Tag Archives: Endeavour Award

Endeavour Award Taking Entries

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The Endeavour Award for science fiction or fantasy written by Pacific Northwest writers is back. Entries are being accepted through November 15, 2022. The winner receives a handsome physical award and a cash prize of $1,000.

The award, sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), was first given in 1999. It was not presented in 2020 and 2021 due to logistical problems created by the pandemic.  

They are now open to submissions. They welcome all science fiction or fantasy works of 40,000 words or more, or single-author collections of short fiction. Eligibility for nominees remains the same. The author(s) must have been living [maintaining legal or physical residence] in the Pacific Northwest [Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, The Yukon, and British Columbia] when the publisher accepted the book, and must affirm that they wrote the majority of the book while living in the Pacific Northwest. The books must have been published in the United States or in Canada with a copyright date in 2021.

There is a major change in how to submit candidates. They require PDFs or other electronic formats that can be shared with preliminary readers and judges. No physical copies will be accepted. See the website for complete guidelines.

The entry form can be downloaded from: https://osfci.org/endeavour/entryform.pdf. The form can be printed and sent to the address found in the form, OR people can scan or take a photo of the form and send it to Jim Kling at jkling@gmail.com.

The preliminary readers will use a grading system to select a list of finalists. A trio of judges to be announced will select a winner from these finalists. We will announce the results on April 8, 2023 at Norwescon.

Send your submissions to Jim Kling at jkling@gmail.com. Deadline for submissions is November 15, 2022.

Marilyn Holt is now the Endeavour Committee Chairman, having stepped in after the previous award administrator James Fiscus died in 2021.

James Fiscus (1944-2021)

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James W, Fiscus

Author and photographer James W. Fiscus, administrator of the Endeavour Awards, died unexpectedly at home on November 7. He was 76.

Fiscus spent decades as a SFWA volunteer. He hosted SFWA’s hospitality events at Westercons in the early 1990s. Later he began writing a column for the SFWA Bulletin looking at the business and legal aspects of the publishing industry. He oversaw a review of the SFWA Handbook from 2002-3.

In 2008, SFWA President Russell Davis appointed Fiscus to succeed him in the position of Western Regional Director, a position Fiscus held until the California re-incorporation, at which time he became a Director-at-large until 2015. During his time as a Director, Fiscus served as Chair of the Orphan Works Committee. When it was re-formed as the Legal Affairs Committee, Fiscus continued as co-Chair with Michael Capobianco. Fiscus also joined the Contracts Committee in 2014, and took on its leadership when the former chair stepped down. SFWA honored him with the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award in 2017.

Fiscus’ first published sf story was “A Time of Martyrs” in Carr and Pournelle’s 1986 anthology Warrior. Another half-dozen short stories he wrote – several of them alternate history – appeared from 2004-2008 in anthologies edited by Harry Turtledove, Martin H. Greenberg, and others.

He was born in Oregon, where part of his family had lived since the 1840s. He was raised in England, Baltimore, Manhattan, New Haven, and occasionally in California, returning to Oregon for high school.

He interrupted his studies at Lewis and Clark College in 1967 to volunteer for the Navy, serving in Vietnam and Okinawa. He eventually returned to finish his undergrad work, then freelanced as a photojournalist for most of a decade before entering Portland State University to earn an MA in Middle East and Asian History in 1987.

He was Oregon/Washington correspondent for The Medical Post (Toronto) and The Medical Tribune (New York), and wrote history books for high school students.

He also wrote Meet King Kong (Famous Movie Monsters), a book on the making of the original King Kong. His other non-fiction works include The Suez Crisis (War and Conflict in the Middle East), Iraqi Insurgents: Resisting America’s Nation-Building in Iraq (Frontline Coverage of Current Events), America’s War in Afghanistan (War and Conflict in the Middle East), and Coping With Growth Spurts and Delayed Growth.

He served as Editorial Director and Media Relations Manager for the National Resource Center for Safe Schools in Portland and as Senior Public Relations Specialist at Legacy Health System in Portland.

Fiscus also held two long-term volunteer posts for Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc., a nonprofit group that hosts OryCons, and other events. He chaired the Endeavour Awards, which annually honors a book by a Pacific Northwest author. And he chaired the board of trustees of the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund, named for the late Jo Clayton, which provides grants to Pacific Northwest genre authors for medical emergencies.

He is survived by his wife, Shawn Wall.

