Awards nominees – Prometheus Blog

Former winners, finalists compete with newcomer as Prometheus Best Novel finalists 

Three former Prometheus winners, a frequent Best Novel finalist and a first-time nominee are competing to win this year’s Prometheus Award for Best Novel.

J. Kenton Pierce (Photo courtesy of Raconteur Press)

The Prometheus Best Novel Judging Committee, drawn from the LFS membership, has selected five 2025 novels as 2026 finalists from 14 nominated works. The Best Novel finalists, listed in alphabetical order by author, are Storm-Dragon, by Dave Freer (Raconteur Press); War by Other Means, by Karl K. Gallagher (Kelt Haven Press); No Man’s Land, by Sarah Hoyt (Goldport Press); A Kiss for Damocles, by J. Kenton Pierce (Raconteur Press); and Powerless, by Harry Turtledove (CAEZIK SF & Fantasy.)

Pierce was nominated for the first time for a Prometheus Award, so his inclusion as a Best Novel finalist is particularly impressive in a year that many judges feel has been a superior one for freedom-themed SF/fantasy.

Continue reading Former winners, finalists compete with newcomer as Prometheus Best Novel finalists 

A new video, by a nominated author and his editor, discusses the Prometheus Best Novel nominees and 2026 finalists – with a big reveal

By Michael Grossberg

If you were nominated for a Prometheus Award for Best Novel, would you invite the world to watch you in the moment you found out whether your novel was selected among the finalists?

Novelist John C.A. Manley was willing to do that yesterday with his editor Peter Toccalino in an interesting and wide-ranging 40-minute video discussion of this year’s Best Novel nominees and finalists.

Continue reading A new video, by a nominated author and his editor, discusses the Prometheus Best Novel nominees and 2026 finalists – with a big reveal

“And the nominees are…” NOT the same thing as finalists! (How the Oscars differ from the Hugo and Prometheus awards, and why it matters)

By Michael Grossberg

“And the nominees are…”

Those words are familiar to just about everyone in America, since people frequently repeat them at several of the biggest annual televised awards ceremonies.

Especially at the Academy Awards, informally known as the Oscars – and still the premier annual American awards show in arts and entertainment despite its recent decline.

Yet I’d argue that such an iconic phrase is often misleading. Worse, it can lead to confusion and misperceptions about other awards – including our own.

The Prometheus Awards use the term “nominees” quite differently than the Oscars do.

What the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which sponsors and presents the Academy Awards, dubs “nominees” is actually what the Prometheus awards quite properly refers to as finalists.

That may seem like mere semantics, or a minor disagreement over labeling, but it’s an important distinction with significant differences.

In fact, finalists attain a higher level of recognition than nominees – and thus deserve greater respect and their own distinct name.

Continue reading “And the nominees are…” NOT the same thing as finalists! (How the Oscars differ from the Hugo and Prometheus awards, and why it matters)

New generation of writers dominates this year’s 14 Prometheus nominations for Best Novel 

By Michael Grossberg

Libertarian Futurist Society members have nominated 14 novels for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel. Of those, nine nominees were written by authors nominated for the first time for a Prometheus Award.

With so many authors new to our awards, the Prometheus Awards may be entering a more hopeful period in which a new generation is writing science fiction, fantasy and other fantastical works informed by a clear awareness of the dangers of tyranny and the benefits of freedom.

The “new” Prometheus-recognized writers include Max Harms, Andrew Knighton, John C. A. Manley, Ewan Morrison, Laura Montgomery, Ray Nayler, J. Kenton Pierce and David A. Price.

Nominated again are three Prometheus-winning authors – Dave Freer (Cloud-Castles), Sarah Hoyt (Darkship Thieves) and Harry Turtledove (The Gladiator) – and one writer, Karl K. Gallagher, whose works often have become Best Novel finalists. In addition, writer R.H. Snow has been nominated several times for Best Novel.

Continue reading New generation of writers dominates this year’s 14 Prometheus nominations for Best Novel 