The Libertarian Futurist Society announced the winners of this year’s Prometheus Awards, which will be handed out in a ceremony at Anticipation, this year’s WorldCon (in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 6-10 August). We detailed the nominees in this article.
The winner of the Best Novel award is Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (published by Tor Books). The Hall of Fame award winners is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (first published in 1955). Doctorow will receive a plaque and a one-ounce gold coin, while a smaller gold coin and a plaque will be presented to Tolkien’s estate.
Chris Hibbert, president of the Libertarian Futurist Society, says that this was Doctorow’s first nomination for a Prometheus award. “Little Brother is a powerful cautionary tale about a high-school student and his friends who are rounded up in the hysteria following a terrorist attack. Doctorow focuses on the consequences and costs of the repression by government agencies in the aftermath of the attack. Marcus Yallow and some of his friends are rounded up and imprisoned in a general sweep, and Marcus’ attempt to assert his rights earns him harsh treatment. After they are released, he works to undermine the terrorist state and build tools that make it possible for private citizens to communicate privately and to organize out of the government’s sight. The emphasis is on how people find the courage to respond to oppression.”
The Lord of the Rings, he notes, “has been nominated several times in the past. Tolkien’s novel evokes the struggle between freedom and absolute tyranny and the dangerous temptations of power over others. His heroes (the hobbits) are everymen, but they rise above their humble station and struggle to ensure that their world will not be dominated by an absolute dictator. This classic work has delighted many readers of all ages for several decades, and has become the standard model for a quest novel. The struggle to escape oppression is central to the action, though it’s taken for granted by the protagonists who just want to be left alone, but willingly shoulder the burden so others can be free.”
Explaining the timing of the announcement, Hibbert says “historically, the LFS followed conventional practice and attempted to keep our winners a surprise for attendees at the awards ceremony, while giving the press advance notice so they could publish announcements in their earliest issue after the event. Before the rise of the Internet this generally worked well; however news travels much faster these days. Last year, for the first time, the LFS changed our practice in order to give fans of the winners the opportunity to attend the awards ceremony and hear the authors’ remarks, and this year we continue that new approach. Cory Doctorow and representatives of J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate have been invited to attend the ceremony to accept their awards. Fans of Doctorow and The Lord of the Rings are welcome to join us in honoring these awards.”
The Prometheus awards honor “outstanding science fiction/fantasy that explores the possibilities of a free future, champions human rights (including personal and economic liberty), dramatizes the perennial conflict between individuals and coercive governments, or critiques the tragic consequences of abuse of power—especially by the State.” They were established—and are sponsored by—the Libertarian Futurist Society in 1979.