2021 Endeavour Award Suspended

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The Endeavour Committee says “with great reluctance” they have suspended the Award for books published during 2020.  The suspension means that the Award will not be given at this year’s OryCon.

Several reasons have led to the suspension.  The Covid 19 situation has made it more difficult to run their preliminary judging.  In addition to problems stemming from the pandemic, additional unspecified problems have contributed to the need to suspend the Award.

They say:

We expect to begin collecting books published during 2021 in early Fall, for the 2022 Award.  We are suspending the Award, not killing it.

Finally, if circumstances change and we are able revive the Award for books published during 2020, we will do so.

Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour Web site: Endeavour website.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

2020 Endeavour Award Winners

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What The Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes (Pulp Literature Press), from Victoria, BC, and The Witch’s Kind by Louisa Morgan (Redhook), from Port Townsend, WA, have won the 22nd annual Endeavour Award. The award comes with an honorarium of $1,000.00 that will be divided between the winners.  

The other finalists were:

  • Merlin Redux by Dave Duncan, who was from Victoria, BC, Night Shade Books
  • Middlegame by Seanan McGuire, who is from Kenmore, WA, Tor Books, and
  • Shadow Stitcher by Misha Handman, who is from Victoria, BC, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest.  All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers.  The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.

The judges for the 2020 Award were Michael Capobianco, John G. Hemry, and Rosemary Claire Smith.

Award Eligibility For 2021 Award: To be eligible for next year’s Endeavour Award the book — either a novel or a single-author collection of stories — must be either science fiction or fantasy.  The majority of the book must have been written, and the book accepted for publication, while the author was living in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, or the Yukon.) 

The deadline to enter books published during 2020 is January 31, 2021.

Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour Web site. Click on Entry Form in the left hand column for a fill-in PDF of the form.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

[Thanks to Jim Fiscus for the story.]

2020 Endeavour Award Finalists

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Five novels by writers from the Pacific Northwest are finalists for the 22nd annual Endeavour Award.  The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000 and will be announced in November at OryCon.  Because of Covid 19, Orycon will be held on-line.

The finalists are:

  • Merlin Redux by Dave Duncan, who was from Victoria, BC, Night Shade Books
  • Middlegame by Seanan McGuire, who is from Kenmore, WA, Tor Books
  • Shadow Stitcher by Misha Handman, who is from Victoria, BC, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
  • What The Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes, who is from Victoria, BC, Pulp Literature Press
  • The Witch’s Kind by Louisa Morgan, who is from Port Townsend, WA, Redhook

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest.  All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers.  The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.

The judges for the 2020 Award are Michael Capobianco, John G. Hemry, and Rosemary Claire Smith.

Michael Capobianco is co-author, with William Barton, of the hard sf books Iris, Alpha Centauri, Fellow Traveler, and White Light. He has published one solo science fiction novel, Burster (Bantam). Purlieu, which Analog called “a delightful adventure story set in a marvelous world filled with mysteries and wonders,” is his first venture into young adult territory. Capobianco served as President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 1996-1998 and again in 2007-2008, and was drafted to fill the office of SFWA Vice President in 2010. He currently serves as SFWA’s Authors Coalition Liaison and is a member of SFWA’s Contracts and Legal Affairs Committees. Capobianco lives in Southern Maryland with two cats, Ariel and Mocha.

John G. Hemry (writing as Jack Campbell) is the author of the New York Times best-selling Lost Fleet series , Genesis Fleet series, and Lost Stars series, as well as the Steampunk-meets-high-fantasy Pillars of Reality, Dragon’s Legacy, and Empress of the Endless Sea series. He’s currently writing another Lost Fleet trilogy, carrying on the story from where it left off in Leviathan.  His shorter fiction includes time travel, alternate history, space opera, military SF, fantasy, and humor, and is collected in three anthologies (Ad Astra, Swords And Saddles, and Borrowed Time).  John is a retired US Navy officer, who served in a wide variety of jobs including surface warfare (the ship drivers of the Navy), amphibious warfare, anti-terrorism, intelligence, and some other things that he’s not supposed to talk about. Being a sailor, he’s been known to tell stories about events which he says really happened (but cannot be verified by any independent sources). This experience has served him well in writing fiction. He lives in Maryland with his indomitable wife “S” and three great kids (two of them on the autism spectrum). Web Site: www.jack-campbell.com

