The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History are literary awards given to English-language works in the alternate history genre. The awards were first awarded in 1996 for works published in the 1995 calendar year.
Overview
The awards take their name from the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in which a strange storm causes portions of Earth to swap places with their analogs from other timelines.
The awards were created by Steven H Silver, Evelyn C. Leeper, and Robert B. Schmunk. Over the years, the number of judges has fluctuated between three and eight and have included judges in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa.
Two awards are normally presented each year, usually at WorldCon or at NASFiC. The Short-Form award is presented to a work under 60,000 words in length. The Long-Form award is presented to a work or works longer than 60,000 words, which may include a single novel or a multi-volume series. The judges have five times also recognized an individual with a Special Achievement Award in recognition for works published prior to the award's inception or for other contributions to the genre.
Award winners
Note: The Sidewise Awards are announced as for the year of publication rather than by the year of award presentation.
Long Form 1995 – Paul J. McAuley, Pasquale's Angel 1996 – Stephen Baxter, Voyage 1997 – Harry Turtledove, How Few Remain 1998 – Stephen Fry, Making History 1999 – Brendan DuBois, Resurrection Day 2000 – Mary Gentle, Ash: A Secret History 2001 – J. N. Stroyar, The Children's War 2002 – (tie): Martin J. Gidron (name since changed to Martin Berman-Gorvine), The Severed Wing and Harry Turtledove, Ruled Britannia 2003 – Murray Davies, Collaborator 2004 – Philip Roth, The Plot Against America 2005 – Ian R. MacLeod, The Summer Isles 2006 – Charles Stross, The Family Trade, The Hidden Family, and The Clan Corporate 2007 – Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union 2008 – Chris Roberson, The Dragon's Nine Sons 2009 – Robert Conroy, 1942 2010 – Eric G. Swedin, When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis 2011 – Ian R. MacLeod, Wake Up and Dream 2012 – C. J. Sansom, Dominion 2013 – (tie) D. J. Taylor, The Windsor Faction and Bryce Zabel, Surrounded by Enemies: What If Kennedy Survived Dallas? 2014 – Kristine Kathryn Rusch, The Enemy Within 2015 – Julie Mayhew, The Big Lie 2016 – Ben H. Winters, Underground Airlines 2017 – Bryce Zabel, Once There Was a Way 2018 – Mary Robinette Kowal, The Calculating Stars 2019 – Annalee Newitz, The Future of Another Timeline 2020 – Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Doors of Eden 2021 – Laurent Binet, Civilizations (translated by Sam Taylor) 2022 – B. L. Blanchard, The Peacekeeper 2023 – Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz 2024 – Sophie Burnham, Sargassa 2025 – Vaishnavi Patel, Ten Incarnations of Rebellion
Short Form 1995 – Stephen Baxter, "Brigantia's Angels" 1996 – Walter Jon Williams, "Foreign Devils" (in War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches) 1997 – William Sanders, "The Undiscovered" 1998 – Ian R. MacLeod, The Summer Isles 1999 – Alain Bergeron, "The Eighth Register" (translated by Howard Scott) 2000 – Ted Chiang, "Seventy-Two Letters" 2001 – Ken MacLeod, The Human Front 2002 – William Sanders, "Empire" 2003 – Chris Roberson, "O One" 2004 – Warren Ellis, The Ministry of Space 2005 – Lois Tilton, "Pericles the Tyrant" 2006 – Gardner Dozois, "Counterfactual" 2007 – (tie): Michael Flynn, "Quaestiones Super Caelo Et Mundo" & Kristine Kathryn Rusch, "Recovering Apollo 8" 2008 – Mary Rosenblum, "Sacrifice" 2009 – Alastair Reynolds, "The Fixation" 2010 – Alan Smale, "A Clash of Eagles" 2011 – Lisa Goldstein, "Paradise Is a Walled Garden" 2012 – Rick Wilber, "Something Real"' 2013 – Vylar Kaftan, "The Weight of the Sunrise" 2014 – Ken Liu, "The Long Haul: From the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009" 2015 – Bill Crider, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" 2016 – (tie): Daniel M. Bensen, "Treasure Fleet" & Adam Rovner, "What If the Jewish State Had Been Established in East Africa" 2017 – Harry Turtledove, "Zigeuner" 2018 – Oscar (Xiu) Ramirez and Emmanuel Valtierra, Codex Valtierra 2019 – Harry Turtledove, "Christmas Truce" 2020 – Matthew Kresal, "Moonshot" 2021 – Alan Smale, "Gunpowder Treason" 2022 – (tie): Eric Choi, "A Sky and a Heaven" & Wole Talabi "A Dream of Electric Mothers" 2023 – Rosemary Claire Smith, "Apollo in Retrograde" 2024 – L. Briar, "A Brother's Oath" 2025 – Alan Smale, "Caesar at Sea"
Special Achievement 1995 – L. Sprague de Camp, lifetime achievement 1997 – Robert Sobel, For Want of a Nail 1999 – Randall Garrett, the Lord Darcy series 2018 – Eric Flint, for support of writers in the alternate history genre, most notably via the 1632 series 2025 – Ronald D. Moore — For bringing alternate history to television through For All Mankind and Star City
References
External links The Sidewise Award website