Theodore Sturgeon, by Mark Zicree

Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award

The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award celebrates the best science fiction short story published the previous year.
(photo by Mark Zicree)

2022 Winner: Nalo Hopkinson, "Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story”

Nalo Hopkinson was born in Jamaica in 1960. She moved to Canada in 1977. She was the 1997 recipient of the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest for Brown Girl in the Ring. She has published six novels, numerous short stories, and has written comics in DC's "Sandman" universe. She has received the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award, the John W. Campbell and Locus Awards, the World Fantasy Award, Canada's Aurora Award, the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, and the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Award. In 2020, Science Fiction Writers of America made Hopkinson its 37th Damon Knight Memorial "Grand Master," a lifetime achievement award in recognition of her writing, teaching, and mentorship. She currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, where she is a professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.

Nalo Hopkinson

2022 THEODORE STURGEON MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER

LAWRENCE, KS-- The J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction (CSSF) is pleased to announce this year’s winner of the 2022 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award Ceremony for best science fiction short story published in 2021. The winning piece, selected by a jury of prominent science fiction writers and scholars, is Nalo Hopkinson’s “Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story.”

Jurors praised the work for its imaginative worldbuilding, subtle allusions to mythology, and the loveable character of Lickchop—the protagonist’s pet pig. One noted, “[It’s] nice to find a climate change story that moves forward towards a future rather than [only] looking back to the past.” Hopkinson’s tale is set in the Caribbean basin, in an era identified as post-Inundation: “Nobody was really sure what Florida town or city they were floating above; catastrophic flooding and the resulting seismic activity had changed shorelines too much” (2).

Nalo Hopkinson was born in Jamaica in 1960. She moved to Canada in 1977, and won the 1997 Warner Aspect First Novel Contest for Brown Girl in the Ring. Since the start of her career, she has published six novels, numerous short stories, and has written comics in DC's "Sandman" universe. She has received the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award, the John W. Campbell and Locus Awards, the World Fantasy Award, Canada's Aurora Award, the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, and the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Award. In 2020, Science Fiction Writers of America made Hopkinson its 37th Damon Knight Memorial "Grand Master," a lifetime achievement award in recognition of her writing, teaching, and mentorship. She currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, where she is a professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.

CSSF will present the trophy and monetary prize to Hopkinson at the Sturgeon Award Ceremony on Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. in the Hall Center for the Humanities (900 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS). The ceremony will feature a reading by Hopkinson, Q & A session, recognition of special guests, and a presentation by Spencer Libraries Curator Elspeth Healey on the Theodore Sturgeon papers in the KU archives. Those who are interested in attending virtually can register at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/sturgeonaward.

This year’s ceremony is part of the Gunn Center’s first annual Sturgeon Symposium, celebrating an international array of speculative literatures and communities. This event, beginning at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, 9/29, and running all day Friday, 9/30, is free and open to the public. For the full program and registration link, visit https://sfcenter.ku.edu/sturgeon-symposium.

Sturgeon Award

2021

1st  "An Important Failure" by Rebecca Campbell. ClarkesworldAugust 2020.  
 

2020

1st  "Waterlines" by Suzanne Palmer. Asimov's Science Fiction, July/August 2019.

2019

1st  "When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis," by Annalee NewitzSlate, Dec 2018.
2nd  "On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog," by Adam Shannon. Apex, Dec 2018.
3rd  "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth," Daryl Gregory. Tor.com, Sept 2018.

2018

1st  "Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue," by Charlie Jane Anders. Boston Review: Global Dystopias, Oct 2017.
2nd  "And Then There Were (N-One)," by Sarah Pinsker. Uncanny, March 2017.
3rd  "A Series of Steaks," by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Clarkesworld, Jan 2017.

2017

1st  "The Future is Blue," by Catherynne M. Valente. Drowned Worlds, ed. Jonathan Strahan, Solaris Books, 2016.
2nd  "Touring with the Alien," by Carolyn Ives Gilman. Clarkesworld, April 2016.
3rd  "Things with Beards," by Sam J. Miller. Clarkesworld, June 2016.

