The Arthur C Clarke Award
The Arthur C Clarke Award is the UK's foremost literary prize for science fiction literature. It was set up in 1987 funded by a grant from Sir Arthur C Clarke, author of, amongst many others, Childhood's End, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama, and generally considered to be the "Big Three" of SF's classic era.
A shortlist of six is announced in March and the winner in late April or early May. The prize fund is the year in pounds (eg £1999 for the winner in 1999).
There have been three multiple winners of the prize: China Miéville has won on three occasions and Pat Cadigan and Geoff Ryman have won twice. Margaret Atwood remains the only Booker Prize winner also to have won this award - she was the inaugural winner - although 1997's winner, Amitav Ghosh, has been shortlisted for the Booker.
The 2012 shortlist was heavily criticised by 2003's winner Christopher Priest, who dismissed the merits of all the shortlisted books aside from Jane Roger's The Testament of Jessie Lamb (the eventual winner) and called for the judges' resignation.
The 2013 winner was announced on 1st May, with the prize going to Chris Beckett for Dark Eden.
Chair of the judges Andrew M Butler commented, "Dark Eden fuses rich biological and sociological speculation," said . 'Beckett really makes you care for characters who are stranded light years from an Earth they have never really known.'
Tom Hunter, director of the Arthur C Clarke award, said , 'The idea of an abandoned colony on a distant planet is a great SF trope, and Chris Beckett is unflinching in answering the challenges posed by his original 'what if?' concept. The world of Dark Eden is also fascinatingly rich, both in terms of the tiny sliver we originally see through the eyes of the main characters, and also through the powerful sense of a perpetual unknown that lies in the dark beyond and is left to the reader to imagine. Ultimately, for all its alienness, this is a book about being human, our drive to tell stories about ourselves and our world, and a testament to the enduring power of the human imagination.'
2013 Shortlist
Previous winners
2012 The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers
2011 Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
2010 The City & the City by China Miéville
2009 Song of Time by Ian R MacLeod
2008 Black Man by Richard Morgan
2007 Nova Swing by M John Harrison
2006 Air by Geoff Ryman
2005 Iron Council by China Miéville
2004 Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
2003 The Separation by Christopher Priest
2002 Bold As Love by Gwyneth Jones (not currently in print)
2001 Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
2000 Distraction by Bruce Sterling (not currently in print)
1999 Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan (not currently in print)
1998 The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
1997 The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
1996 Fairyland by Paul J McAuley
1995 Fools by Pat Cadigan
1994 Vurt by Jeff Noon (not currently in print)
1993 Body of Glass (published as He, She and It in the United States) by Marge Piercy (not currently in print)
1992 Synners by Pat Cadigan
1991 Take Back Plenty by Colin Greenland (not currently in print)
1990 The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman
1989 Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack (not currently in print))
1988 The Sea and Summer by George Turner (not currently in print)
1987 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood