{"id":1281,"date":"2019-12-30T17:11:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T23:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lfs.org\/blog\/?p=1281"},"modified":"2024-01-03T21:36:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T03:36:29","slug":"looking-back-at-prometheus-awards-history-what-happened-at-the-first-awards-ceremony-in-1979-in-los-angeles-and-why-it-was-controversial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/looking-back-at-prometheus-awards-history-what-happened-at-the-first-awards-ceremony-in-1979-in-los-angeles-and-why-it-was-controversial\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking back at Prometheus Awards history: What happened at the first awards ceremony in 1979 in Los Angeles \u2013 and why it was controversial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today marks nearly the end of a pivotal year marking the 40th\u00a0<\/sup>anniversary of the Prometheus Awards, so it\u2019s interesting to take a moment in 2019 and look back at the birth of the awards with the very first Prometheus Awards ceremony in 1979.
\nFirst envisioned and launched by sf writer L. Neil Smith, the Prometheus Award was first presented in 1979 in a high-profile ceremony at the year\u2019s biggest Libertarian convention, which attracted several thousand people in Los Angeles.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nWriter Robert Anton Wilson announced the winner \u2013 F. Paul Wilson\u2019s sf mystery Wheels Within Wheels<\/em>\u2013 after announcing three finalists, including Poul Anderson\u2019s The Avatar<\/em>and James P. Hogan\u2019s The Genesis Machine.
\n<\/em>Here\u2019s a glimpse of how the event was covered in Frontlines, a leading libertarian-movement-news newsletter published by Reason magazine\u2019s foundation:
\n\u201cThe first-ever Prometheus Award was presented for the best libertarian science fiction novel of 1978. The finalists were Poul Anderson\u2019s The Avatar,<\/em> James P. Hogan\u2019s The Genesis Machine<\/em> and F. Paul Wilson\u2019s Wheels within Wheels.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Robert Anton Wilson did the honors, on behalf of the Prometheus Award Committee (an independent group of libertarian sf fans, who contributed the award), presenting the $2,500 in gold to (no relation) F. Paul Wilson. The prize (which has already increased significantly in value) is the largest award for science fiction given anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nInterestingly, the awards ceremony was presented as the culmination of and at the end of a Libertarian Futurism panel discussion, which had proved surprisingly controversial in the months leading up to the convention.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Several libertarian-movement newsletters, including Frontlines and Update, reported on the controversy earlier in 1979 by highlighting concerns by some that science fiction and libertarian futurist themes were somehow outside the respectable boundaries of libertarian discussions and issues.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nWhile some politically-oriented libertarians favored elimination of the panel (and presumably also the awards ceremony) from the program and schedule of the fall 2019 convention, other prominent libertarians \u2013 including Reason magazine publisher-editor Robert Poole and libertarian feminist\/activist Tonie Nathan defended it.<\/p>\n

“At issue are the theme and emphasis of the 1979 LP National convention. One group wants the program broadened to include futuristic themes; the other wants to retain the strictly political format planned by the Convention Committee,” reported Frontlines in a March 1979 story headlined “Convention Program Sparks Debate.”<\/p>\n

“The controversy began when several Natcom members (including Ben Olson, Sylvia Sanders, John Hilbert and Rich White), together with L. Neil Smith and Cynthia Molson-Smith, organized the Prometheus Award Committee. Its purpose is to present an annual award for ‘the best work of speculative fiction embodying the ideals of voluntarism, independence, self-determination, and freedom (in other words, libertarian science fiction)’ published each year, the Frontlines article reported.<\/p>\n

“So far, no controversy. It was only when the committee asked NatCom to amend the national convention program to provide time for an awards ceremony, and to include a ‘libertarian futurism’ panel on the program, that controversy erupted. Several Natcom members denounced the idea as contrary to the purpose of both the convention and the LP itself. Neither Satcom nor the Convention Committee took any action on it at (the Satcom meeting in) Las Vegas – leading to a frenetic exchange of letters in the weeks that followed,” Frontlines reported.<\/p>\n

“In that heated atmosphere, the futurists were quickly dubbed ‘space cadets’ while their opponents were castigated as power seekers.”<\/p>\n

“(LP leader) Ed Crane… argued that it is ‘simply wrongheaded’ to outline a vision of the future – ‘such visions are for fortunetellers, not libertarians.”<\/p>\n

Toni Nathan, meanwhile, had written and circulated a column defending the awards ceremony and libertarian futurist panel as a modest addition to the convention program.<\/p>\n

