2016 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award

Aimee Ogden of Madison, Wisconsin has won the grand prize in the 2016 Jim Baen Memorial Award competition for her short story “Dear Ammi.” Jennifer Brozek took second place, and Ronald D. Ferguson third.

GRAND PRIZE
“Dear Ammi” by Aimee Ogden

SECOND PLACE
“To Lose the Stars” by Jennifer Brozek

THIRD PLACE
“Cylinders” by Ronald D. Ferguson

The contest looks for stories that demonstrate the positive aspects of space exploration and discovery.

Ogden wrote about her trip to accept the award:

I am about as tired and about as happy as I can remember after an amazing weekend in San Juan, PR, where I got to attend the International Space Development Conference, where the folks at Baen were kind enough to send me. They were also nice enough to bestow me with a shiny chunk of crystal that I was only too pleased to be pulled aside over for a little extra chat with the TSA. “¡Usted es el ganador del gran premio!” Si, TSA dude, I totally am and I’m over the moon.

 

Aimee Ogden

Aimee Ogden

Judges for the award were the editors of Baen Books and special guest judge author David Drake. Stories were judged anonymously.

The winner receives a trophy and her story will be published June 2016 at the Baen.com web site, where new fiction is featured each month.

“The National Space Society and Baen Books applaud the role that science fiction plays in advancing real science and have teamed up to sponsor this short fiction contest in memory of Jim Baen, Baen Books’ founder,” said William Ledbetter, contest administrator. “We believe–and strive to show with these imaginative stories–that humanity has a bright and exciting future beyond the bounds of Earth. We want to see Moon bases, Mars colonies, orbital habitats, space elevators, asteroid mining, realistic spacecraft, heroics, sacrifice, and adventure. This year’s winning stories deliver just that.”

What the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award looks like.

What the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award looks like.

5 thoughts on “2016 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award

  1. It’s funny how if one doesn’t know gender, sexual orientation, race, political attitudes of authors one may not have the same issues with a work as they might if they know those facts.

    This is why some magazines are now doing blind submission reading. We’d probably see a difference in what publishing houses accepted from authors and how they’d market books if the did blind submissions and a basic marketing & PR plan including cover ideas before finding out anything about the other.

  2. Congratulations to the winner, and I am glad the TSA story ended up being a cute one, rather than Kafka-esque.

  3. Pingback: NEWS FROM FANDOM: 5/29/16 - Amazing Stories

Comments are closed.