2019 Nebula Award winners announced

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) announced the winners of the 2018 Nebula Awards during its 53rd Annual Nebula Banquet on Saturday, May 18, 2019, in California. The 2019 Nebula Awards celebrate the best in science fiction and fantasy writing from the prior year.

Top honors for this year's awards went to the Hugo Award-winning Mary Robinette Kowal’s novel The Calculating Stars (TOR). The novel is the first in a series by Kowal that reimagines what America might look like if in 1952 a giant meteorite fell to earth and obliterated Washington D.C. and the East Coast. The novel is anchored by a female protagonist named Emma York. York is a former fighter pilot who desires to help humanity find a way to colonize space if only those in power would let her! Humanity is up against the clock in this novel as climate devastation threatens to destroy the Earth and everything on it.

Taking top honors in the category of Best Game Writing was the series Black Mirror: Bandersnatch by Charlie Brooker (House of Tomorrow & Netflix). The choose-your-own-adventure-type series was a groundbreaking interactive released in 2018 that blended game design with more traditional storytelling elements. Perhaps now we have finally answered the question whether the series was a film or a game. Okay, maybe not, but we're happy to see innovation in the field of interaction and storytelling rewarded.

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation was filled with power hitters like Black Panther by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole and A Quiet Place from John Krasinski and Bryan Woods & Scott Beck. Ultimately, the hugely successful animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the category. The film, written by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, previously won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Our heartfelt congratulations to the nominees and winners. Thanks for making science fiction and fantasy such a wonderful place.

Here's a complete listing of all the nominees and winners:

Best Novel

Winner: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal, published by Tor

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang, published by Harper Voyager

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller, published by Ecco

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, published by Del Rey

Witchmark by C.L. Polk, published by Tor.com

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse, published by Saga Press

Best Novella

Winner: “The Tea Master and the Detective” by Aliette de Bodard, published by Subterranean Press

“Fire Ant” by Jonathan P. Brazee, published by Semper Fi Press

“The Black God’s Drums” by P. Djèlí Clark, published by Tor.com

“Alice Payne Arrives” by Kate Heartfield, published by Tor.com

“Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach” by Kelly Robson, published by Tor.com

“Artificial Condition: The Murderbot Diaries” by Martha Wells, published by Tor.com

Best Novelette

Winner: “The Only Harmless Great Thing” by Brooke Bolander, published by Tor.com

“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections” by Tina Connolly, published by Tor.com

“An Agent of Utopia” by Andy Duncan, published by Small Beer Press

“The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births” by José Pablo Iriarte, published by Lightspeed Magazine

“The Rule of Three” by Lawrence M. Schoen, published by Future Science Fiction Digest

“Messenger” by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and R.R. Virdi

Best Short Story

“Interview for the End of the World” by Rhett C. Bruno

Winner: “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington” by P. Djèlí Clark, published by Fireside Magazine

“Going Dark” by Richard Fox

“And Yet” by A.T. Greenblatt, published by Uncanny

“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. Harrow, published by Apex Magazine

“The Court Magician” by Sarah Pinsker, published by Lightspeed Magazine

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy,” written by Megan Amram

Black Panther, written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole

A Quiet Place, written by John Krasinski and Bryan Woods & Scott Beck

Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, written by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman

Dirty Computer, written by Janelle Monáe and Chuck Lightning

Sorry to Bother You, written by Boots Riley

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

Winner: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, published by Henry Holt and Macmillan UK

Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi, published by Rick Riordan Presents

A Light in the Dark by A.K. DuBoff, published by BDL

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, published by Balzer + Bray

Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman, published by Random House

Best Game Writing

Winner: Black Mirror: Bandersnatch by Charlie Brooker, published by House of Tomorrow and Netflix

The Road to Canterbury by Kate Heartfield, published by Choice of Games

God of War by Matt Sophos, Richard Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog, Orion Walker, and Adam Dolin, published by Santa Monica Studio/Sony/Interactive Entertainment

Rent-A-Vice by Natalia Theodoridou, published by Choice of Games

The Martian Job by M. Darusha Wehm, published by Choice of Games