Contact: James Gunn, KU Center for the Study of Science Fiction, (785) 864-3380 or jgunn@falcon.cc .ku.edu
LAWRENCE - Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky" won the John W. Campbell Award for the best science fiction novel of the year, and David Marusek's "Wedding Album" won the Theodore Sturgeon Award for the best short science fiction of the year, James Gunn, director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas, announced today.
The awards were presented at a dinner July 7 at KU. Both authors, Vinge of San Diego and Marusek of Fairbanks, Alaska, were present.
At the dinner, four persons were inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Theodore Sturgeon and Eric Frank Russell were inducted posthumously; living authors Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson were also inducted. Neither could be present, but Harry Stubbs (Hal Clement) was present to accept his induction from two years ago, and Robin Sturgeon and his wife were present to accept the induction for his father.
The dinner will be followed by the Campbell Conference July 8 and 9, with "Science Fiction in the 21st Century" as the topic for discussion. This year's conference has authors and scholars present from Brazil, Mexico, India and Japan.
The Campbell Award was selected by an international committee from nominations by publishers. The second-place winner was Greg Bear's novel "Darwin's Radio"; the third-place winner was Norman Spinrad's "Greenhouse Summer."
This year honorable mention awards were given for Peter Watts' "Starfish" and Jack Williamson's "The Silicon Dagger." All were published by Tor Books except "Darwin's Radio," which was published by Ballantine/Del Rey Books.
The Sturgeon Award was selected by James Gunn, Kij Johnson and Frederik Pohl, with assistance from Andros Sturgeon, from a list of finalists selected by a group of two dozen reviewers and editors of short science fiction. The second-place winner was Eleanor Arnason's "Dapple: A Hwarhath Historical Romance." The third-place winner was Judith Berman's "The Window." All three Sturgeon winners were published in "Asimov's Science Fiction."
All five top-ranking novels could be classified as hard science fiction, extrapolated from existing scientific data and theories, although "Greenhouse Summer" and "The Silicon Dagger" have major sociological aspects.