Nebula Awards® Committee

Nebula Award® Rule #22: "The President shall appoint a three (3) person Nebula Awards® Committee to rule on questions pertaining to the Nebula Award® rules. The Nebula Award® Report editor will serve as a secretary to this committee, but shall not be a voting member."

Jeffrey A. Carver (chair), 1998-
Jack Williamson, 1990-
Connie Willis, 1990-

To interpret the Nebula Rules as they apply to situations inadequately defined by the rules themselves. The goal is to observe both the letter and the spirit of the law, with the spirit having slightly greater priority.

SFWA intends that the Nebula Awards® should honor the very best eligible works in the various length-categories. Most of the NAC's rulings focus, therefore, on the questions of eligibility, either of the works themselves, or of recommendations for those works.

The spirit of the law is that all eligible works should land on a level playing field. Thus, much of the NAC's work is devoted to interpreting the rules in whatever way ensures the highest level of fairness.

Flexible and self-determined.

The NAC lumbers into action as a body when either (a) the NAR Editor requests a formal ruling from the Committee, or (b) a writer appeals a decision of the NAR Editor.

Most commonly, the NAR Editor or a writer will request an informal opinion from the NAC Chair. The NAC Chair will deliver his or her opinion as expeditiously as possible. That usually settles the matter.

When a formal ruling from the entire committee is requested, the chair must contact the other two members as soon as possible, explain the situation, and solicit their opinions. (All correspondence, whether paper-based or email, should be copied to the NAR Editor for inclusion in the official archives.)

The other members reply; the chair acknowledges, comments, and questions; and the committee goes through as many iterations of that process as are necessary to reach either consensus or a simple 2-1 majority in favor of a specific ruling.

When the committee has reached either consensus or a 2-1 majority, the chair issues the ruling.

The NAC is an appellate court. It does not usually render initial decisions, for those are normally the province of the NAR Editor. It never renders final decisions, for those are the province of the Board of Directors.

If the NAC notices a rules problem looming on the horizon, it may pre-empt the NAR Editor by issuing a ruling intended to head off that problem.

Under normal circumstances, however, the NAC waits to act until someone else has specifically requested a ruling.

The normal progress of events is that someone appeals a decision by the NAR Editor to the NAC. The NAC studies the matter, and issues its own decision, which overrules that of the NAR Editor. Anyone who doesn't like the NAC's decision may appeal it to SFWA's Board of Directors, which studies the matter and issues its own decision, which overrules that of the NAC. The Board of Director's ruling is final, and may not be appealed to any other body.

Finally, the NAC is not responsible, in any way, shape or form, for administering the Nebula Awards® or the Nebula ceremonies. The NAC is an appellate court, not an executive body. The NAC and its chair will help out with the awards process when, if, and as they can, but that's not their job.