SF authors, small press publishers and WSFA members have until May 1, 2011 to nominate stories for the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award for short fiction, now in its fifth year.

The award honors the accomplishments of small presses in promoting and preserving sf. Eligible nominees are works of short fiction up to 17,500 words long in the sf, horror and fantasy genres, published by a small press.

The winner will be chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association. Blind voting is done using texts with the identity of the author and publisher stripped.

According to The Rules: “Small press publishers and periodicals may nominate up to three (3) stories, published by themselves or others. A writer may nominate one (1) story, published by herself/himself or others. A WSFA member may nominate one (1) story.” Then five members of WSFA screen the submissions and produce the list of finalists.

This year’s WSFA Small Press Award Committee is Colleen Cahill (Chair), Cathy Green, Paul Haggerty, Gayle Surrette, Michael Walsh, and Carolyn Frank (Administrator).

The award will be presented at Capclave 11 over the October 14-16 weekend.