The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, or Campbell Memorial Award, was an annual award presented to the author of the best science fiction novel published in English in the preceding calendar year. It was given by several organizations from 1973 to 1979 and then by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas until 2019. It was the novel counterpart of the Theodore Sturgeon Award for best short story, awarded at the same conference by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust. The award was named in honor of John W. Campbell (1910–1971), whose science fiction writing and role as editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact made him one of the most influential editors in the early history of science fiction. The award was established in 1973 by writers and critics Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss "as a way of continuing his efforts to encourage writers to produce their best possible work." Locus magazine listed it as one of the "major awards" of written science fiction.
The winning novel was selected by a panel of science fiction experts, intended to be "small enough to discuss among its members all of the nominated novels". Among members of the panel have been Gregory Benford, Paul A. Carter, James Gunn, Elizabeth Anne Hull, Christopher McKitterick, Farah Mendlesohn, Pamela Sargent, and Tom Shippey. In 2008 Mendlesohn was replaced with Paul Kincaid, in 2009 Carter left the panel while Paul Di Filippo and Sheila Finch joined, and Lisa Yaszek replaced Di Filippo in 2016. Nominations were submitted by publishers and jurors, and collated by the panel into a list of finalists to be voted on. The minimum eligible length that a work may be was not formally defined by the center. The winner was selected by May of each year, and was for a number of years presented during the Campbell Conference awards banquet in Lawrence as part of the centerpiece of the conference along with the Sturgeon Award. The award was given at this conference since 1979; prior to then it was awarded at various locations around the world, starting at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1973. Winners were invited to attend the ceremony. James Gunn maintained a trophy which records all of the winners on engraved plaques affixed to the sides, and since 2004 winners received a smaller personalized trophy as well. In 2019, McKitterick, then the award's chair, announced plans to rename the conference and the award following the example of the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Both the conference and the award were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not resume.
During the 47 years the award was active, 183 authors had works nominated; 47 of these authors won. In two years, 1976 and 1994, the panel selected none of the nominees as a winner, while in 1974, 2002, 2009, and 2012 the panel selected two winners rather than one. Frederik Pohl and Joan Slonczewski each won twice, the only authors to do so, out of four and two nominations, respectively. Kim Stanley Robinson and Paul J. McAuley won once out of seven nominations, and Jack McDevitt, Ian McDonald, Adam Roberts, and Robert J. Sawyer won once out of five nominations, while Nancy Kress, Bruce Sterling, and Robert Charles Wilson won once out of four nominations. Greg Bear had the most nominations without winning at nine, followed by Sheri S. Tepper at six, James K. Morrow at five, and William Gibson, Ken MacLeod, Charles Stross, and Peter Watts at four.
Winners and nominees In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novel was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a yellow background and an asterisk (*) next to the writer's name have won the award; the other entries are the other nominees on the shortlist. Entries with a gray background and a plus sign (+) indicate a year where no novel was selected as the winner.