Her column was reprinted in that same issue of Frontlines (Vol. 1, No. 7, March 1979) under the title \u201cEnvisioning the Free Society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan (1923-2014), then president of the Association of Libertarian Feminists and the first woman to receive an electoral vote in U.S, history, as the Libertarian vice-presidential candidate in 1972, outlined one major difference between people with a libertarian vision and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps the major difference… is genuine optimism, idealism and a positive view of human nature,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe libertarians have a boundless faith in a beautiful, productive and fruitful future because we know what a free society can produce. We tend to believe most persons who are introduced to our vision of a free society will produce… people who can travel to stars \u2013 people who aspire to new experiences, new delights, new challenges and independent thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorians and economists can show how freedom is good in the aggregate. They can detail the results of the invisible hand. They can explain business, artistic, and scientific successes after the fact. But they cannot document or analyze what is yet to be,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cannot know beforehand what special circumstances will motivate individuals to produce the goods, services and ideas that enrich human life. It is artists, poets and writers who paint the future and inspire action. Their dreams, their imagination, their inquiries, light up the minds of inventors, entrepreneurs and workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLibertarians dream. And because they dream, they create. Let us, therefore, lace our libertarian convention with dreams. Let us leaven our politics with imagination and project the future for those who want a vision of something worth striving for…. Let us explore the shape of the future.<\/p>\n

What is the shape of the future? No one knows. But show me your vision and I will show you mine. To reach a star, I will willingly follow a path untrod by others… Encourage us to dream at our convention. Stimulate our minds, whet our appetites and show us a vision of future freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s precisely what several leading libertarians \u2013 including Bob Poole and Joseph Martino, who became and remain veteran members of the Libertarian Futurist Society, established in 1982 to sustain and administer the Prometheus Awards, which went on hiatus after the 1979 award \u2013 did in pulling off the first Libertarian Futurism panel at a major 1970s Libertarian convention.<\/p>\n

From the Frontline convention report:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe long awaited Futurism panel proved to be one of the most popular events. After Bob Poole\u2019s introduction making the case for a libertarian futurism, the audience was treated to a slide show on computers by Byte<\/em> editor Carl Helmers, an inspiring talk on the need for libertarian visions of the future by The Futurist\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Joseph Martino, a pastiche of possibilities for life-extension by Robert Anton Wilson, and discussions of space industrialization, privatization and weaponry by Mark Frazier and Gary Hudson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>With an attendance of over 2000 people (from 47 states) and perhaps partly because of its wide-ranging program, the convention attracted major media coverage, with correspondents from national newspapers and such magazine as Esquire, Omni<\/em> (a popular science\/futurist magazine of that era), Oui, Penthouse<\/em> and TWA Ambassador.
\n<\/em>
\nWith the advantage of hindsight, we know that all three 1979 Prometheus Awards finalists \u2013 including Anderson and Hogan \u2013 would go on to win more than one Prometheus Award over the next two decades.<\/p>\n

And with hindsight, we can see that in many ways, what L. Neil Smith started that year continues today, well into the 21st\u00a0<\/sup>century, with the same libertarian futurist spirit of hope and vision for a better, freer future.<\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE LFS:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series of more than 100 past winners since 1979.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch <\/strong>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt),Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us! <\/em><\/strong>To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction,\u00a0join<\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

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 sparking innovation, better ideas, peace, prosperity, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, individuality and human dignity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today marks nearly the end of a pivotal year marking the 40th\u00a0anniversary of the Prometheus Awards, so it\u2019s interesting to take a moment in 2019 and look back at the birth of the awards with the very first Prometheus Awards ceremony in 1979. First envisioned and launched by sf writer L. Neil Smith, the Prometheus … Continue reading Looking back at Prometheus Awards history: What happened at the first awards ceremony in 1979 in Los Angeles \u2013 and why it was controversial<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,249,1910,1861],"tags":[257,70,255,161,253,6,250,254,252,258,228,251,256,72],"class_list":["post-1281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-awards-history","category-f-paul-wilson","category-poul-anderson","tag-awards-history","tag-f-paul-wilson","tag-frontlines","tag-james-p-hogan","tag-joseph-martino","tag-poul-anderson","tag-prometheus-awards-ceremony","tag-robert-anton-wilson","tag-robert-poole","tag-the-avatar","tag-the-genesis-machine","tag-tonie-nathan","tag-update","tag-wheels-within-wheels"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-kF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1281"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6823,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281\/revisions\/6823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}