Brook West, Nebula Award Report editor, announced the Preliminary Ballot for the Nebula Awards® for 2003.

The ballot will be mailed to all active SFWA members. Each member may nominate no more than five works in each category on the Preliminary Ballot and must return the ballot by February 6 to be counted.

The final ballot will be mailed February 15. The detailed rules are available at http://www.sfwa.org/awards/rules.htm.

The Nebula Awards® are voted on, and presented by, active members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. Founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization began with a charter membership of 78 writers; it now has over 1,400 members, among them most of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.

The Awards will be announced at the 2003 Nebula Awards® Banquet to be held at the Westin Seattle Hotel, Seattle, WA on Saturday, April 17th.

Links to most of the nominated works are available at http://www.sfwa.org/awards/2004/nebprelim2003.html/.

Novels

• Hidden Empire: The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 1 -- Anderson, Kevin J (Warner Books, Jul02)
• Diplomatic Immunity -- Bujold, Lois McMaster (Baen, May02)
• The Mount -- Emshwiller, Carol (Small Beer Press, Jun02)
• Fitcher's Brides -- Frost, Gregory (Tor, Dec02)
• Light Music -- Goonan, Kathleen Ann (Eos, Jun02)
• A Scattering of Jades -- Irvine, Alexander C. (Tor, Jul02)
• Maximum Ice -- Kenyon, Kay (Bantam, Feb02)
• Chindi -- McDevitt, Jack (Ace, Jul02)
• The Scar -- Mieville, China (Del Rey, Jun02)
• The Speed of Dark -- Moon, Elizabeth (Ballantine, Jan03)
• Fallen Host -- Morehouse, Lyda (Roc, May02)
• The Return of Santiago -- Resnick, Mike (Tor, Feb03)
• Humans -- Sawyer, Robert J.  (Tor, Feb03)
• Ruled Britannia -- Turtledove, Harry  (New American Library, Nov02)
• Red Thunder -- Varley, John (Ace, Apr03)

Novellas (All five novellas have qualified for the final ballot)

• The Potter of Bones -- Arnason, Eleanor (Asimov's, Sep02)
• The Empress of Mars -- Baker, Kage  (Asimov's, Jul03)
• Coraline -- Gaiman, Neil  (HarperCollins, Jul02)
• Stories for Men -- Kessel, John  (Asimov's, Oct/Nov 2002)
• Breathmoss -- MacLeod, Ian (Asimov's, May02)

Novelettes (All four novelettes have qualified for the final ballot)

• The Mask of the Rex -- Bowes, Richard  (F&SF, May02)
• 0wnz0red -- Doctorow, Cory (Salon.com, Aug02)
• The Empire of Ice Cream -- Ford, Jeffrey  (Sci Fiction, Feb26, 2003)
• The Wages of Syntax -- Vukcevich, Ray  (Sci Fiction, Oct 16, 2002)

Short Stories

• Knapsack Poems -- Arnason, Eleanor (Asimov's, May02)
• Goodbye to All That -- Ellison, Harlan (Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next New Millenium, 2003; McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, Apr03)
• Grandma -- Emshwiller, Carol (F&SF, Mar02)
• What I Didn't See -- Fowler, Karen Joy (Sci Fiction, Jul10, 2002)
• Lambing Season -- Gloss, Molly (Asimov's, Jul02)
• The Rose in Twelve Petals -- Goss, Theodora (Realms of Fantasy, Apr02)
• Taste of Summer -- Klages, Ellen (Black Gate, Feb02 )
• The Tale of the Golden Eagle -- Levine, David D. (F&SF, Jun03)
• Will You Be an Astronaut? -- van Eekhout, Greg (F&SF, Sep02)
• The Last of the O-Forms -- Van Pelt, James (Asimov's, Sep02)

Scripts (All four scripts have qualified for the final ballot)

• Minority Report -- Cohen, Frank, Scott and Jon  (Dreamworks, Jul02)
• Where No Fan Has Gone Before -- Goodman, David A.  (Futurama, Apr02)
• Spirited Away -- Miyazaki, Hayao and Hewitt, Cindy Davis & Hewitt, Donald H. (English screenplay) (Studio Ghibli  and Walt Disney Pictures, Sep02 )
• The Lord of the Rings:  The Two Towers -- Walsh, Fran & Boyens, Philippa & Sinclair, Stephen & Jackson, Peter (New Line Cinema, Dec02 )