The Nebulas Are Coming!

The 2006 Nebula Award Weekend is coming up (May 4th- May 7th). The event will be hosted in Tempe, Arizona.

The main event will be the announcement of the 2005 Nebula Awards. Categories are for best novel (x>40,000), best novella (17,500>x>40,000), best novellette (7,500>x>17,500), best short story (7,500>x), and best script.

It's interesting to note that, unlike the Hugo Award, the Nebula has a "rolling eligibility" system, which basically means that fiction can be considered for the award for one year after publication date. To be eligible for the Hugo Award, publication must fall in the calendar year of 2005. Wikipedia cites the interesting case of William Shun's novelette, "Dance of the Yellow-Breasted Luddites." Published in July 2000, it "ended up" on the 2001 ballot, and the award was presented in 2002.

Another difference between the Nebula and Hugo, is that the Nebula is strictly an affair of the SFWA. They vote on the preliminary ballot and the final ballot (10 preliminary ballot votes are needed to make it to the final ballot). Awards are presented at Gala events like the one to be hosted this weekend.

The Hugo, on the other hand, is chosen by science fiction fans, and is awarded at Worldcon. This year's Worldcon will be held in L.A. this August.

Check out the public version of the Hugo final ballot- it's sure to offer a great start to your summer reading list. And notice how many works of fiction- from novel to short story length- have links to a Fictionwise download!