The Prometheus Award is an award for
libertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist
L. 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 of libertarian and anti-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.
Prometheus Blog Appreciation Series
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 at https://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.
Multiple recipients
Some authors have won the award for best novel more than once:
Thrice
*
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...
*
Victor Koman
*
Ken MacLeod
*
L. Neil Smith
Twice
*
Travis J. I. Corcoran
*
Michael F. Flynn
*
James P. Hogan
*
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque.
Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...
*
Vernor Vinge
*
F. Paul Wilson
* Daniel Suarez
Five authors have won the Prometheus Hall of Fame award more than once:
*
Poul Anderson
*
Robert Heinlein
*
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
*
Ayn Rand
Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...
*
F. Paul Wilson
Process
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 are given at the Annual
Worldcon
Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...
or NASFIC or, during and since the pandemic, presented live via Zoom and then posted on YouTube and the Videos page of the LFS website (www.lfs.org).
Prometheus Award winners and finalists
* Winners
+ No winner selected
Hall of Fame Award inductees
* 1983:
Robert A. Heinlein, ''
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress'' ,
Ayn Rand
Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...
, ''
Atlas Shrugged''
* 1984:
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
, ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four
''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also published as ''1984'') is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final completed book. Thematically ...
'' ,
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...
, ''
Fahrenheit 451
''Fahrenheit 451'' is a 1953 Dystopian fiction, dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. It presents a future American society where books have been outlawed and "firemen" Book burning, burn any that are found. The novel follows in the ...
''
* 1985:
Poul Anderson, ''Trader to the Stars'' ,
Eric Frank Russell
Eric Frank Russell (January 6, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was a British people, British writer best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the United States, in John W. Campbell's ''Asto ...
, ''
The Great Explosion''
* 1986:
Cyril Kornbluth, ''
The Syndic
''The Syndic'' is a 1953 science fiction novel by Cyril M. Kornbluth.
Plot summary
The prologue introduces the setting, a future North America divided between rival criminal gangs, the Syndic on the East Coast and the Mob in Chicago
Chi ...
'' ,
Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American writer, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson ...
/
Robert Shea
Robert Joseph Shea (February 14, 1933 – March 10, 1994) was an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy '' Illuminatus!'' It became a cult success and was later turn ...
,
''Illuminatus!'' trilogy
* 1987:
Robert A. Heinlein, ''
Stranger in a Strange Land'' , Ayn Rand, "
Anthem
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...
"
* 1988:
Alfred Bester, ''
The Stars My Destination
''The Stars My Destination'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester. Its first publication was in book form in June 1956 in the United Kingdom, where it was titled ''Tiger! Tiger!'', named after William Blake's 1794 poem ...
''
* 1989:
J. Neil Schulman, ''
Alongside Night''
* 1990:
F. Paul Wilson, ''The Healer''
* 1991:
F. Paul Wilson, ''An Enemy of the State''
* 1992:
Ira Levin, ''
This Perfect Day''
* 1993:
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...
, ''
The Dispossessed''
* 1994:
Yevgeny Zamyatin, ''
We''
* 1995:
Poul Anderson, ''
The Star Fox''
* 1996:
Robert A. Heinlein, ''
Red Planet''
* 1997:
Robert A. Heinlein, ''
Methuselah's Children''
* 1998:
Robert A. Heinlein, ''
Time Enough for Love''
* 1999:
H. Beam Piper /
John J. McGuire, ''A Planet for Texans'' (also known as ''Lone Star Planet'')
* 2000:
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fai ...
, "
The Emperor's New Clothes"
* 2001:
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and ergonomics, human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. ...
/
John F. Carr (editors), ''The Survival of Freedom''
* 2002:
Patrick McGoohan, ''
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...
'' (TV series)
* 2003:
Robert A. Heinlein, "
Requiem"
* 2004:
Vernor Vinge, "
The Ungoverned"
* 2005:
A. E. van Vogt, ''
The Weapon Shops of Isher''
* 2006:
Alan Moore
Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...
(author) /
David Lloyd (illustrator), ''
V for Vendetta
''V for Vendetta'' is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd (comics), David Lloyd (with additional art by Tony Weare). Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing Serial (li ...
'' (graphic novel)
* 2007:
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the America ...
