The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) today announced that James Hosek will be honored with the 2024 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award at the 59th Annual SFWA Nebula Awards® for his outstanding work on behalf of the organization. It will be a posthumous award, as Hosek passed away in December.

The Service to SFWA Award recognizes a volunteer of SFWA who best exemplifies the ideal of service to their fellow members. In 2012, the award was renamed in honor of author Kevin O’Donnell, who dedicated 20+ years of volunteer service to the organization.

James Hosek, known to those in the community as Jim, first volunteered for SFWA as an assistant to the Nebula Awards Commissioner in 2016, helping to vet works on the Nebula Reading List and other tasks as necessary. In 2017, Hosek was named SFWA’s Nebula Commissioner and served for seven years, stepping down from the role in September 2023 due to ill health. He died on December 3, 2023.

Deputy Executive Director (and former Nebula Award Commissioner) Terra LeMay says about Jim: “It is often the case that SFWA’s programs are driven by volunteers who serve countless hours behind the scenes, and this is certainly true of our Nebula Awards, which depend on the tireless work of the Nebula Awards Commissioner (NAC). Elucidating the positive qualities that made Jim Hosek the perfect NAC—he was hard-working, ethical, level-headed, kind, scrupulously fair, and so much more…—would take far more space than I’ve been granted here. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with him and glad we were able to notify him of his selection for this award before his passing. He was one of SFWA’s very best.”

James Hosek will join many distinguished recipients of the Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award, including Connie Willis, Victoria Strauss, Julia Rios, Bud Sparhawk, Lee Martindale, Vonda McIntyre, and Jim Fiscus.

[Based on a press release.]