LFS President William H. Stoddard emceed the 45th Prometheus Awards ceremony, presented live on Zoom on Aug. 30, 2025. Here are his opening and closing remarks.
Welcome to the Libertarian Futurist Society’s annual Prometheus Awards ceremony, in which we recognize outstanding works of libertarian science fiction. We’ve held these ceremonies every year since 1982, when L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach won Best Novel.
What is “libertarian science fiction”? We take both parts of that label in an inclusive spirit.
On one hand, we look for works that are pro-liberty — that explore the question of what a free society is, how we get there, or why the loss of freedom is a disaster.
On the other, we take “science fiction” to encompass all the fantastic genres: fantasy, many sorts of horror, alternative history, dystopia, utopia, and others.