This award has been given since 1987 for the best sf novel whose UK first edition was published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an inscribed bookend and a sum of money from a grant initially donated by Arthur C Clarke. In 2001 the prize money – until then a constant £1000 – was increased to £2001 as a gesture to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); it has since risen by £1 annually to reflect the year. The winner is chosen by a jury, whose membership varies from year to year, and the award is judged by representatives of the Science Fiction Foundation (of which Clarke was Patron until his death), the British Science Fiction Association (of which Clarke was President) and the Sci-Fi London sf Cinema festival. The sf organizations each provide two jurors and the museum one. The festival currently hosts the annual awards presentation; its role was formerly played by the London Science Museum and before that – as a supplier of judges though not venues – by the International Science Policy Foundation. Clarke's generosity was all the more notable, in hindsight, in that the award has frequently gone to rather non-Clarkean books; the first award, for novels published during 1986, interestingly went to a novel published and marketed as non-genre. The awards are listed below by date of announcement.
Pat Cadigan and Geoff Ryman have both won the Clarke Award twice; in 2010, China Miéville became the first three-time winner. [PN/DRL]
Winners
- 1987: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
- 1988: George Turner, The Sea and Summer (1987; vt Drowning Towers 1988)
- 1989: Rachel Pollack, Unquenchable Fire
(1988) - 1990: Geoff Ryman, The Child Garden (Summer-Autumn 1987 Interzone as "Love Sickness"; much exp 1988)
- 1991: Colin Greenland, Take Back Plenty (1990)
- 1992: Pat Cadigan, Synners (1991)
- 1993: Marge Piercy, He, She and It (1991; vt Body of Glass 1992)
- 1994: Jeff Noon, Vurt (1993)
- 1995: Pat Cadigan, Fools (1992)
- 1996: Paul J McAuley, Fairyland (1995)
- 1997: Amitav Ghosh, The Calcutta Chromosome (1996 India)
- 1998: Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow (1996)
- 1999: Tricia Sullivan, Dreaming in Smoke (1998)
- 2000: Bruce Sterling, Distraction (1998)
- 2001: China Miéville, Perdido Street Station (2000)
- 2002: Gwyneth Jones, Bold As Love (2001)
- 2003: Christopher Priest, The Separation (2002)
- 2004: Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver (2003)
- 2005: China Miéville, Iron Council (2004)
- 2006: Geoff Ryman, Air (2004)
- 2007: M John Harrison, Nova Swing (2006)
- 2008: Richard Morgan, Black Man (2007; vt Thirteen 2007)
- 2009: Ian R MacLeod, Song of Time (2008)
- 2010: China Miéville, The City & the City (2009)
- 2010: Lauren Beukes, Zoo City (2010)
- 2011: Jane Rogers, The Testament of Jessie Lamb (2011)
- 2012: Chris Beckett, Dark Eden (2012)
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