100 Year Starship named today the finalists in the 2023 Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Writing in seven categories, including the new Original Local Short-Form Fiction for residents of continental Africa in conjunction with the upcoming Nexus Nairobi 2023. Speculative fiction writer, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is serving as a judge with 100YSS for the 2023 Original Local Short-Form Fiction Award. 

The Canopus Award recognizes the finest fiction and non-fiction works that engage broad audiences and enhance the understanding, excitement, and knowledge of interstellar space exploration and travel. This year’s theme was “Who Owns Space?” Writers were invited to explore the possible paths ahead in space, to help identify how various actions, technology focuses, policies, individuals, and communities, and even the stories we tell over the next ten years may indelibly fix space exploration objectives, gatekeepers, and benefits for decades into the future.

“For thousands of years, humans have looked up to the tapestry of stars, sun, moon, and lights in the sky,” said Dr. Mae Jemison, “Today, while more and more reachable, the question is will the sky and space remain an inheritance for us all? For many, the perception is that space is exclusive to only certain people and countries. This year’s original submission authors examine these issues and give us a lot to ponder and discuss.”

Award categories and finalists include:

Published Long-Form Fiction

• Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden, 2019 (HarperVoyager)
• Light Chaser by Peter F. Hamilton and Garth L. Powell, 2021 (Tor)
• Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus, 2022 (Tor)
• Braking Day by Adam Oyebanji, 2022 (DAW)
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, 2022 (Ballantine Books)
• Sentient by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Hernandez Walta, 2019 (TKO)

Published Short-Form Fiction

• “Drift-Flux” by Wole Talabi, 2018, originally published in AfroSFv3
• “Verisya” by Mari Ness, 2022, originally published in Daily Science Fiction
• “Repairs at the Beijing West Space Elevator” by Alex Shvartsman, 2019, originally published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact
• “A Sun Will Always Sing” by Karin Lowachee, 2019, originally published in TheVerge.com
• “Generations” by Osahon Ize-Iyamu, 2018, originally published in Bikes Not Rockets
• “The Hind” by Kevin J. Anderson and Rick Wilber, 2020, originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction
• “Tau Ceti Said What?” by Jack McDevitt, 2021, originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction

Published Long-Form Nonfiction

• A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars by Les Johnson, 2022 (Princeton University Press)
• Extraterrestrial by Avi Loeb, 2021 (Mariner Books)
• Imagined Life by James Trefil and Michael Summers, 2019 (Smithsonian Books)
• The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility by Robert Zubrin, 2019 (Prometheus)
• Indigenous Principles for 100 Year Interstellar Voyages by Dawn Marsden, 2021 (Wood Lake Publishing)

Published Short-Form Nonfiction

• “Language Development During Interstellar Travel” by Alex McKenzie and J. Punske, 2020, originally published in Acta Futura
• “Artificial Intelligence for Interstellar Travel” by Andreas M. Hein and Stephen Baxter, 2018, originally published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
• “Navigation and Star Identification for an Interstellar Mission” by Paul McKee, Jacob Kowalski, and John A. Christian, 2022, originally published in Acta Astronautica
• “Joining the ‘Galactic Club’: What Price Admission? A Hypothetical Case Study of the Impact of Human Rights on a Future Accession of Humanity to Interstellar Civilization Networks” by Michael Bohlander, 2021, originally published in Futures
• “Migrating Extraterrestrial Civilizations and Interstellar Colonization: Implications for SETI and SETA” by Irina K. Romanovskaya, 2022, originally published in the International Journal of Astrobiology

Published Digital Presentation

• Space Haven by Bugbyte LTD., 2020, (Bugbyte LTD.)
• The Outer Worlds by Obsidian Entertainment, 2019, (Private Division)
• Ixion by Bulwark Studios, 2022, (Kasedo Games)
• Colony Ship by Iron Tower Studio, 2021, (Iron Tower Studio)
• The Sights of Space: A Voyage to Alien Worlds by MelodySheep, 2022, (MelodySheep)
• The Fermi Paradox by Anomaly Games, 2021, (Anomaly Games)

Original Short-Form Fiction

• “Tess 16201c” by Faith Guptill
• “Ortygia” by Scott Jessop
• “The Interlopers” by Robert Buckalew
• “We Should Have Guessed” by Terry Franklin
• “The Living Archaeologist” by Jamiella Brooks

Original Local Short-form Fiction

• “Gumbojena” by Chioniso Tsikisayi, Zimbabwe
• “Space Frenemies” by Oluwatoyin Magbagbeola, Nigeria
• “One More Chance” by Chioma Mildred Okonkwo, Nigeria
• “Incubation” by Amadin Ogbewe, Nigeria

Winners will be announced during a special Canopus Award ceremony on Thursday, February 2, 2023 during the 100YSS Nexus 2023 held in Nairobi, Kenya, January 31-February 4, 2023 (NexusNairobi.org).

With the theme “When Space, Purpose, and Culture Collide,” Nexus Nairobi is “THE space gathering” to experience, connect, contribute to, envision, inspire & be inspired, create, share, explore, learn and foster an extraordinary future while building a better world, here and now. Nexus brings together the range of human experience, skills, knowledge, creativity, passion, commitment, resources, cultures, technologies, policy, investment, education, art, perspectives, and motivation needed to achieve such an extraordinary future. Nexus 2023 is an in-person and virtual live-streamed engaging participants across the globe.

[Based on a press release.]