Not all literary award-winners stand the test of time.
Most works of arts and entertainment fade. Yet when they last and take on the patina of a classic, they should be recognized.
For only the third time in the history of the Prometheus Awards, a former Best Novel finalist has been inducted into the Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
Terry Pratchett’s novel The Truth, first recognized by the Libertarian Futurist Society as a 2001 Best Novel finalist, has won the 2024 award for Best Classic Fiction.
Before The Truth was inducted this year into our Hall of Fame, only two other Best Novel finalists have received that rare honor: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Falling Free and Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon.
Cryptonomicon, published in 1999 and a 2000 Best Novel finalist, was inducted in 2013 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.
Falling Free, a 1989 Best Novel finalist, was inducted in 2014 into the Hall of Fame.
While it’s common for eligible older works to be nominated repeatedly for the Hall of Fame, it’s relatively rare for LFS members to nominate a former Best Novel finalist for consideration.
When they do, it’s because they consider that novel to be very good, with lasting appeal and enduring themes that dramatize the perennial conflict between Liberty and Power, champion individual rights, favor voluntary cooperation over institutionalized coercion, expose the abuses and excesses of coercive government, and/or critique or satirize authoritarian systems, ideologies and assumptions.
WHY FORMER WINNERS ARE INELIGIBLE FOR RENOMINATION
At the same time, not one former Prometheus Award winner in any category has been considered for more recognition.
That’s because under our long-standing award rules, works that have previously been recognized with one of our awards are considered ineligible for nomination.
First established soon after the Prometheus Hall of Fame was launched in 1983 to recognize older outstanding pro-freedom sf/fantasy published well before our award was established, this rule has several purposes.
First of all, LFS leaders quickly reached a consensus that formal recognition as a Prometheus Award winner is sufficient to put the work on the map, raise its visibility further and bring it to the well-deserved attention of more sf/fantasy fans and libertarians.
Also, LFS members wanted to ensure that the new Hall of Fame category has its own legitimate focus on older works and could establish its own separate and distinct identity.
There was a concern that without such a rule, the new Best Classic Fiction category might begin to overlap with the Best Novel category – and as duplications on both lists developed, the Hall of Fame might end up collapsing into a delayed Best Novel winners list.
To help distinguish each annual Prometheus category, an additional Hall of Fame rule was adopted to ensure that enough time would pass after a work’s initial publication (or staging, screening, airing or other release) so that LFS members could have the perspective of judging potential classics with the greater perspective of hindsight.
Initially established with a mandate that at least five years must pass after the initial appearance or release of the new work, this longevity rule later was expanded to a minimum of 20 years after publication.
So, for example, looking ahead to next year’s Prometheus Hall of Fame – for which nominations are now open – the 2025 award is open to any otherwise eligible* works that first appeared in 2005 or earlier.
(* Otherwise eligible means that the works must fall within the broadly defined genre of speculative fiction and also must dramatize or explore libertarian and/or anti-authoritarian themes.)
So all that explains why former Best Novel nominees or finalists are eligible for Hall of Fame nomination – but winners in any category aren’t eligible for renomination in any category, including our occasional Special Awards.
NOTE: To nominate eligible works for the Prometheus Hall of Fame, contact LFS President William H. Stoddard, who chairs the Hall of Fame finalist-selection judging committee, at halloffame@lfs.org
To look over the history of past Hall of Fame nominees and finalists, visit the Past Prometheus Best Novel Nominees page.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:
* Prometheus winners: For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including 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, which now 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.
* 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.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremonywith inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freerand Sarah Hoyt), Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook pagefor comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, jointhe Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more 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, individuality and human dignity.
Through recognizing the literature of liberty and the many different but complementary visions of a free future via the Prometheus Awards, the LFS hopes to help spread ideas and ethical principles that help humanity overcome tyranny, end slavery, reduce the threat of war, repeal or constrain other abuses of coercive power and achieve universal liberty, respect for human rights and a better world (perhaps ultimately, worlds) for all.
