I’m helping out the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA)'s Nebula Awards Commissioner with the game writing award this year, and wanted to let folks know that anything published in 2019 is eligible so long as it is “an interactive or playable story-driven work which conveys narrative, character, or story background” and has at least one credited author.
If you would like to provide an electronic review copy for SFWA members, or just a description of something you’ve released this year, I can post it to our secure members-only forum for you. (If your work is playable for free online, I can post a link to it.)
Feel free to send me an email at stewart.c.baker@gmail.com if that is something you would like to do! Or you can email the Nebula Awards Commissioner at nac@sfwa.org
And for context, the Nebulas are SFWA’s member-voted awards, which have been handed out for fiction since 1966. Game writing is new as of last year.
If anyone has questions, I’m happy to answer them.
Here is some background about how the Nebulas work that may be useful to people who are new to them:
The Nebulas are a bit different than many game industry awards, because they aren’t selected by a jury. Instead, current SFWA members–roughly 1,900 professional authors and game writers–are the ones who identify work they think is notable and vote on the final ballot.
Members nominate fiction and games between November 15 and February 15, and the works with the highest number of nominations make it into the final ballot, which is sent to all SFWA members in March. One winner is selected in each category based on member votes, and winners are announced at the annual Nebula ceremony in April.
What I have been doing for games publishers so far is posting electronic review copies to our secure forum, accessible only to members. But posting them there is just to let them know that the game exists, and not an endorsement or inclusion on any kind of final ballot.
It’s worth noting that not all SFWA members use the forum, and not all SFWA members nominate or vote for the Nebulas either. So it’s not necessarily true that 1,900 people will see your work, but it’s definitely true that some of them will.
