The Janusz A. Zajdel Award (''Nagroda imienia Janusza A. Zajdla''), often called just Zajdel, is the annual award given by the Polish

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...

for the best stories published in the previous year. The winners are chosen in a vote by fans present at the

Polcon Polcon is the oldest Polish speculative fiction convention, organized each year in a different place by the local speculative fiction club. The Janusz A. Zajdel Award is awarded during the convention. The first Polcon was held in 1985 in Bła� ...

convention from up to five nominations in each of two categories: *Novel: works longer than 100 standard pages (of 1800 characters), *Short story: shorter works. Instant-runoff voting with "No award" as one of the choices is the method used. Vote counts are not announced.

History

The award was created in 1985 under the name ''Sfinks'' (not to be confused with the , an award of the magazine). After the death of the first winner, Janusz A. Zajdel, in the same year, the name was changed in his memory. Until 1989, the award was given by Polish

science fiction fan Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

associations, voting as units; since 1990, all fans present at Polcon can vote. Until 1991, there was a single award given for the best story; since 1992, there are two categories: novel and short story. In 2014, a free online e-book of the stories nominated for year 2013 was made available.

Winners

The year given is the year of publication. Since 1992, novels and short stories have been judged separately.

Winner summaries

2019: Radek Rak, ''Baśń o wężowym sercu...''

The novel is loosely based on the legends about

Jakub Szela Jakub Szela (was born 14 July 1787, Smarżowa, in Galicia - died 21 April 1860, Dealul Ederii, in Bukovina, now Romania) was a Polish leader of a peasant uprising against the Polish gentry in Galicia in 1846; directed against manorial property a ...

, the leader of a 1846 peasant uprising known as the

Galician slaughter The Galician Slaughter, also known as the Galician Rabacja, Peasant Uprising of 1846 or the Szela uprising (german: Galizischer Bauernaufstand; pl, Rzeź galicyjska or ''Rabacja galicyjska''), was a two-month uprising of impoverished Galicia ...

. It gained several other literary awards.

2019: Marta Potocka, "Chomik"

Marta Potocka is a young writer, with several short stories. She works as a programmer. Her winning work "Chomik" Hamster"was published in the

e-zine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer mag ...

', no. 5, 2019. The story is set in the near future Poland. The heavily criticized Social Insurance Institution is closed and the basic

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

payment is introduced to everybody subject to the condition that to qualify for it the person must join the program of Social Monitoring. The Social Insurance Institution is replaced with the Social Balance Institution, whose function is to control that people spend as much money as possible. Those who do not want to spend are called "

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The ...

s", i.e., " hoarders". An employee of SII tries to handle a particularly tough "hamster" and fails, but instead uncovers a much larger problem. Radek Rak i Marta Potocka laureatami Nagrody im. Janusza A. Zajdla za 2019 rok
/ref> ''Chomik'' is available online.
/ref>

References

External links

The Award homepage
(in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

) {{science fiction Polish science fiction awards Polish literary awards Awards established in 1985 Janusz Zajdel 1985 establishments in Poland