Campbell award (best novel)

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This page describes the award for best science fiction novel; for other awards, see the disambiguation page.

The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel has been awarded every year since 1973, except in 1994. Unlike other major science fiction awards, such as the Hugo and the Nebula, recipients are selected by a jury.

The award should not be confused with the similarly named John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

In 1976, the jury felt that no truly outstanding novels had been published the previous year, and so the award was given retrospectively to a novel published in 1970.

In 1994, no award was given; this was due to a breakdown in the nomination process, not because no novel was judged worthy.

The award ceremony has been held in a number of places over the years, but since 1979, has been held at the University of Kansas, where it has become the focus of a weekend-long conference that also includes discussions of the writing, illustration, publishing, teaching, and criticism of science fiction.

[edit] Jury members

As of July 2006, the members of the award jury are:

Nebula-winning physicist Gregory Benford, author of the classic SF novel Timescape
Historian Paul A. Carter, author of The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction
Hugo-winning author and scholar James Gunn, past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Elizabeth Anne Hull, past president of the Science Fiction Research Association
Christopher McKitterick, associate director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction
Hugo-winning scholar Farah Mendlesohn, editor of Foundation - The International Review of Science Fiction
Nebula-winning author and editor Pamela Sargent, editor of the Women of Wonder anthologies
T.A. Shippey, editor of The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories