The Preliminary Nebula Ballot has landed

[ellen_datlow]

The Preliminary Nebula Ballot
I think it's an embarrassment that nothing made the preliminary ballot for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. . I really feel the membership let the ball drop in this category.

But on the admirable side, the venues for the short story category are relatively diverse this year -- of the fourteen stories:

2 were published online (Clarkesworld and Helix)
1 is from an anthology (The Coyote Road)
1 is from a collection (The Guild of Xenolinguists)

magazines
4 from Asimov's
2 from Realms of Fantasy
2 from F&F
1 Analog
1 from Subterranean Magazine

Out of the four novellas:
2 are from magazines (Analog and F&SF)
1 from a collection (Dangerous Spaces)
1 from an anthology (Alien Crimes)

The nine novelettes are from the usual suspects: F&SF, Asimov's, Analog, and one anthology (he SFWA European Hall of Fame)

and one lonely script: WALL-E

Comments

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I think it's an embarrassment that nothing made the preliminary ballot for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Well, they did nominate two YA books ... it's just that they were both put in the main category.

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

They should move them to the Norton. Otherwise, what's the point?

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Right.

[pnh.livejournal.com]

But the people who nominated them didn't nominate them for a "Norton," they nominated them for a Nebula. If YA novels are ineligible for the Nebula Award, that's news to me and I daresay it's news to a lot of other members.

The general understanding is that the Norton is its own award, not merely a category of the Nebulas. If matters are otherwise, and the Norton is just the Nebula for best YA book, then this should be clarified. Of course, that would mean it would become the responsibility of the Nebula administrators to draw a clear line between YA work and other fiction, frequently overruling the clear intent of SFWA members who nominate in one category or another. Good luck with that.

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

Yes, all what you said is true.

But then the Norton committee should be investigating why no one is nominating. Should the Norton stay paired with the Nebulas? Should they allow non-SFWA members to nominate?

YA spec fic is arguably getting better press than the adult (with books like Twilight and such), so why is there so little interest.