John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, or Campbell Memorial Award, is an annual award presented by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best science fiction novel published in English in the preceding calendar year. It is the novel counterpart of the Theodore Sturgeon Award for best short story, awarded by the same organization. The award is named in honor of John W. Campbell, 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 has listed it as one of the "major awards" of written science fiction.
The winning novel is 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 are submitted by publishers and jurors, and are collated by the panel into a list of finalists to be voted on. The minimum eligible length that a work may be is not formally defined by the center. The winner is selected by May of each year, and is presented at the Campbell Conference awards banquet in June at the University of Kansas in Lawrence as part of the centerpiece of the conference along with the Sturgeon Award. The award has been given at the 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 are always invited to attend the ceremony. The Center for the Study of Science Fiction maintains a trophy which records all of the winners on engraved plaques affixed to the sides, and since 2004 winners have received a smaller personalized trophy as well.
During the 47 years the award has been active, 183 authors have had works nominated; 47 of these authors have 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 have each won twice, the only authors to do so, out of four and two nominations, respectively. Kim Stanley Robinson and Paul J. McAuley have won once out of seven nominations, and Jack McDevitt, Ian McDonald, Adam Roberts, and Robert J. Sawyer have won once out of five nominations, while Nancy Kress, Bruce Sterling, and Robert Charles Wilson have won once out of four nominations. Greg Bear has 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 blue background and an asterisk next to the writer's name have won the award; those with a white background 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
| Year | Author | Novel | Publisher | Ref. |
| * | Beyond Apollo | Random House | ||
| Charles Scribner's Sons | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| + | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Bantam Spectra | ||||
| William Morrow and Company | ||||
| Stations of the Tide | William Morrow and Company | |||
| * | Brother to Dragons | Baen Books | ||
| Sideshow | Bantam Spectra | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| + | ||||
| 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 | ||
| ' | 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 | |||
| ' | 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 | |||
| ' | 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 | ||||
| ' | 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 | ||
| The Hydrogen Sonata | Orbit Books | |||
| Any Day Now | The Overlook Press | |||
| Existence | Tor Books | |||
| The Rapture of the Nerds | Tor Books | |||
| Empty Space | Victor Gollancz Ltd, Night Shade Books | |||
| Intrusion | Orbit Books | |||
| Railsea | Del Rey Books | |||
| The Fractal Prince | 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 | ||
| 2015 | Newcon Press | |||
| 2015 | Tor Books | |||
| 2015 | G. P. Putnam's Sons | |||
| 2015 | Afterparty | Tor Books | ||
| 2015 | Europe In Autumn | Solaris Books | ||
| 2015 | Wolves | Victor Gollancz Ltd | ||
| 2015 | Tor Books | |||
| 2015 | Station Eleven | Alfred A. Knopf | ||
| 2015 | Defenders | Orbit Books | ||
| 2015 | Ecco Press | |||
| 2015 | Bête | Victor Gollancz Ltd | ||
| 2015 | Lock In | Tor Books | ||
| 2015 | Broadway Books | |||
| 2015 | Annihilation | FSG Originals | ||
| 2015 | Echopraxia | Tor Books | ||
| 2016 | * | Radiomen | Permanent Press | |
| 2016 | Aurora | Orbit Books | ||
| 2016 | DAW Books | |||
| 2016 | Europe at Midnight | Solaris Books | ||
| 2016 | Galapágos Regained | St. Martin's Press | ||
| 2016 | Going Dark | Mythic Island Press, Saga Press | ||
| 2016 | Luna: New Moon | Victor Gollancz Ltd, Tor Books | ||
| 2016 | Seveneves | William Morrow and Company, HarperCollins | ||
| 2016 | Victor Gollancz Ltd | |||
| 2016 | Orbit Books, Alfred A. Knopf | |||
| 2016 | Where | Tor Books | ||
| 2017 | * | Central Station | Tachyon Publications | |
| 2017 | Alien Morning | Tor Books | ||
| 2017 | Unsung Stories | |||
| 2017 | Azanian Bridges | NewCon Press | ||
| 2017 | Tor.com Publishing | |||
| 2017 | Everfair | Tor Books | ||
| 2017 | Into Everywhere | Victor Gollancz Ltd | ||
| 2017 | Saga Press | |||
| 2017 | Saga Press | |||
| 2017 | Occupy Me | Victor Gollancz Ltd | ||
| 2017 | Rosewater | Apex Publications | ||
| 2017 | Underground Airlines | Mulholland Books | ||
| 2017 | Doubleday | |||
| 2017 | Zero K | Charles Scribner's Sons | ||
| 2018 | * | Pyr | ||
| 2018 | After the Flare | Unnamed Press | ||
| 2018 | Austral | Victor Gollancz Ltd | ||
| 2018 | Autonomous | Tor Books | ||
| 2018 | Borne | MCD | ||
| 2018 | Future Home of the Living God | Harper | ||
| 2018 | Saga Press | |||
| 2018 | New York 2140 | Orbit Books | ||
| 2018 | Tor Books | |||
| 2018 | Titan Books | |||
| 2018 | Mayapple Press | |||
| 2018 | Saga Press | |||
| 2018 | Tropic of Kansas | HarperCollins | ||
| 2019 | * | Blackfish City | Ecco Press | |
| 2019 | Tor Books | |||
| 2019 | Tachyon Publications | |||
| 2019 | Unsung Stories | |||
| 2019 | Moon of the Crusted Snow | ECW Press | ||
| 2019 | Semiosis | Tor Books | ||
| 2019 | Space Opera | Saga Press | ||
| 2019 | Rare Bird Books | |||
| 2019 | Theory of Bastards | Europa Editions | ||
| 2019 | Time Was | Tor.com | ||
| 2019 | Unholy Land | Tachyon Publications |