Compton Crook Award

The Compton Crook Award is presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) to the year's best English language debut novel in the science fiction, fantasy, or horror genres, as voted by its members. BSFS confers the award at their annual science fiction convention, Balticon, held in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend. The award, also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award, has been presented since 1983. Compton Crook, who wrote under the name of Stephen Tall, was a long-time Baltimore resident, Towson University professor, and science fiction author who died in 1981.

The list of eligible books is published in the monthly newsletter so that all club members will have a chance to read and vote. The winning author receives a cash award of $1,000 as well as a plaque, and their Balticon attendance is sponsored for two years; in the second year, the author presents the award to their successor. The invitation to Balticon is intended in part as a professional networking opportunity for the new author.

Winners

 * 1983: Donald Kingsbury, Courtship Rite
 * 1984: Christopher Rowley, War For Eternity
 * 1985: David R. Palmer, Emergence
 * 1986: Sheila Finch, Infinity's Web
 * 1987: Thomas Wren, Doomsday Effect
 * 1988: Christopher Hinz, Liege-Killer
 * 1989: Elizabeth Moon, Sheepfarmer's Daughter
 * 1990: Josepha Sherman, The Shining Falcon
 * 1991: Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind
 * 1992: Carol Severance, Reefsong
 * 1993: Holly Lisle, Fire in the Mist
 * 1994: Mary Rosenblum, The Drylands
 * 1995: Doranna Durgin, Dun Lady's Jess
 * 1996: Daniel Graham Jr., The Gatekeepers
 * 1997: Richard Garfinkle, Celestial Matters
 * 1998: Katie Waitman, The Merro Tree
 * 1999: James Stoddard, The High House
 * 2000: Stephen L. Burns, Flesh and Silver
 * 2001: Syne Mitchell, Murphy's Gambit
 * 2002: Wen Spencer, Alien Taste
 * 2003: Patricia Bray, Devlin's Luck
 * 2004: E. E. Knight, Way of the Wolf
 * 2005: Tamara Siler Jones, Ghosts in the Snow
 * 2006: Maria V. Snyder, Poison Study
 * 2007: Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon
 * 2008: Mark L. Van Name, One Jump Ahead
 * 2009: Paul Melko, Singularity's Ring
 * 2010: Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl
 * 2011: James Knapp, State of Decay
 * 2012: T. C. McCarthy, Germline
 * 2013: Myke Cole, Control Point
 * 2014: Charles E. Gannon, Fire with Fire
 * 2015: Alexandra Duncan, Salvage
 * 2016: Fran Wilde, Updraft
 * 2017: Ada Palmer, Too Like the Lightning
 * 2018: Nicky Drayden, The Prey of Gods
 * 2019: R. F. Kuang, The Poppy War
 * 2020: Arkady Martine, A Memory Called Empire
 * 2021: Micaiah Johnson, The Space Between Worlds
 * 2022: P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn
 * 2023: Alex Jennings, The Ballad of Perilous Graves
 * 2024: Kemi Ashing-Giwa, The Splinter in the Sky