International Fantasy Award

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The International Fantasy Award handed its first prize in 1951, when a panel of fans and professionals from across the world gathered to recognize the finest science fiction and fantasy writing of the year. That inaugural winner, George R. Stewart's Earth Abides, set the tone for an award that prized ambitious, serious-minded work. What questions does that choice raise? Who were these judges, and how did they settle on their picks? And why did an award described as "international" vanish after only a handful of years, only to reappear once more in 1957 before going quiet for good? The answer to that last question involves one of the most celebrated titles in all of fantasy literature.

• 2. The Award's Structure

  ›

  From its founding, the International Fantasy Award operated with two distinct categories. One honored the best fiction in the science fiction and fantasy field; the other recognized the best non-fiction book of interest to readers of those genres. That dual structure lasted for the award's first three years, from 1951 through 1953. Beginning in 1954, only the fiction prize was awarded. The judges themselves were described as an international panel made up of prominent fans and professionals, a combination that distinguished the IFA from awards voted on solely by convention attendees or editorial committees. That unusual mix of fan enthusiasm and professional standing shaped who got nominated and who took home the prize.

• 3. Non-Fiction and the Space Dream

  ›

  Willy Ley appeared in the non-fiction category twice, first sharing the 1951 prize with artist Chesley Bonestell for The Conquest of Space, then again in 1953 co-authoring Lands Beyond with L. Sprague de Camp. Arthur C. Clarke claimed the 1952 non-fiction prize for The Exploration of Space. These titles share a common thread: all three treated space travel and exploration as a subject worthy of serious, book-length examination during the early years of the space age. The panel's repeated recognition of such work suggests the judges saw a permeable border between imaginative fiction and the science that might one day make those visions real. L. Sprague de Camp's presence in the non-fiction winners would connect back to the fiction side of the award's history in unexpected ways.

• 4. The Fiction Winners

  ›

  John Collier's Fancies and Goodnights won the fiction prize in 1952, a story collection rather than a novel, suggesting the panel had no bias toward long-form work. Clifford D. Simak's City followed as the 1953 fiction winner. Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human took the prize in 1954, the first year the non-fiction category was dropped. Edgar Pangborn's A Mirror for Observers won in 1955. These four books covered a range of styles and approaches within the broad genre label of science fiction and fantasy, reflecting a panel willing to honor both intimate, literary work and large-scale speculative ideas. After the 1955 award, the prize went silent for two years.

• 5. The Final Prize

  ›

  When the International Fantasy Award returned in 1957 after its two-year absence, it gave its last prize to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The selection stands as the award's most enduring legacy. At the time the IFA recognized it, Tolkien's trilogy had been published in three volumes between 1954 and 1955, and the panel's choice marked one of the first major recognitions of the work's significance by a body of genre professionals and fans. No further award was given after 1957, leaving the IFA's story to close on that single, remarkable act of recognition.