike Meara	D. West
2014	Vibrator ed. by Graham Charnock	Christina Lake	D. West

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Award

1973—2014

This is an award page. If you know something about it, such as who awarded it, who the winners were, what the criteria were, and when it was awarded, please add it! See Standards for Awards.