2016

1st  "The Game of Smash and Recovery," by Kelly LinkStrange Horizons, 17 Oct 2015.
2nd  "The New Mother," by Eugene FischerAsimov's, Apr/May 2015.
3rd  "Gypsy," by Carter ScholzFantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2015.

2015

1st  "The Man Who Sold the Moon," by Cory Doctorow. Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future,
    eds. Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer, Morrow, 2014.
2nd  "Shatterdown," by Suzanne Palmer. Asimov's Jun 2014.
3rd  ""We Are the Cloud," by Sam J. Miller. Lightspeed Sep 2014.

2014

1st  "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind," by Sarah Pinsker. Strange Horizons, July 2013.
2nd  "Mystic Falls," by Robert Reed. Clarkesworld, Nov 2013.
3rd  "The Weight of the Sunrise," by Vylar Kaftan. Asimov's, Feb 2013.

2013

1st  "The Grinnell Method," by Molly Gloss
2nd  "Nahiku West," by Linda Nagata
3rd  Eater-of-Bone, by Robert Reed
    A special Sturgeon Award for Distinguished Service was presented to Frederik Pohl this year.

2012

1st "The Choice," by Paul McAuley
2nd "Six Months Three Days," by Charlie Jane Anders
3rd "The Paper Menagerie," by Ken Liu

2011

1st  "The Sultan of the Clouds," by Geoffrey A. Landis
2nd  "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon," by Elizabeth Hand
3rd  "The Things," by Peter Watts

2010

1st  "Shambling Towards Hiroshima," by James Morrow
2nd (tie)  "Things Undone," by John Barnes
2nd (tie)  "This Wind Blowing, and This Tide," by Damien Broderick
2nd (tie)  "As Women Fight," by Sara Genge

2009

1st  "The Ray Gun: A Love Story," James Alan Gardner
2nd  "Memory Dog," Kathleen Ann Goonan
3rd  "The Tear," Ian McDonald

2008

1st (tie)  "Tideline," Elizabeth Bear
1st (tie)  "Finisterra," David R. Moles
2nd (tie)  "Memorare," Gene Wolfe
2nd (tie)  "The Master Miller's Tale," Ian R. MacLeod

2007

1st  "The Cartesian Theater," Robert Charles Wilson
2nd  "A Billion Eves," Robert Reed 
3rd  "Lord Weary's Empire," Michael Swanwick

2006

1st  "The Calorie Man," Paolo Bacigalupi 
2nd "The Little Goddess," Ian MacDonald 
3rd  "Magic for Beginners," Kelly Link

2005

1st  "Sergeant Chip," Bradley Denton
2nd "Voluntary State," Christopher Rowe
3rd  "Mere," Richard Reed

2004

1st  "The Empress of Mars," Kage Baker
2nd "Bernardos House," James Patrick Kelly
3rd  "It's All True," John Kessel

2003

"Over Yonder," Lucius Shepard

2002

"The Chief Designer," Andy Duncan

2001

"Tendeleo's Story," Ian McDonald

2000

"The Wedding Album," David Marusek

1999

"Story of Your Life," Ted Chiang

1998

"House of Dreams," Michael Flynn

1997

"The Flowers of Aulit Prison," Nancy Kress

1996

"Jigoku no Mokushiroku," John G. McDaid

1995

"Forgiveness Day," Ursula Le Guin

1994

"Fox Magic," Kij Johnson

1993

"This Year's Class Picture," Dan Simmons

1992

"Buffalo," John Kessel

1991

"Bears Discover Fire," Terry Bisson

1990

"The Edge of the World," Michael Swanwick

1989

"Schrodinger's Kitten," George Alec Effinger

1988

"Rachel in Love," Pat Murphy

1987

"Surviving," Judith Moffett

 

The award was established by James Gunn and by the children of science fiction great Theodore Sturgeon in 1987.

Full history of the award here.

Sturgeon Award trophies

Sturgeon Award Trophies

Individual Sturgeon Award Trophies (permanent trophy with engraved names at right). Individual trophies designed by Kij Johnson. Photo courtesy of Chris McKitterick.