The results of the 2003 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA)
awards were announced on Sunday 11 April. The awards were presented in a
ceremony held during Concourse, the British national science fiction
convention (AKA Eastercon), at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

The awards were made to:

BEST NOVEL: Felaheen_ by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Earthlight)

The award was presented by Richard Morgan and accepted by Darren Nash.


BEST SHORT FICTION: 'The Wolves in the Walls' by Neil Gaiman and Dave
McKean (Bloomsbury Children's Books)

The award, which was presented by Ian McDonald, was accepted by John
Jarrold who hosted the ceremony.


BEST ARTWORK: Cover of _The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod_ by Colin
Odell (SF Foundation; edited by Andrew M Butler and Farah Mendlesohn)

The award was presented by the previous winner, Dominic Harman, and was
accepted by Mark Plummer.


BEST NON-FICTION: 'Reading Science Fiction' by Farah Mendlesohn
(Introduction to _The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction_, edited by
Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn; Cambridge University Press)

The award was presented by Justina Robson and accepted by the winner.


The BSFA would like to extend its congratulations to all the winners and
to all those shortlisted for the awards.

The shortlists for the awards were compiled from nominations submitted
by members of the BSFA; BSFA members and attending members of the
convention were eligible to vote for the final awards. 84 ballots
were cast.


Nominations are now open for the 2004 awards in three categories:
-- The Best Novel award is open to any novel-length work of science
fiction or fantasy first published in the UK in 2004. (Serialised novels
are eligible provided that the publication date of the concluding part
is in 2004.)
-- The Best Short Fiction award is open to any shorter work of science
fiction or fantasy, up to and including novellas, first published in
2004 (in a magazine, in a book, or online).
-- The Best Artwork award is open to any single image of science fiction
or fantasy artwork that first appeared in 2004.

The award for non-fiction has been suspended for 2004. Although a strong
shortlist emerged for the 2003 award, nominations had suffered more
generally from confusion about the eligibility criteria and a sense that
as constituted this category does not effectively cover the field. The
BSFA is therefore looking for another way to recognise good writing
about science fiction or fantasy, and will make a further announcement
later.

Works published by the BSFA itself (whether in book form, on the
website, or in one of the magazines) are *not* eligible for the awards.
Works by BSFA members (including Council and committee members) which
have been published elsewhere are eligible subject to the conditions
above.

The 2004 Awards will be presented at the 2005 Eastercon, Paragon 2,
which will be held in Hinckley, Leicestershire.


Any enquiries about the BSFA awards should be directed to the Awards
Administrator, Claire Brialey, via awards@fishlifter.demon.co.uk or c/o
26 Northampton Road, Croydon, Surrey CR0 7HA.

More information about the BSFA can be found at http://www.bsfa.co.uk
The full list of nominations submitted for the 2003 awards is available
on the website, and nominations for the 2004 awards will appear there in
due course. Information about Paragon 2 can be found at
http://www.paragon2.org.uk