2015 Nebula Awards®
Photos by John Scalzi
Presented at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois on May 14, 2016.
This was the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Nebula Awards®. For the second year in a row, the Nebulas were held in Chicago. The Weekend was renamed the SFWA Nebula Conference and presented perhaps the most extensive professional writer oriented programming ever, with invited guests such as Patreon, Kobo, Kickstarter, and many others, in addition to the third SFWA Legal Seminar in conjunction with the Chicago Bar Association. John Hodgman was a particularly entertaining Toastmaster. The ceremony was preceded by a truly impressive performance of Henry Lien’s “Radio SFWA” by Emperor Stardust and the Eunuchs of the Forbidden City. This year the Alternate Universe acceptance speeches were delivered in the main ballroom, bringing them to greater attention. The conference was held simultaneously with the Chicago Book Expo America, with some crossover of authors and events, including a very well attended Mass Autographing with 86 authors present.
Best Novel
- Raising Caine by Charles E. Gannon, published by Baen
- The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, published by Orbit US and Orbit UK
- Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie, published by Orbit US and Orbit UK
- The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu, published by Saga Press
- Winner: Uprooted by Naomi Novik, published by Del Rey
- Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen, published by Tor
- Updraft by Fran Wilde, published by Tor
Best Novella
- “Wings of Sorrow and Bone” by Beth Cato, published by Harper Voyager Impulse
- “The Bone Swans of Amandale” by C. S. E. Cooney
- “The New Mother” by Eugene Fischer, published by Asimov’s Magazine
- “The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” by Usman T. Malik, published by Tor.com
- Winner: “Binti” by Nnedi Okorafor, published by Tor.com
- “Waters of Versailles” by Kelly Robson, published by Tor.com
Best Novelette
- “Rattlesnakes and Men” by Michael Bishop, published by Asimov’s Magazine
- “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” by Brooke Bolander, published by Lightspeed Magazine
- “Grandmother-nai-Laylit’s Cloth of Winds” by R.B. Lemberg, published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies
- “The Ladies’ Aquatic Gardening Society” by Henry Lien, published by Asimov’s Magazine
- “The Deepwater Bride” by Tamsyn Muir, published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
- Winner: “Our Lady of the Open Road” by Sarah Pinsker, published by Asimov’s Magazine
Best Short Story
- “Madeleine” by Amal El-Mohtar, published by Lightspeed Magazine
- “Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer, published by Clarkesworld
- “Damage” by David D. Levine, published by Tor.com
- “When Your Child Strays from God” by Sam J. Miller, published by Clarkesworld
- “Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker, published by Clarkesworld
- Winner: “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong, published by Nightmare Magazine
Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
- Inside Out written by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, and Ronnie del Carmen, directed by Pete Docter (Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios)
- Ex Machina written by Alex Garland, directed by Alex Garland (Film4 and DNA Films)
- The Martian written by Drew Goddard, directed by Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions, Kinberg Genre, and TSG Entertainment)
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens written by Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt, directed by J.J. Abrams (Lucasfilm and Bad Robot Productions)
- Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nick Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Village Roadshow Pictures, Kennedy Miller Mitchell, and RatPac-Dune Entertainment)
- Jessica Jones: AKA Smile written by Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, and Jamie King, directed by Michael Rymer (Marvel Television, ABC Studios, and Tall Girls Productions)
Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
- Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly, published by Tor Teen
- Court of Fives by Kate Elliott, published by Little, Brown
- Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge, published by Amulet Books and Macmillan UK
- Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace, published by Big Mouth House
- Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee, published by Flux
- Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older, published by Levine
- Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, published by Balzer + Bray
- Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, published by Harper Teen
- Winner: Updraft by Fran Wilde, published by Tor