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 (1910–1971), 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."
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". The initial members of the panel were 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, and in 2009 Carter left the panel while Paul Di Filippo and Sheila Finch joined. 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 in May of each year, and is presented at the Campbell Conference awards banquet in June at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas as part of the centerpiece of the conference along with the Campbell 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. Since 2004 winners have received a personalized trophy, while since the inception of the award a permanent trophy has recoded all of the winners.
During the 40 nomination years, 138 authors have had works nominated, 40 of whom have won. In two years, 1976 and 1994, the panel selected none of the nominees as a winner. Frederik Pohl and Joan Slonczewski have each won twice, the only authors to do so, out of four and two nominations, respectively. Jack McDevitt and Robert J. Sawyer have won once out of five nominations, while Nancy Kress, Paul J. McAuley, Kim Stanley Robinson, 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 and Ken MacLeod and James K. Morrow at four.
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