Nebula finalists flagged
SFWA has provisionally flagged seven Nebula finalists with asterisks while it vets possible large‑language‑model use under new anti‑LLM rules — a sign the awards are policing AI in submissions. (file770.com) That debate is spilling into BookTok, where the grassroots 'Don’t Steal This Book' campaign is pushing stronger AI policy and author rights. (selfpublishingadvice.org)
SFWA amended the Nebula rules on December 19, 2025 to explicitly bar "works that are written, either wholly or partially, by generative large language model (LLM) tools" from eligibility. (sfwa.org) The board followed that change with language saying works that used LLMs and are disclosed would be disqualified, and SFWA issued an apology for the earlier messaging on December 22, 2025. (nebulas.sfwa.org) SFWA’s current public guidance says finalists will be contacted and must disclose any LLM assistance as part of a vetting process overseen by the Nebula Awards Commissioner and awards committees. (nebulas.sfwa.org) Voting on the final Nebula ballot opened March 15, 2026 and runs through 11:59pm PDT on April 15, 2026, according to SFWA’s finalist announcement. (sfwa.org) The 61st Nebula Conference is scheduled for June 3–7, 2026 in Chicago, and SFWA’s site lists an early in-person weekend registration price of $275 that expires May 1, 2026. (nebulas.sfwa.org) Trade and genre outlets documented the December rule revisions and member backlash, with Locus reporting on SFWA’s rule changes and community response and Gizmodo summarizing the outcome of that backlash. ( ) The "Don’t Steal This Book" campaign published an "empty" book credited to almost 10,000 co‑authors at the London Book Fair as a protest against tech firms training LLMs on copyrighted works without licences. ( ) Organizers and coverage name high‑profile supporters including Alan Moore, Alice Oseman and Kazuo Ishiguro among contributors, and the campaign has been explicitly tied by industry podcasts to calls for stronger AI policy and author rights. ( )
