John W. Campbell, Jr. Memorial Award
The idea for the juried John W. Campbell, Jr. Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel of the year (not to be confused with the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) came from SF writers Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss.
Harrison wrote: "The Hugo and Nebula mean a lot as far as money goes, if you mention them on a book cover. But one award, I won't tell you which, I really have seen won by ballot-box stuffing. . . Something rotten always wins awards; which is why Brian Aldiss and I founded the Campbell award, which is voted by a handful of people who have critical, writing, or editing experience, enjoy science fiction, and also have experience of literature outside of science fiction."
The John W. Campbell, Jr. Award for Best New Writer, which was voted on by the Hugo voters, had no connection. Both awards were named in honor of seminal editor John W. Campbell upon his death, but the other award was renamed the Astounding Award in 2019.
In 1987, a companion award, The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, was created to honor the best SF short story under 17,500 words published in English during the previous calendar year.
The first recipient of the Campbell Memorial Award was Barry N. Malzberg in 1973 for his novel Beyond Apollo. (The irony that this novel would not have been at all to Campbell's liking has not been lost.) For the most part, winners of this award have made interesting contrasts to the Hugo and Nebula winners, honoring some works that otherwise would have escaped notice.
Today, the awards are sponsored by the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction in Kansas and presented at their annual Campbell Conference. See their website for details.
| Year | Novel | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Beyond Apollo | Barry Malzberg |
| 1978 | Gateway | Fred Pohl |
| 2004 | Omega | Jack McDevitt |
| 2005 | Market Forces | Richard Morgan |
| 2006 | Mindscan | Robert J. Sawyer |
| 2007 | Titan | Ben Bova |
| 2008 | In War Times | Kathleen Ann Goonan |
| 2009 | Little Brother | Cory Doctorow |
| 2009 | Song of Time | Ian MacLeod |
| 2010 | The Windup Girl | Paolo Bacigalupi |
| 2011 | The Dervish House | Ian McDonald |
| 2012 | The Islanders | Christopher Priest |
| 2012 | The Highest Frontier | Joan Slonczewski |
| 2013 | Jack Glass: The Story of a Murderer | Adam Roberts |
| 2014 | Strange Bodies | Marcel Theroux |
| 2015 | The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August | Claire North |
| 2016 | Radiomen | Eleanor Lerman |
| 2017 | Central Station | Lavie Tidhar |
| 2018 | The Genius Plague | David Walton |
| 2019 | Blackfish City | Sam J. Miller |
| Award | Website | 1973— |
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