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Endeavour Award

Annual American literary award

The Endeavour Award, announced annually at OryCon in Portland, Oregon, is awarded to a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book written by an author or authors from the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia, The Yukon, and Alaska) and published in the previous year.

Annual presentation of the Endeavour Award is in November at OryCon for books published during the previous year.

01OryCon

OryCon is an annual science fiction/fantasy convention, held annually in Portland, Oregon since 1979. OryCon's parent organization, Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. ("OSFCI") has announced plans to end support for the event after OryCon 45, to be held in October 2025.

On November 11, 1978, the Portland Science Fiction Society and Portland State University English department presented a one-day, seven-hour "Science Fiction Symposium" at the Smith Memorial Student Union. The organizers later established OSFCI, and presented the first OryCon the following year.

The convention canceled its 2020 event due to COVID-19 restrictions, returning in 2021, and declared a "hiatus" for future events, citing staff burnout and the challenges of pandemic-era planning. 2022 instead featured a free "Or-E-Con 2" virtual conference.

02Award history

The Endeavour Award, named for HM Bark Endeavour, the ship of Northwest explorer Captain James Cook, was first presented in 1999.

It was funded by a collaboration of Portland, Oregon area writers and readers of science fiction and fantasy in 1996 and chartered by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI) tax-exempt non-profit corporation.

2020 Endeavour Award

Matt Hughes became the first Canadian winner of the Endeavour Award, for his 2019 slipstream historical novel What the Wind Brings.

2021 Endeavour Award

The Endeavour Award committee announced suspension of the 2021 Endeavour Award for books published in 2020, citing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The award was revisited and a winner announced at Norwescon 45, held in SeaTac, Washington, on April 6-9, 2023.

2022 Endeavour Award

The 2022 Endeavour Award was announced at OryCon 43, held in Portland, Oregon, November 10-12, 2023.

03Winners and nominees

Year Title Author Result Ref
1999 Dinosaur Summer Greg Bear Won
2000 Darwin's Radio Greg Bear Won
2001
(tie)
The Telling Ursula K. Le Guin Won
The Glass Harmonica Louise Marley Won
2002 Tales from Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin Won
2003
(tie)
The Disappeared Kristine Kathryn Rusch Won
Lion's Blood Steven Barnes Won
2004 Red Thunder John Varley Won
2005 The Child Goddess Louise Marley Won
2006 Anywhere but Here Jerry Oltion Won
2007 Forest Mage Robin Hobb Won
2008 The Silver Ship and the Sea Brenda Cooper Won
2009 Space Magic David D. Levine Won
2010 Mind Over Ship David Marusek Won
2011 Dreadnought Cherie Priest Won
2012 City of Ruins Kristine Kathryn Rusch Won
2013 Goodbye For Now Laurie Frankel Won
2014
(tie)
Nexus Ramez Naam Won
Requiem Ken Scholes Won
2015 Last Plane to Heaven Jay Lake Won
2016 Edge of Dark Brenda Cooper Won
2017
(tie)
Dreams of Distant Shores Patricia A. McKillip Won
Lovecraft Country Matt Ruff Won
2018 The Cold Eye Laura Anne Gilman Won
2019 Blood Orbit K. R. Richardson Won
2020
(tie)
What the Wind Brings Matthew Hughes Won
The Witch's Kind Louisa Morgan Won
2021 How to Get to Apocalypse Erica L. Satifka Won
2022 The Bone Orchard Sara A. Mueller Won
2023 Painted Devils Margaret Owen Won
Bookshops & Bonedust Travis Baldree Nominated
Vampires of El Norte Isabel Cañas Nominated
Again and Again Jonathan Evison Nominated
Sleep No More Seanan McGuire Nominated
2024 Relics of Ruin Erin M. Evans Won
Better Living Through Alchemy Evan J. Peterson Nominated
Heavenbreaker Sara Wolf Nominated
The Rain Artist Claire Rudy Foster Nominated
Tidal Creatures Seanan McGuire Nominated
2025 The Antidote Karen Russell Pending
Blind Date with a Werewolf Patricia Briggs Pending
Hole in the Sky Daniel H. Wilson Pending
Making Amends Nisi Shawl Pending
When We Were Real Daryl Gregory Pending
Watch videos about Endeavour AwardExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Endeavour Award, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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