July 9, 1999
"Brute Orbits" by George Zebrowski of Seattle won the 1999 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science-fiction novel and "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, Albany, N.Y., won the 1999 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short science fiction.
"Brute Orbits" was published in 1998 by HarperPrism. "Story of Your Life" was published in Starlight 2, published by Tor Books in 1998 and edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden.
Second place in the novel competition went to "Starfarers" by Poul Anderson; third place, to "Distraction" by Bruce Sterling. Second place in the short stories went to "Wading River Dogs and More" by Michael Kandel; third place, to "The Summer Isles" by Ian R. MacLeod.
Four new members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame also were inducted at the dinner: Robert Silverberg and Ray Bradbury and, posthumously, Jules Verne and A. Merritt. The Hall of Fame is jointly sponsored by the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society and the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction.
The Campbell and Sturgeon Awards are sponsored by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction.
The Campbell Award is chosen after discussion by a seven-member international committee composed of writers and scholars.
The Sturgeon Award is chosen by a three-member committee from a group of semifinalists selected by a group of 25 reviewers and editors, and 10 to 11 finalists selected by one of Sturgeon's children, this year Robin Sturgeon.