The publishers, editors, and staff of Locus Online are pleased to announce the creation of the Locus Online Awards, for works of science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative fiction, alternate history, slipstream fiction, and sci-fi. The first awards will be presented in December, 2002.
The Locus Online Awards are designed to honor works of science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative fiction, alternate history, slipstream fiction, cyberpunk fiction, and sci-fi that have not, by the end of the calendar year, already won other awards.
"In researching the Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards," a spokesman for the Locus Online Awards stated, "we became aware of a significant number of novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, vignettes, anecdotes, introductions, afterwords, and cover blurbs — in all fields, not just science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative fiction, alternate history, slipstream fiction, cyberpunk fiction, steampunk fiction, and sci-fi — that are never even nominated for awards each year, much less win. Given the incredible number of awards in our field, this may seem hard to believe, but it's true."
To take an obvious example, the spokesman cited Blake Gunderloy's Lost In Space novelization, The Robot's Revenge. "We've done extensive research, and this novel has never won anything. Surely no good publication deserves to go unrewarded."
The Locus Online Awards will be made in a number of divisions, including but not limited to science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative fiction, alternate history, slipstream fiction, cyberpunk fiction, steampunk fiction, romance fiction, and sci-fi, and a number of categories in each division, including but not limited to novel, first novel, last novel, novella, novelette, short story, vignette, introduction, and cover blurb.
Though the exact design of the Locus Online Award remains undetermined, award administrators have informally dubbed them the 'Harrisons', after an obscure Kurt Vonnegut character.
Determination of winners for 2002 will necessarily wait until all other genre awards have been announced; formal consideration for this year will commence following announcement of the World Fantasy Awards in early November. The Locus Online Awards will be determined solely by the publishers, editors, and staff of Locus Online. All decisions are final.
