2009 Campbell Award Finalists Announced

I’m going to be completely honest with you here. I like writing awards posts. They’re easy, short, and you can’t be sued since much of the information is already public knowledge anyway. But one of the things I do like (what many don’t know in fact) is unlike the Hugos, Nebulas, and basically every other award for science fiction / fantasy literature out there, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award is judged by a juried panel instead of the attendees of a convention.

This, in turn, makes the award more prestigious as only “the best of the best” are chosen by their literary merit and scientific ideas, not by how popular they are or how many people they know.

This year’s finalists are not surprising. They are as follows below. A heart felt congratulations to you all!

The John W. Campbell Award is presented during the Campbell Conference Awards Banquet at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, July 9 – 12, 2009, as the focal point of a weekend of discussions about the writing, illustration, publishing, teaching, and criticism of science fiction.

• City at the End of Time, Greg Bear (Del Rey)
• Valley of Day-Glo, Nick Di Chario (Robert J. Sawyer Books)
• Little Brother, Cory Doctorow (Tor)
• Song of Time, Ian MacLeod, (PS Publishing)
• The Philosopher’s Apprentice, James Morrow (William Morrow)
• Anathem, Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)