* Winners + No winner selected + YearAuthorNovelPublisherRef. * Beyond Apollo Random House Charles Scribner's Sons Fugue for a Darkening Island Harper & Row * Malevil Simon & Schuster * Rendezvous with Rama Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Hodder & Stoughton Anchor Books * Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said Doubleday Harper & Row (no award)+ Harper & Row Orbitsville Victor Gollancz Ltd * Viking Press Man Plus Random House Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Harper & Row * Gateway St. Martin's Press Roadside Picnic and Tale of the Troika Macmillan Publishers Doubleday * Gloriana Avon Publications Altered States Harper & Row And Having Writ... Bobbs-Merrill Company * On Wings of Song St. Martin's Press Engine Summer Doubleday Holt, Rinehart & Winston * Timescape Simon & Schuster Pocket Books Simon & Schuster * Riddley Walker Jonathan Cape * Helliconia Spring Atheneum Books No Enemy But Time Timescape * Timescape Dial Press Tik-Tok Victor Gollancz Ltd * Timescape Green Eyes Ace Books Neuromancer Ace Books * Bantam Spectra Galápagos Delacorte Press Blood Music Arbor House Kiteworld Victor Gollancz Ltd * Arbor House This Is the Way the World Ends Henry Holt and Company Speaker for the Dead Tor Books * Lincoln's Dreams Bantam Spectra Faber and Faber Bantam Spectra * Islands in the Net Arbor House Tor Books Dragonsdawn Del Rey Books * Unwin Hyman Farewell Horizontal St. Martin's Press Good News From Outer Space Tor Books * Pacific Edge Tor Books Queen of Angels Questar Science Fiction Only Begotten Daughter William Morrow and Company * Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede William Morrow and Company Bantam Spectra William Morrow and Company Stations of the Tide William Morrow and Company A Woman of the Iron People William Morrow and Company * Brother to Dragons Baen Books Sideshow Bantam Spectra Tor Books (no award)+ Beggars in Spain Morrow AvoNova Moving Mars Tor Books * Permutation City Millennium Brittle Innings Bantam Books * HarperCollins Bantam Spectra Chaga Victor Gollancz Ltd * Fairyland Victor Gollancz Ltd Blue Mars HarperCollins Voyager Villard * Forever Peace Ace Books Slant Tor Books Secret Passages Tor Books * Brute Orbits HarperPrism Starfarers Tor Books Distraction Bantam Spectra * Tor Books Darwin's Radio Del Rey Books Greenhouse Summer Tor Books Tor Books Starfish Tor Books * Genesis Tor Books Ash: A Secret History Victor Gollancz Ltd Calculating God Tor Books Infinity Beach HarperPrism Eos * Tor Books * Terraforming Earth Tor Books Probability Sun Tor Books Dark Light Orbit Books Deepsix Eos Fallen Dragon Macmillan Publishers Hammerfall Eos Hodder & Stoughton Roc Books Nekropolis Eos Pashazade: The First Arabesk Earthlight Passage Bantam Books * Probability Space Tor Books Kiln People Tor Books Hominids Tor Books Bones of the Earth Eos Dark Ararat Tor Books Tor Books Lion's Blood Warner Aspect Charles Scribner's Sons Eos Vitals Del Rey Books * Omega Ace Books Natural History Macmillan Publishers Bantam Books Bantam Books Roc Books Eos Darwin's Children Del Rey Books Jennifer Government Doubleday Memory Tor Books Red Thunder Ace Books Sister Alice Orbit Books Star Dragon Tor Books Storyteller Ace Books Untied Kingdom Victor Gollancz Ltd Tor Books * Market Forces Victor Gollancz Ltd Air St. Martin's Griffin MacAdam/Cage Tor Books Ace Books City of Pearl Eos Gaudeamus Tor Books Newton's Wake Tor Books Houghton Mifflin Harcourt William Morrow and Company Orbit Books White Devils Simon & Schuster * Mindscan Tor Books Spin Tor Books Aio Publishing Accelerando Ace Books Child of Earth BenBella Books Counting Heads Tor Books Learning the World Tor Books Tor Books Mind's Eye Simon & Schuster Seeker Ace Books Transcendent Victor Gollancz Ltd Eos * Titan Tor Books William Morrow and Company Blindsight Tor Books Farthing Tor Books Dry Coteau Books Glasshouse Ace Books Infoquake Pyr