Philip K. Dick Award
The Philip K. Dick Memorial Award was created by admirers of the author shortly after Dick's death (in 1982) to honor the Best American Original SF Paperback Book of the year. The prize ($1,000 for 1st place, $500 for 2nd) is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and awarded at Norwescon, held in the state of Washington each year in the Spring.
The Award was suggested initially by SF author Thomas M. Disch, who was for several years its administrator. An administrative team of Algis Budrys and David G. Hartwell succeeded him.
The prizes come with a certificate, featuring a gold logo for first place and a silver logo for second. A jury (of 3, 4, or 5 members) now comprises each year's panel, with most of the jurors naming their successors for the next year. Usually one judge is the previous year's winner. In addition to SF and fantasy authors, there is at least one academic and one editor on each panel.
Prize moneys initially were obtained by solicitations from publishers of paperback books, and some authorities have contended that the $1,000 and $500 prizes were awarded only when funds were available. The Award currently is supported by the Philip K. Dick Trust.
The first winner of the Award was Rudy Rucker for his novel Software. Ray Nelson, a friend and one-time collaborator of Dick (The Ganymede Takeover) was a finalist for the first Award and received a Special Citation from the award administrators. Special Citations usually are given for books that take second place in the competition.
Rudy Rucker, Tim Powers, Stephen Baxter, and Richard Paul Russo all have won the Award more than once.
| Year | Author | Work |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Rudy Rucker | Software |
| 1984 | Tim Powers | The Anubis Gates |
| 1985 | William Gibson | Neuromancer |
| 1986 | Tim Powers | Dinner at Deviant's Palace |
| 1987 | James P. Blaylock | Homunculus |
| 1988 | Patricia Geary | Strange Toys |
| 1989 tie | Paul J. McAuley | Four Hundred Billion Stars |
| 1989 tie | Rudy Rucker | Wetware |
| 1990 | Richard Paul Russo | Subterranean Gallery |
| 1991 | Pat Murphy | Points of Departure |
| 1992 | Ian McDonald | King of Morning, Queen of Day |
| 1993 | Richard Grant | Through the Heart |
| 1994 tie | John M. Ford | Growing Up Weightless |
| 1994 tie | Jack Womack | Elvissey |
| 1995 | Robert Charles Wilson | Mysterium |
| 1996 | Bruce Bethke | Headcrash |
| 1997 | Stephen Baxter | The Time Ships |
| 1998 | Stepan Chapman | The Troika |
| 1999 | Geoff Ryman | 253 |
| 2000 | Stephen Baxter | Vacuum Diagrams |
| 2001 | Michael Marshall Smith | Only Forward |
| 2002 | Richard Paul Russo | Ship of Fools |
| 2003 | Carol Emshwiller | The Mount |
| 2004 | Richard Morgan | Altered Carbon |
| 2005 | Gwyneth Jones | Life |
| 2006 | M. M. Buckner | War Surf |
| 2007 | Chris Moriarty | Spin Control |
| 2008 | M. John Harrison | Nova Swing |
| 2009 tie | Adam-Troy Castro | Emissaries from the Dead |
| 2009 tie | David Walton | Terminal Mind |
| 2010 | C. L. Anderson | Bitter Angels |
| 2011 | Mark Hodder | The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack |
| 2012 | Simon Morden | Samuil Petrovitch trilogy |
| 2013 | Brian Francis Slattery | Lost Everything |
| 2014 | Ben H. Winters | Countdown City |
| 2015 | Meg Elison | The Book of the Unnamed Midwife |
| 2016 | Ramez Naam | Apex |
| 2017 | Claudia Casper | The Mercy Journals |
| 2018 | Carrie Vaughn | Bannerless |
| Award | Website | 1983— |
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