One of the coolest things my alma mater’s Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction does is facilitate the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best SF short story of the year. They announced nominees this week.

Named for the phenomenal author who bridged pulp SF and highbrow literary complexity, the Sturgeon Award is aimed specifically at short fiction: anything from flash to novella.  I’m copying the list of finalists from the Center’s Facebook page below:

This year’s finalists for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short science fiction story have been selected. The award will be presented this year during the Campbell Conference Awards reception on Friday, June 21, 2019.

Our 2019 Finalists Are:

“Freezing Rain, A Chance of Falling,” 
L.X. Beckett.
Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2018.

“The Only Harmless Great Thing,”
Brooke Bolander.
Tor.com Books

“The Secret Life of the Nine Negro Teeth of
George Washington,”
P. Djèlí Clark.
Fireside Fiction, Feb 2018.

“Umbernight,”
Carolyn Ives Gilman.
Clarkesworld, Feb 2018.

“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,”
Daryl Gregory.
tor.com, Sept 2018.

“When We Were Starless,”
Simone Heller.
Clarkesworld, Oct 2018.

“The Starship and the Temple Cat,”
Yoon Ha Lee.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Feb 2018.

“When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis,”
Annalee Newitz.
Slate.com, Dec 2018.

“Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach,”
Kelly Robson.
Tor.com Books

“On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog,”
Adam Shannon.
Apex, Dec 2018.

“Yard Dog,”
Tade Thompson.
Fiyah, July 2018.

Congratulations to the nominees!

And just to clarify, I’m on the advisory board of the Gunn CSSF, but I’m not on the Sturgeon Committee or involved in the nominations process in any way. That task is reserved for a dedicated group of pros with a collective publishing experience that spans more than six decades and hundreds of works, that includes Kij Johnson, Andy Duncan, Elizabeth Bear, the center’s founder and namesake James Gunn, and trustee of the Sturgeon estate, Nöel Sturgeon.