GUEST BLOG Final Clarke Award thoughts

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Guest blogger and award admin Tom Hunter shares his final thoughts as preparations commence for this evening's ceremony

Some final, and more personal, Clarke Award thoughts before the big reveal and six nominations become one winner.

There’s a lot of people to thank for supporting us behind the scenes, whether they’re locked in the judges meetings, one of our supporting organisations or out here on the internet, spreading the good word and, crucially, going out and reading the books.

Special mentions must go Louis Savy, the SCI-FI-LONDON festival and Apollo Cinema teams and, especially, the army of festival volunteers who make the event happen simply because they love the genre. The volunteer spirit is a crucial part of the science fiction community, what makes genre go round if you will, so thank you one and all for your passion

Thank you to our supporting organisations the Science Fiction Foundation , the British Science Fiction Association and SF Crowsnest . You provide us with our judges, without who we couldn’t even begin to function, and much, much more besides.

Speaking of our judges, those brave souls who commit to reading more science fiction in a year than perhaps even the hardiest SFX reviewer, every news story, review, thread, comment and tweet that surrounds the shortlist (more now than ever) is an internet round of applause for your efforts.

Last but by no means least, a thank you to the SFX team for supporting the award again this year and welcoming me on to this site so I can say my thank yous.

This is my fourth year of being involved with the Clarke Award and I think it’s definitely proving to be my favourite to date.

The reaction to this year’s shortlist has been fantastic, and the discussion so genuinely impassioned I’m almost reluctant to announce a winner.

Almost.

My last thought and thank you then must go to the memory of Sir Arthur himself, for his generosity and support towards the entire spectrum of both scientific and science fictional endeavour, and towards the UK’s science fiction community in particular.

In an email I received from him a few days before he passed away he was as cheerful and passionate as ever and thankful for all efforts being made to sustain the award.

These last words then are his last to me:

“May the best book win!”

Tom Hunter is administrator of the Arthur C Clarke Award. The official website of the Award can be found here . See you at the event tonight, Tom!