2018 Ballots

Update 2/20/19: Tagged 18 Nebula finalists (click link to highlight). (More)

The stories here are considered the year's best SF/F because they have been recommended by one or more prolific reviewers👍, included in a "year's best" anthology📙, or are finalists for one or more awards🏆. Each story shows a "Recommended By" list where a score is tallied from the +2, +1 or +0 after each recommendation.

This page starts as the "Year-To-Date" list and is updated the first of each month with recommendations from prolific reviewers. After a year, it becomes the "SF/F Ballots" list and is updated through the awards voting season with "year's best" anthologies and award finalists such as the Nebulas. When the awards voting season is over, it becomes the "Best SF/F" list and is updated with later awards like the Eugie and Sturgeon as well as the Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy anthology.

1. Year-To-Date


2/1/19: 100% done (✓70/70)
Next Update: Complete

Recommendations By010203040506070809101112
👍GDozois.r+2 👍GDozois.r+1
👍GTognetti+2 👍GTognetti+1
👍JMcGregor+2 👍JMcGregor+1
👍KBurnham+2 👍KBurnham+1
👍RHorton.r+2 👍RHorton.r+1
👍RSR+2 👍RSR+1
👍STomaino+2 👍STomaino+1
Note: KBurnham is a month behind because she reviews online stories (which generally have no advance copies) for a print magazine with a one month lead time.

2. SF/F Ballots


Here are links to ballots for various SF/F awards, 6 that are open to all, and 4 that are open to members of a convention or association.

The magazine-specific awards come with a longlist link to all stories published by each magazine, with blurbs to help you remember the ones you've read and scores to guide further reading.

For the general awards, see the outstanding stories on this page, grouped by length (novella, novelette, short story), by publication, by new writer (year 1, year 2), or by author.

Awards in bold are currently available for voting.

Open to All

Open to Members
Here are some helpful aggregation lists for Best Novel (John DeNardo's Best of the Best), Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form (Metacritic's 2018's Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Superhero Films - scroll down), and Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form (Metacritic's TV Shows Mentioned on Most Critic Top 10 Lists - 2018). GoodReads' Choice Awards 2018 is also useful for science fiction novels, fantasy novels, and graphic novels.

Jury-Only

3. Best SF/F


2/20/19: 47% complete (🏆6/26; 📙2/7; 👍14/14)
Next Updates: Feb (Clarkesworld, BSFA, Nebula)

Story scores will be updated with the release of each 🏆award (finalists, winners), 📙year's best anthology (table of contents, honorable mentions), and 👍reviewer's end-of-year post (award worthy, recommended) according to the estimated schedule below. Final scores for the top stories range from 15-20 by the time the last award winners are announced (see 2017, 2016, 2015; typically early Nov for the World Fantasy Awards).

Clicking on a completed award/year's best/reviewer link will highlight the stories whose score was increased by that award/year's best/reviewer.

General AwardsFinalistsWinners
Eugie📅May📅Early Sep @ DragonCon
Hugo📅Early Apr📅Mid Aug @ WorldCon
Locus📅Early May📅Mid Jun @ Locus Awards Weekend
Nebula🏆Nebula+2📅Mid May @ SFWA Nebula Conference
Sturgeon📅Late May📅Late Jun @ Campbell Conference
Sub-Genre AwardsFinalistsWinners
British Fantasy📅Jul📅Oct @ FantasyCon
BSFA🏆BSFA+1📅Late Apr @ EasterCon
Shirley Jackson📅May📅Jul @ ReaderCon
World Fantasy📅Jul📅Early Nov @ World Fantasy Convention
Readers AwardsFinalistsWinners
Analog🏆Readers+0📅Mid May @ SFWA Nebula Conference
Apex📅Jan
Asimov's🏆Readers+0📅Mid May @ SFWA Nebula Conference
Clarkesworld🏆Readers+0📅Mar
Uncanny🏆Readers+1/0
Year's BestHonorable MentionTable of Contents
Best American SF/F📅Aug📅Aug
Jonathan Strahan📙JStrahan+2
Neil Clarke📅Apr📙NClarke+2
Paula Guran📅Jan
Rich Horton📅Feb
ReviewersRecommendedAward Worthy
Gardner Dozois👍GDozois.r+1👍GDozois.r+2
Gary Tognetti👍GTognetti+1👍GTognetti+2
Jason McGregor👍JMcGregor+1👍JMcGregor+2
Karen Burnham👍KBurnham+1👍KBurnham+2
Rich Horton👍RHorton.r+1👍RHorton.r+2
Greg Hullender👍RSR+1👍RSR+2
Sam Tomaino👍STomaino+1👍STomaino+2


Eric Wong
Updated Friday February 1, 2019

2 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. You have Domestic Violence by Madeline Ashby listed as a novelette, but the word count I get is about 4970.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I repasted the text in Word and got 4,983 but my spreadsheet showed 9,983 so it must have been a typo when I first entered it.

      Delete