Rosemary Claire Smith’s story, “Diamond Jim And The Dinosaurs,” was a finalist in Analog Science Fiction and Fact’s AnLab Readers’ Poll. Rosemary draws on her background as a field archaeologist and a lawyer to write fantasy, science fiction and horror stories that have appeared, or will soon appear, in Analog, Amazing Stories, Fantastic Stories, Hybrid Fiction, Digital SF, Stupefying Stories, and other periodicals and anthologies. Analog has published a number of her guest editorials. Both her fiction and nonfiction showcase her interests in folklore, mythology, prehistoric societies, aliens, alternate history, the exploration of distant lands, and most especially time travel to the heyday of the dinosaurs. Rosemary is a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop as well as Taos Toolbox workshop.  Her interactive fiction adventure game, T-Rex Time Machine, is available from Choice of Games.  Rosemary is a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop as well as Taos Toolbox workshop. She’s been blogging at rosemaryclairesmith.wordpress.com/blogging-the-mesozoic for the past 156 million years.

AWARD ELIGIBILITY FOR 2021 AWARD. To be eligible for next year’s Endeavour Award the book — either a novel or a single-author collection of stories — must be either science fiction or fantasy.  The majority of the book must have been written, and the book accepted for publication, while the author was living in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, or the Yukon.) 

The deadline to enter books published during 2020 is January 31, 2021.

Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour Web site: www.osfci.org/endeavour.  Click on Entry Form in the left hand column for a fill-in PDF of the form.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation

[Based on a press release.]

2019 Endeavour Award Winner

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Blood Orbit, a novel by Kingston, WA, writer K.R. Richardson (Pyr Books) won the 2019 Endeavour Award on November 8 at Orycon in Portland, OR.  The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000.00 and a glass plaque by artist Ashley Harper.

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest.  All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers.  The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.

The other finalists were:

  • The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire, Daw Books;
  • Irontown Blues by John Varley, Ace Books;
  • Moonshine by Jasmine Gower, Angry Robot; and
  • Trial by Treason by Dave Duncan, Night Shade Books.

The judges for the 2019 Award were Kij Johnson, Linda Nagata, and Bud Sparhawk.

Award Eligibility for 2020: To be eligible for next year’s Endeavour Award the book — either a novel or a single-author collection of stories — must be either science fiction or fantasy.  The majority of the book must have been written, and the book accepted for publication, while the author was living in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, or the Yukon.)

The deadline to enter books published during 2019 is January 31, 2020: THIS DEADLINE IS TWO WEEKS EARLIER THAN IT HAS BEEN IN THE PAST.

Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour Web site: www.osfci.org/endeavour.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

[Thanks to Jim Fiscus for the story.]

2019 Endeavour Award Finalists and Judges

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Five novels written by writers from the Pacific Northwest are finalists for the 2019 Endeavour Award. The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000 and will be announced November 8 at OryCon in Portland, Oregon.

The finalists are:

  • Blood Orbit by K.R. Richardson, Pyr Books
  • The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire, Daw Books
  • Irontown Blues by John Varley, Ace Books
  • Moonshine by Jasmine Gower, Angry Robot
  • Trial by Treason by Dave Duncan, Night Shade Books

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest.  All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers.  The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.

The judges for the 2019 Award are Kij Johnson, Linda Nagata, and Bud Sparhawk.

Kij Johnson is the author of five books and forty shorter works, and has won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. She teaches creative writing at the University of Kansas, where she is also Associate Director for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction.

Linda Nagata’s work has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, John W. Campbell Memorial, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial awards. She has won the Nebula and is a two-time winner of the Locus award.  Linda is best known for her high-tech science fiction, including the near-future thriller, The Last Good Man, and the Red trilogy. The first book in the trilogy, The Red: First Light, was named as a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2015. Her newest novel is Edges, book one in the series Inverted Frontier.

Bud Sparhawk has been a three-time novella finalist for the Nebula Award and has appeared in two Year’s Best anthologies.  He has sold over 100 short stories and three novels; Shattered Dreams, Distant Seas, and Vixen.  This year he has had three short stories appear in Analog, one in Amazing, and another in the anthology In Harm’s

[Via Locus Online.]

Gilman Wins 20th Annual Endeavour Award

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The Cold Eye by Kenmore, WA, writer Laura Anne Gilman has won the 20th annual Endeavour Award. The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000 and was announced November 9, 2018, at OryCon in Portland, Oregon.

