Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Nebula Award for Best Novelette

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First awarded
  
1966

Category of
  
Nebula Awards

Instituted
  
1966

Nebula Award for Best Novelette

Awarded for
  
The best science fiction or fantasy story of between 7,500 and 17,500 words published in the prior calendar year

Official website
  
sfwa.org/nebula-awards/

Presented by
  
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Currently held by
  
Sarah Pinsker ("Our Lady of the Open Road")

People also search for
  
Nebula Award for Best Short Story

Winners & Nominees
  
You’ll Surely Drown Here If You StayAlyssa Wong, You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay, Nominee, Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the SeaSarah Pinsker, Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea, Nominee, The Jewel and Her LapidaryFran Wilde, The Jewel and Her Lapidary, Nominee, The Long Fall UpWilliam Ledbetter, The Long Fall Up, Nominee, Red in Tooth and CogCat Rambo, Red in Tooth and Cog, Nominee, Blood Grains Speak Through MemoriesJason Sanford, Blood Grains Speak Through Memories, Nominee, Our Lady of the Open RoadSarah Pinsker, Our Lady of the Open Road, Winner, The Ladies’ Aquatic Gardening SocietyHenry Lien, The Ladies’ Aquatic Gardening Society, Nominee, Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of WindsRose Lemberg, Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds, Nominee, Rattlesnakes and MenMichael Bishop, Rattlesnakes and Men, Nominee, The Deepwater BrideTamsyn Muir, The Deepwater Bride, Nominee, And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of DeadBrooke Bolander, And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead, Nominee, A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'iAlaya Dawn Johnson, A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i, Winner, The Magician and Laplace's DemonTom Crosshill, The Magician and Laplace's Demon, Nominee, The Devil in AmericaKai Ashante Wilson, The Devil in America, Nominee, The Husband StitchCarmen Maria Machado, The Husband Stitch, Nominee, We Are the CloudSam J Miller, We Are the Cloud, Nominee, Sleep Walking Now and ThenRichard Bowes, Sleep Walking Now and Then, Nominee, The Waiting StarsAliette de Bodard, The Waiting Stars, Winner, They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of GlassAlaya Dawn Johnson, They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass, Nominee, Paranormal RomanceChristopher Barzak, Paranormal Romance, Nominee, In Joy - Knowing the Abyss BehindSarah Pinsker, In Joy - Knowing the Abyss Behind, Nominee, The Litigation Master and the Monkey KingKen Liu, The Litigation Master and the Monkey King, Nominee, Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful DaughtersHenry Lien, Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters, Nominee, Close EncountersAndy Duncan, Close Encounters, Winner, The WavesKen Liu, The Waves, Nominee, Swift - Brutal RetaliationMeghan McCarron, Swift - Brutal Retaliation, Nominee, The Finite CanvasBrit Mandelo, The Finite Canvas, Nominee, The Pyre of New DayCatherine Asaro, The Pyre of New Day, Nominee, Fade To WhiteCatherynne M Valente, Fade To White, Nominee, Portrait of Lisane da PatagniaRachel Swirsky, Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia, Nominee

The Nebula Award for Best Novelette is given each year by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) to a science fiction or fantasy novelette published in English or translated into English and released in the United States or on the internet during the previous calendar year. The Nebula Awards have been described as one of "the most important of the American science fiction awards" and "the science-fiction and fantasy equivalent" of the Emmy Awards. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novelette if it is between 7,500 and 17,500 words; awards are also given out for pieces of longer lengths in the Novel and Novella categories, and for shorter lengths in the Short Story category. The Nebula Award for Best Novelette has been awarded annually since 1966.

Nebula Award nominees and winners are chosen by members of SFWA, though the authors of the nominees do not need to be members. Works are nominated each year between November 15 and February 15 by published authors who are members of the organization, and the six works that receive the most nominations then form the final ballot, with additional nominees possible in the case of ties. Members may then vote on the ballot throughout March, and the final results are presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony in May. Authors are not permitted to nominate their own works, and ties in the final vote are broken, if possible, by the number of nominations the works received. The rules were changed to their current format in 2009. Previously, the eligibility period for nominations was defined as one year after the publication date of the work, which allowed the possibility for works to be nominated in the calendar year after their publication and then be awarded in the calendar year after that. Works were added to a preliminary list for the year if they had ten or more nominations, which were then voted on to create a final ballot, to which the SFWA organizing panel was also allowed to add an additional work.

During the 52 nomination years, 204 authors have had works nominated; 44 of these have won, including co-authors and ties. Ted Chiang has won three times out of three nominations, and Poul Anderson, Kelly Link, George R. R. Martin, and Connie Willis have each won twice out of five, two, four, and five nominations, respectively. One of Anderson's nominations was under the pseudonym Michael Karageorge. Ursula K. Le Guin has the most nominations of any author with seven, including one win. James Patrick Kelly has the most nominations without winning at six, and Richard Bowes, Michael Swanwick, and Roger Zelazny have each been nominated five times in addition to Anderson and Willis, for zero, zero, and one win, respectively.

Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novelette 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.

  *   Winners and joint winners

References

Nebula Award for Best Novelette Wikipedia