With the annual nominations deadline for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel now less than a month away, Libertarian Futurist Society members are encouraged to bring to our attention any eligible candidates they’ve come across.
This is a reminder and last call for nominations for the oldest category of the awards, now 47 years old.
So far, 10 2025 novels have been nominated by LFS members, somewhat less than average for Best Novel, with Feb. 15 the deadline for LFS members to nominate eligible and worthy works.
The current and interim list includes works by three authors who have previously won Prometheus Awards: Dave Freer (Cloud-Castles), Sarah Hoyt (Darkship Thieves) and Harry Turtledove (The Gladiator.)
This year’s interim slate of nominees also includes the latest novel in Karl K. Gallagher’s Fall of the Censor series, which includes quite a few novels recognized as Best Novel finalists.
But it’s also nice to see nominated works by authors who’ve never previously been recognized in our awards. So far this year, half of the novels were written by first-time nominees: Andrew Knighton, John C. A. Manley, Ewan Morrison, Laura Montgomery, Ray Nayler and J. Kenton Pierce.
So what are the novels by these authors that have been nominated so far?
Here’s the current list, in alphabetical order by author:
Storm-Dragon, by Dave Freer
War by Other Means, by Karl K. Gallagher
No Man’s Land, by Sarah Hoyt
Forged for Destiny, by Andrew Knighton
Forged for Prophecy, by Andrew Knighton
All the Humans Are Sleeping, by John C.A. Manley
For Emma, by Ewan Morrison
Planting Life: Shut the Kingdom, by Laura Montgomery
Where the Axe is Buried, by Ray Nayler
A Kiss for Damocles, by J. Kenton Pierce
Caballeros del Camino, by R.H. Snow
Powerless, by Harry Turtledove
ELIGIBILITY CHECKLIST
A work is eligible for the Best Novel award if it is:
(1) a unified fictional narrative of at least 40,000 words
(2) published in English during the current calendar year under consideration, or in November or December of the preceding year in case it was previously overlooked (for example, between Nov. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2026 for the 2027 award.)
(3) generally available through American bookstores or Websites (if not yet available in the U.S., let us know about it, so we can keep tabs on when it does become available, and consider nominating it in that calendar year)
(4) in one of the speculative or fantastic genres, including science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, mythology, fable, scientific or supernatural horror, dystopian cautionary tales and near-future techno-thrillers
(5) thematically pro-liberty and/or anti-authoritarian, whether in terms of general philosophy or of a specific issue, such as championing human rights, fightingauthoritarian threats, ending tyranny, abolishing slavery, defending freedom of speech/press and other civil liberties, and affirming peaceful cooperation and voluntarism in free societies and free markets as the moral and practical alternative to coercion, especially the institutionalized coercion at the core of government
For a fuller understanding of how we apply these last two criteria, see the Appreciations of past award winners at http://lfs.org/blog/.
A VARYING NUMBER OF NOMINEES
Typically, over the past decade or so, between 10 and 16 novels are nominated annually by LFS members for Best Novel, the oldest category of our awards.
For comparison, 11 2024 novels were nominated for the 2025 award, 17 2023 novels (the recent high) for the 2024 award, 15 2022 novels for the 2023 award, 16 2021 novels for the 2022 award, 11 2020 novels for the 2021 award, and 14 2019 novels for the 2020 award.
Once nominations close Feb. 15, 2026, the volunteer LFS members serving on the Prometheus Best Novel Judging Committee will have roughly six more weeks to finish reading the nominees before ranking them by April to select the slate of finalists for the 2026 award.
Almost always, five novels end up as finalists. Occasionally, six are selected in case of a tie. And very rarely, and not at all recently, the Best Novel category has had just three finalists – reflecting a rare year in which extremely few published sf/fantasy novels happen to fit the distinctive dual focus of the Prometheus Awards on both liberty and literary quality.
OUTSIDE SUBMISSIONS INVITED
The LFS invites publishers and authors to bring to our attention any novels they believe may fit the distinctive dual focus of the Prometheus Awards on both quality and liberty.
While only LFS members have the privilege to formally nominate eligible works for any category of the Prometheus Awards, we invite publishers, authors and sf/fantasy fans to notify us of eligible works that might deserve recognition as soon as possible.
For submissions, nominations or suggestions of novels to consider, contact Prometheus Best Novel Judging Committee chair Michael Grossberg at bestnovel@lfs.org
ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.