Living Next Door to the God of Love Tor Books Nova Swing Victor Gollancz Ltd Odyssey Ace Books Rainbows End Tor Books Robert J. Sawyer Books Sun of Suns Tor Books * In War Times Tor Books HarperCollins Tor Books Axis Tor Books Bad Monkeys HarperCollins Brasyl Pyr Deadstock Solaris Books HARM Del Rey Books Mainspring Tor Books Eos Warner Rollback Tor Books Time's Child Eos Zig Zag Rayo * Little Brother Tor Books * Song of Time PS Publishing William Morrow and Company Anathem William Morrow and Company City at the End of Time Del Rey Books Valley of Day-Glo Robert J. Sawyer Books * Night Shade Books Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America Tor Books Del Rey Books Del Rey Books Galileo's Dream Ballantine Spectra Gardens of the Sun Pyr Makers Tor Books Steal Across the Sky Tor Books Transition Orbit Books WWW: Wake Ace Books Nan A. Talese Yellow Blue Tibia Victor Gollancz Ltd * Victor Gollancz Ltd How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe Pantheon Books Victor Gollancz Ltd Anthill W. W. Norton & Company Aurorarama Melville House Publishing Blackout/All Clear Bantam Spectra C Alfred A. Knopf Hull Zero Three Orbit Books New Model Army Victor Gollancz Ltd Veteran Victor Gollancz Ltd Eos Yarn Night Shade Books Zero History Putnam Publishing Group * Victor Gollancz Ltd * Tor Books Embassytown Del Rey Books Osama PS Publishing Ready Player One Crown Publishing Group This Shared Dream Tor Books Soft Apocalypse Night Shade Books Dancing with Bears Night Shade Books Robopocalypse Simon & Schuster Home Fires Tor Books Seed Night Shade Books * Jack Glass: The Story of a Murderer Victor Gollancz Ltd Orbit Books Any Day Now The Overlook Press Existence Tor Books Tor Books Empty Space Victor Gollancz Ltd, Night Shade Books Intrusion Orbit Books Railsea Del Rey Books Victor Gollancz Ltd, Tor Books Blue Remembered Earth Ace Books 2312 Orbit Books Slow Apocalypse Ace Books Alif the Unseen Grove Press * Strange Bodies Faber and Faber Lexicon Penguin Group Proxima Victor Gollancz Ltd Alfred A. Knopf We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Marian Wood Hild Farrar, Straus and Giroux Tor Books Ancillary Justice Orbit Books Victor Gollancz Ltd Evening's Empires Victor Gollancz Ltd Mythic Island Press Victor Gollancz Ltd On the Steel Breeze Victor Gollancz Ltd Shaman Orbit Books Neptune's Brood Ace Books 2015 * Redhook Books Newcon Press Tor Books G. P. Putnam's Sons Afterparty Tor Books Europe In Autumn Solaris Books Wolves Victor Gollancz Ltd Tor Books Station Eleven Alfred A. Knopf Defenders Orbit Books Ecco Press Bête Victor Gollancz Ltd Lock In Tor Books Broadway Books Annihilation FSG Originals Echopraxia Tor Books 2016 * Radiomen Permanent Press Aurora Orbit Books DAW Books Europe at Midnight Solaris Books Galapágos Regained St. Martin's Press Going Dark Mythic Island Press, Saga Press Luna: New Moon Victor Gollancz Ltd, Tor Books Seveneves William Morrow and Company, HarperCollins Victor Gollancz Ltd Orbit Books, Alfred A. Knopf Where Tor Books 2017 * Central Station Tachyon Publications Alien Morning Tor Books Unsung Stories Azanian Bridges NewCon Press Tor.com Publishing Everfair Tor Books Into Everywhere Victor Gollancz Ltd Saga Press Occupy Me Victor Gollancz Ltd Rosewater Apex Publications Underground Airlines Mulholland Books Doubleday Zero K Charles Scribner's Sons 2018 * Pyr After the Flare Unnamed Press Austral Victor Gollancz Ltd Autonomous Tor Books Borne MCD Future Home of the Living God Harper Saga Press New York 2140 Orbit Books Tor Books Titan Books Mayapple Press Saga Press Tropic of Kansas HarperCollins 2019 * Blackfish City Ecco Press Tor Books Tachyon Publications Unsung Stories Moon of the Crusted Snow ECW Press Semiosis Tor Books Space Opera Saga Press Rare Bird Books Theory of Bastards Europa Editions Time Was Tor.com Unholy Land Tachyon Publications
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