Nebula Award For Best Novel

Nebula Award For Best Novel

The Nebula Awards are given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for the best science fiction or fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year. The award has 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. The Nebula Award for Best Novel is given each year for science fiction or fantasy novels published in English or translated into English and released in the United States or on the internet during the previous calendar year. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novel if it is 40,000 words or longer; awards are also given out for pieces of shorter lengths in the short story, novelette, and novella categories. The Nebula Award for Best Novel has been awarded annually since 1966. Novels which were expanded forms of previously published short stories are eligible, as are novellas published by themselves if the author requests them to be considered as a novel.

Nebula Award nominees and winners are chosen by members of the 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. Beginning with the 2009 awards, the rules were changed to the current format. Prior to then, 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 47 nomination years, 159 authors have had works nominated; 35 of these have won, including co-authors and ties. Ursula K. Le Guin has received the most Nebula Awards for Best Novel with four wins out of six nominations. Joe Haldeman has received three awards out of four nominations, while eight other authors have won twice. Jack McDevitt and Gene Wolfe are tied for the most nominations at ten, with one win apiece, while Philip K. Dick and Poul Anderson are tied at five for the most nominations without winning an award.