Country Japan | First awarded 1970 | |
Awarded for Science fiction works and achievements of previous year Official website | ||
The Seiun Award (星雲賞, Seiunshō) is a Japanese speculative fiction award for the best science fiction works and achievements during the preceding year. Organized and overseen by the Federation of Science Fiction Fan Groups of Japan (FSFFGJ) (日本ファングループ連合会議, Nihon Fan Group Rengō Kaigi), the awards were given each year at the annual Japan Science Fiction Convention. It is the oldest SF award in Japan, which was first given in 1970 at the 9th Japan Science Fiction Convention and has been awarded every year since that.
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"Seiun", the Japanese word for "nebula", was named after the first professional science fiction magazine in Japan, which appeared in 1954. The award is not related to the American Nebula Award.
It is similar to the Hugo Award, which is presented by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, in that all of the members of the presenting convention are eligible to participate in the selection process. But it is not strictly correct to call it Japan's "equivalent" to the Hugo Awards, as the Hugo Awards are open to works from anywhere in any language while the Seiun limited the area and the language like as the BSFA Awards, even though implicitly.
Eligibility and the Selection Process
Professional works and achievements first published, translated, or released in the previous calendar year are eligible for vote. The eligibility of a magazine is determined on its nominal publication date, which often tend to be a month or two ahead of the actual date because of Japanese publication custom.
There are no written rules as to which works qualify as science fiction or what word count qualified a work for what category, and the decision of eligibility in that regard is left up to the voters.
Usually in spring, FSFFGJ issues a candidate list for reference in each category, which is chosen by a vote of their member groups. However, voters can cast their ballots for any eligible works outside of the list.
With consideration for voters' availability, a work which appeared on a magazine (i.e. a part of serialized works or short story) or released on audio-visual media (i.e. a TV show or film) for the first time during the year but wasn't chosen for the candedate list may be eligible again when it gets published as a book or released in any other media.
Though the regulation has no mention about e-publishing, a work has already won the award: "Umi no Yubi" by Hirotaka Tobi in Best Japanese Short Story 2015, which appeared only on a webzine and hadn't got published in the year.
Categories
There are effectively no official English names for categories, so that they tend to be varied depending on translators. (i.e. "Novel" may be appeared as "Long Story" or "Long Form"; "Short Story" may be referred to as "Short form".)