While nominations are open in all categories, we're also featuring a few genres at a time over the first few days — Eds.
Science fiction and fantasy takes us to realms of the imagination:
places and times and realities where the rules of life may be
different than our own and where the impossible and improbable become
real. But good science fiction and fantasy does more than that: it
asks, "What if?" It makes us think. It holds up a mirror to our own
society and lets us see ourselves in a different light.
Like our counterparts in the other categories, we'll be looking for
books that combine the best writing with kid or teen appeal, but we'll
also be looking at some of the unique requirements of the genre, such
as world building and internal consistency. The elements in a science
fiction or fantasy book don't have to be possible, but the writer must
make us believe that they really could exist, perhaps do exist, if
only we could find them.
This is a diverse category that includes a wide range of subjects,
from wizards, demons and vampires to outer space adventures, alternate
history, and dystopian futures. If a book has any unreal,
otherworldly, or mystical elements in it, chances are that it belongs
here.
–Sheila Ruth, category organizer
Click here to go to the nomination form and leave your nomination for this category. (For more information about the form, go here.)
To view an up-to-the-minute list of what's already been nominated for this category, click here.