Compton Crook Award Finalists Revealed
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society has announced the finalists for the 2026 Compton Crook Award, which honors the best first novel in science fiction, fantasy, or horror. The award will be presented at Balticon 60 in May 2026 and is closely watched by genre fans and publishers as a barometer for emerging talent in speculative fiction.
- The award is named after Compton Crook, a science fiction author and Towson University professor who wrote under the pseudonym Stephen Tall. - Since 1983, the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) have voted on the winner from a list of eligible first novels published in the organization's newsletter. - The winning author receives a $1,000 prize and is sponsored to attend Balticon for two years, presenting the award to their successor in the second year. - The Baltimore Science Fiction Society, which was founded in 1963, is a non-profit literary organization and one of only three science fiction societies in the U.S. to own its own building. - Balticon, the convention where the award is presented, is a four-day event that has been running annually since 1966 and draws over 1,500 attendees for programming that includes authors, scientists, and artists. - Previous winners of the Compton Crook Award include well-known authors such as Elizabeth Moon for *Sheepfarmer's Daughter* (1989), Naomi Novik for *His Majesty's Dragon* (2007), Paolo Bacigalupi for *The Windup Girl* (2010), and R.F. Kuang for *The Poppy War* (2019).