The other finalists were:

  • Cross Town by Loren W. Cooper (the book was written and accepted for
    publication while Mr. Cooper lived in the Pacific Northwest), Xeno Books;
  • Ironfoot by Victoria, BC, writer Dave Duncan, Night Shade Books;
  • Portal of 1000 Worlds also by Victoria, BC, writer Dave Duncan, Open
    Road Integrated Media; and
  • A Secret History of Witches by Port Townsend, WA, Louisa Morgan, Orbit US.

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest. All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers. The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.

Judges: The judges for the 2018 Award were Elizabeth Bear, James Patrick Kelly, and Christopher Rowe.

Award Eligibility for 2019: To be eligible for next year’s Endeavour Award the book — either a novel or a single-author collection of stories — must be either science fiction or fantasy. The majority of the book must have been written, and the book accepted for publication, while the author was living in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, or the Yukon.)

Deadline: The deadline to enter books published during 2018 is January 31, 2019, which is two weeks earlier than it has been in the past.

Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour website.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

[Thanks to Jim Fiscus for the story.]

Dave Duncan (1933-2018)

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Canadian sff author Dave Duncan passed away October 29 after sustaining a brain hemorrhage in a fall.

Originally from Scotland, Duncan lived all his adult life in Western Canada. He worked as a geological consultant until at age 53 he made the transition to full-time professional writer.

Duncan was a prolific novelist who wrote both fantasy and science fiction, although he said, “I always regret that my SF books are less popular than my Fantasy. SF actually takes more work to write!”

His best-known fantasy series included “The Seventh Sword,” “A Man of His Word,” and “The King’s Blades.”

He sold his sixtieth book this year – the science fiction novel Pillar of Darkness.

He won two Aurora Awards, for his novels West of January (1990) and Children of Chaos (2007).

He was an eight-time nominee for the Endeavour Award, given for a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest.

Duncan was both a founding and an honorary lifetime member of SF Canada, the country’s association for speculative fiction professionals. He was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015.

He is survived by his wife, Janet, whom he married in 1959, and by their son, two daughters, and four grandchildren

[Thanks to Susan Forest for the story.]

2009 Endeavour Award finalists Kay Kenyon and Dave Duncan with award committee member Page Fuller.

2018 Endeavour Award Finalists and Judges

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Five novels written by writers from the Pacific Northwest are finalists for the 20th annual Endeavour Award. The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000 and will be announced November 9 at OryCon in Portland, Oregon.

The finalists are:

  • Cross Town by Cedar Rapid, IA, writer Loren W. Cooper (the book was written and accepted for publication while Mr. Cooper lived in the Pacific Northwest), Xeno Books;
  • The Cold Eye by Kenmore, WA, writer Laura Anne Gilman, Saga Press;
  • Ironfoot by Victoria, BC, writer Dave Duncan, Night Shade Books;
  • Portal of 1000 Worlds also by Victoria, BC, writer by Dave Duncan, Open Road Integrated Media; and
  • A Secret History of Witches by Port Townsend, WA, Louisa Morgan, Orbit US.

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest. All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers. The five highest scoring books then go to three final
judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.

The judges for the 2018 Award are Elizabeth Bear, James Patrick Kelly, and Christopher Rowe.

  • Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. She is the Hugo, Sturgeon, Locus, and Campbell Award winning author of 30 novels and over a hundred short stories, and her hobbies of rock climbing, archery, kayaking, and horseback riding have led more than one person to accuse her of prepping for a portal fantasy adventure.
  • James Patrick Kelly has won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. His most recent books are the 2018 collection, The Promise of Space, and the 2017 novel, Mother Go. He writes a column for Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and teaches creative writing at the Stonecoast Master of Fine Arts Program at the University of Southern Maine. He lives in Nottingham, NH.
  • Christopher Rowe has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. He is the author of a recent collection of short fiction, Telling the Map, and with his wife, Gwenda Bond, writes the Supernormal Sleuthing Service series of middle grade novels. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

AWARD ELIGIBILITY FOR 2019

To be eligible for next year’s Endeavour Award the book — either a novel or a single-author collection of stories — must be either science fiction or fantasy. The majority of the book must have been written, and the book accepted for publication, while the author was living in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, or the Yukon.)

The deadline to enter books published during 2018 is January 31, 2019: This deadline is two weeks earlier than it has been in the past.

Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour website. Click on Entry Form in the left-hand column for a fill-in PDF of the form.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

[Thanks to Jim Fiscus for the story.]