Comments: Already in possession of a Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2002 Ursula K. Le Guin proved that she was still at the top of her game by winning the Best Novel Award for The Other Wind, and earning another nomination for her novella The Finder. I'm not sure how often a writer earns an award honoring their entire career and then goes on to garner even more top-level recognition, but the fact that Le Guin did exactly that is yet more evidence of her extraordinary talent.
That said, I think that Neil Gaiman's American Gods was a superior novel to The Other Wind, and a more inventive fantasy. On the other hand, Gaiman has no shortage of awards on his trophy shelf, including several for American Gods, so I'm not really going to feel sorry for him losing out here.
Best Novel
The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin
Other Nominees:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Brown Harvest by Jay Russell
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint
The Wooden Sea by Jonathan Carroll
Best Novella
The Bird Catcher by S.P. Somtow
Other Nominees:
Cleopatra Brimstone by Elizabeth Hand
Eternity and Afterward by Lucius Shepard
The Finder by Ursula K. Le Guin
Karuna, Inc. by Paul Di Filippo
Struwwelpeter by Glen Hirshberg
Best Short Fiction
Queen for a Day by Albert E. Cowdrey
Other Nominees:
His Own Back Yard by James P. Blaylock
The Honeyed Knot by Jeffrey Ford
Legerdemain by Jack O'Connell
Something to Hitch Meat To by Nalo Hopkinson
Best Anthology
The Museum of Horrors edited by Dennis Etchison
Other Nominees:
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Twelve edited by Stephen Jones
The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women edited by Stephen Jones
Stigmata edited by Jerad Walters
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourteenth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Best Collection
Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson
Other Nominees:
Dark Universe: Stories 1951-2001 by William F. Nolan
The Essential Ellison: A 50-Year Retrospective: Revised and Expanded by Harlan Ellison; edited by Terry Dowling with Richard Delap and Gil Lamont
Stranger Things Happen by Kelly LinkTalking in the Dark by Dennis Etchison
Lifetime Achievement
George Scithers
Forrest J Ackerman
Other Nominees:
None
Best Artist
Allen Koszowski
Other Nominees:
Donato Giancola
John Jude Palencar
Douglas Walters
Gahan Wilson
Special Award, Professional
(tie) Stephen Jones
(tie) Jo Fletcher
Other Nominees:
Randy Broecker
Ellen Datlow
Douglas E. Winter
Special Award, Non-Professional
Raymond Russell and Rosalie Parker
Other Nominees:
Peter Crowther
Paula Guran
Jerad Walters
Michael Waltz
Go to previous year's nominees: 2001
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2003
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