The Compton Crook Award is presented by the
Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) to the year's best English language debut novel in the
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
,
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
, or
horror genres, as voted by its members. BSFS confers the award at their annual science fiction convention,
Balticon, held in
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
on
Memorial Day
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May.
It i ...
weekend. The award, also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award, has been presented since 1983.
Compton Crook, who wrote under the name of
Stephen Tall, was a long-time Baltimore resident,
Towson University professor, and science fiction author who died in 1981.
The list of eligible books is published in the monthly newsletter so that all club members will have a chance to read and vote. The winning author receives a cash award of $1,000 as well as a plaque, and their Balticon attendance is sponsored for two years; in the second year, the author presents the award to their successor. The invitation to Balticon is intended in part as a professional networking opportunity for the new author.
Winners
* 1983:
Donald Kingsbury, ''
Courtship Rite''
* 1984:
Christopher Rowley, ''
War For Eternity''
* 1985:
David R. Palmer, ''
Emergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when a complex entity has properties or behaviors that its parts do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole.
Emergence plays a central rol ...
''
* 1986:
Sheila Finch, ''
Infinity's Web''
* 1987:
Thomas Wren, ''
Doomsday Effect''
* 1988:
Christopher Hinz, ''
Liege-Killer''
* 1989:
Elizabeth Moon, ''
Sheepfarmer's Daughter''
* 1990:
Josepha Sherman, ''
The Shining Falcon''
* 1991:
Michael Flynn, ''
In the Country of the Blind''
* 1992:
Carol Severance, ''
Reefsong''
* 1993:
Holly Lisle, ''
Fire in the Mist''
* 1994:
Mary Rosenblum, ''
The Drylands''
* 1995:
Doranna Durgin, ''
Dun Lady's Jess''
* 1996:
Daniel Graham Jr., ''The Gatekeepers''
* 1997:
Richard Garfinkle, ''
Celestial Matters''
* 1998:
Katie Waitman, ''
The Merro Tree''
* 1999:
James Stoddard, ''
The High House''
* 2000:
Stephen L. Burns, ''
Flesh and Silver''
* 2001:
Syne Mitchell, ''
Murphy's Gambit''
* 2002:
Wen Spencer, ''
Alien Taste''
* 2003:
Patricia Bray, ''
Devlin's Luck''
* 2004:
E. E. Knight, ''
Way of the Wolf''
* 2005:
Tamara Siler Jones, ''
Ghosts in the Snow''
* 2006:
Maria V. Snyder, ''Poison Study''
* 2007:
Naomi Novik, ''
His Majesty's Dragon''
* 2008:
Mark L. Van Name, ''One Jump Ahead''
* 2009:
Paul Melko, ''
Singularity's Ring''
* 2010:
Paolo Bacigalupi, ''
The Windup Girl''
* 2011:
James Knapp, ''State of Decay''
* 2012:
T. C. McCarthy, ''Germline''
* 2013:
Myke Cole, ''Control Point''
* 2014:
Charles E. Gannon, ''Fire with Fire''
* 2015:
Alexandra Duncan, ''Salvage''
* 2016:
Fran Wilde, ''Updraft''
* 2017:
Ada Palmer, ''
Too Like the Lightning''
* 2018:
Nicky Drayden, ''
The Prey of Gods''
* 2019:
R. F. Kuang, ''
The Poppy War''
* 2020:
Arkady Martine, ''
A Memory Called Empire''
* 2021:
Micaiah Johnson, ''
The Space Between Worlds''
* 2022:
P. Djèlí Clark, ''
A Master of Djinn''
* 2023: Alex Jennings, ''
The Ballad of Perilous Graves''
* 2024:
Kemi Ashing-Giwa, ''
The Splinter in the Sky''
* 2025:
Samantha Mills, ''The Wings Upon Her Back''
References
External links
Compton Crook Award Winners Page
{{Science fiction
1983 establishments in the United States
American literary awards
American speculative fiction awards
Awards established in 1983
Culture of Baltimore
First book awards
Regional and local science fiction awards