, ''
It Can't Happen Here
''It Can't Happen Here'' is a 1935 dystopian political novel by the American author Sinclair Lewis. Set in a fictionalized version of the 1930s United States, it follows an American politician, Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who quickly rises to pow ...
'' ,
Vernor Vinge, ''
True Names''
* 2008:
Anthony Burgess
John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer.
Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...
, ''
A Clockwork Orange''
* 2009:
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
, ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...
''
* 2010:
Poul Anderson, "
No Truce with Kings"
* 2011:
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
, ''
Animal Farm
''Animal Farm'' (originally ''Animal Farm: A Fairy Story'') is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic far ...
''
* 2012:
E. M. Forster, "
The Machine Stops"
* 2013:
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque.
Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...
, ''
Cryptonomicon
''Cryptonomicon'' is a 1999 novel by American author Neal Stephenson, set in two different time periods. One group of characters are World War II–era Allied codebreakers and tactical-deception operatives affiliated with the British Govern ...
''
* 2014:
Lois McMaster Bujold, ''
Falling Free''
* 2015:
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...
, "
'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"
* 2016:
Donald Kingsbury, ''
Courtship Rite''
* 2017:
Robert A. Heinlein, "
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
"
* 2018:
Jack Williamson
John Stewart Williamson (April 29, 1908 – November 10, 2006) was an American list of science fiction authors, science fiction writer, one of several called the "Dean of Science Fiction". He is also credited with one of the first uses of the t ...
, "
With Folded Hands"
* 2019:
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...
, "
Harrison Bergeron"
* 2020:
Poul Anderson, "
Sam Hall"
* 2021:
F. Paul Wilson, "
Lipidleggin' "Lipidleggin'" is a science fiction short story by American writer F. Paul Wilson. It was first published in '' Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine'' in 1978.
Plot
In a world where the government has outlawed butter and untreated eggs because ...
* 2022:
Robert A. Heinlein, ''
Citizen of the Galaxy''
* 2023:
Robert A. Heinlein, "
Free Men"
* 2024:
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...
, ''
The Truth
The Truth may refer to:
Film
* ''The Truth'' (1920 film) starring Madge Kennedy
* ''The Truth'' (1960 film) or ''La Vérité'', a French film by Henri-Georges Clouzot starring Brigitte Bardot
* ''The Truth'' (1988 film), a Hong Kong trial cri ...
''
Special Award recipients
* 1998:
Brad Linaweaver and
Edward E. Kramer: editors, ''Free Space'' (anthology)
* 2001:
Poul Anderson, Special Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement
* 2005: Mark Tier and
Martin H. Greenberg: editors, ''Give Me Liberty'' and ''Visions of Liberty'' (anthologies for Baen Books)
* 2005:
L. Neil Smith (writer) and
Scott Bieser (illustrator), ''
The Probability Broach: The Graphic Novel''
* 2006:
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon ( ; born June 23, 1964) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, comic book writer, and composer. He is best known as the creator of several television series: the supernatural drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer' ...
(writer-director), ''
Serenity''
* 2007:
James McTeigue
James McTeigue (born 29 December 1967) is an Australian film and television director. He has been an assistant director on many films, including ''Dark City (1998 film), Dark City'' (1998), the The Matrix (franchise)#Films, ''Matrix'' trilogy ( ...
(director) and
the Wachowskis
Lana Wachowski (born Larry Wachowski, June 21, 1965) and Lilly Wachowski (born Andy Wachowski, December 29, 1967) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women.
Together known as the Wacho ...
(screenplay), ''
V for Vendetta
''V for Vendetta'' is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd (comics), David Lloyd (with additional art by Tony Weare). Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing Serial (li ...
'' (motion picture)
* 2014:
Vernor Vinge, Special Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement
* 2014:
Leslie Fish, ''Tower of Horses'' (novella) and "The Horsetamer's Daughter" (song)
* 2015:
F. Paul Wilson, Special Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement
* 2016:
L. Neil Smith, Special Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement
* 2016:
Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn, ''
Alex + Ada''
* 2017: Mark Stanley, ''Freefall'' (
webcomic
Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...
)
See also
*
Anarcho-capitalist literature
*
Libertarianism
Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according t ...
References
External links
Prometheus award page
{{Science fiction
Awards established in 1979
Halls of fame in California
Libertarian science fiction
Science fiction awards