Annual award for libertarian science fiction novels
Prometheus Award
Awarded for
The bestscience fiction orfantasy fiction promoting individual freedom and human rights, or critiquing tyranny, slavery, war and other abuses of government power.
ThePrometheus Award is an award forlibertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activistL. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist Society revived it in 1982. The Society created a Prometheus Hall of Fame Award (for classic works oflibertarian andanti-authoritarian science fiction and fantasy, not necessarily novels) in 1983, and also presents occasional one-off Special Awards.
While the Best Novel category is limited to novels published in English for the first time during the previous calendar year, Hall of Fame nominees — which must have been published at least 20 years ago — may be in any narrative or dramatic form, including novels, novellas, stories, films, television series or episodes, plays, musicals, graphic novels, song lyrics, or verse.
The Best Novel winner receives a plaque with a one-ounce gold coin, and the Hall of Fame winner a plaque with a smaller gold coin.
Since 2019, LFS members have launched an Appreciation series of review-essays honoring all past winners and making clear why each work of fiction fits the distinctive focus of the award – something that was viewed as not necessarily obvious to sf/fantasy fans unfamiliar with the broad scope of libertarian thinking and analysis, which often overlaps with classical liberalism, its philosophical cousin.
Each Appreciation review-essay is published on the Prometheus Blog athttps://www.lfs.org/blog/ and then linked next to each winning title on the past-winners list posted on the LFS website's Prometheus Awards page.
Books published in a given year are eligible (although books from the last few months of the previous year are also eligible if it is felt that they have been overlooked).
All members may nominate novels for the award.
Members of the Best Novel Committee read all of the nominated novels (typically between 12 and 16) and vote for a slate of typically 5 finalists.
Full members, Sponsors and Benefactors (higher membership levels) then vote on the finalists.
Step 2 happens in the first few months of the following year.
Step 3 happens in early summer of the following year.
The awards were historically given at the AnnualWorldcon orNASFIC. Since the pandemic, they have been presented live via Zoom and then posted on YouTube and the Videos page of the LFS website (www.lfs.org).
