Sidewise Award for Alternate History
The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995. These awards are for the best alternate history stories and novels of the year.
The awards are named after the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster. In the story, a strange storm makes parts of the Earth exchange places with similar places from other timelines.
Steven H Silver, Evelyn C. Leeper, and Robert B. Schmunk created the award. The number of judges has changed in different years. There have been three to eight judges, including judges in the UK and South Africa.
There are two Sideways awards. The Short-Form award is for writing that is shorter than 60,000 words. The Long-Form award may be for writing that is longer than 60,000 words. This can include a novel or a complete series of novels. The judges may also give a Special Achievement Award, but this is not required every year. Special Achievement awards are for writing that was published befor1995. The awards are given each year, usually at Worldcon.
Award winners
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, The Severed Wing & 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 & 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
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
Special Achievement
- 1995 L. Sprague de Camp, lifetime achievement
- 1997 Robert N. Sobel, For Want of a Nail
- 1999 Randall Garrett, the Lord Darcy series
- 2018 Eric Flint, the 1632 series