The shortlists for the 2004 awards were announced on January 23, 2005. The shortlists were compiled from nominations submitted by BSFA members.

The awards will be presented on Saturday March 26 in a ceremony at the Eastercon, the British national science fiction convention, which will be held in Hinckley, Leicestershire. Attending members of the 2005 Eastercon as well as BSFA members will be eligible to vote.

Best Novel:

• Century Rain – Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz SF)
• Forty Signs of Rain – Kim Stanley Robinson (HarperCollins)
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
• Newton's Wake – Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
• River of Gods – Ian McDonald (Simon and Schuster)
• Stamping Butterflies – Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Gollancz SF)

• "Delhi" – Vandana Singh (So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Visions of the Future, ed. Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan)
• "Mayflower II" – Stephen Baxter (PS Publishing)
• "Point of No Return" – Jon Courtenay Grimwood (New Scientist, Christmas/New Year)
• "The Faery Handbag" – Kelly Link (The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm, ed. Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
• "The Wolf-Man of Alcatraz" – Howard Waldrop (Scifiction, 22 September)

• Iguana – photo by Sebastiao Salgado
• The Millau Bridge – photo by Eric Cabanis/AFP/Getty
• Cover of Newton's Wake by Ken MacLeod (Tor US) – Stephan Martiniθre
• Cover of The Algebraist by Iain M Banks (original photo credited to NASA!)
• Cover of The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston – Edward Miller