The 55^th Annual Nebulas were presented on May 30, 2020, during the online conference of the Science Fiction Writers of America. Staged as virtual trip aboard the Airship Nebula, hosted by the vivacious and courageous Aydrea Walden, writer and actress, creator and star of Black Girl in a Big Dress.

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Good Omens: “Hard Times” [Episode 3], accepted by Neil Gaiman, who gave all the credit to all those who made the production possible, and most of all, to Terry Pratchett.

Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service Award

• Julia Rios, particularly identifying her work on the SFWA mentorship program.

Best Short Story

• Give the Family My Love by A. T. Greenblatt, published by Clarkesworld.

The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award

• This was awarded to Lois McMaster Bujold, introduced by her lifelong friend and co-author of The Vorkosigan Companion, Lillian Stewart Carl.

Best Novelette

• Carpe Glitter by Cat Rambo, published by Meercat Press, LLC

Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award

This award went to two notable artists in diverse art forms, doing different good deeds for the good of all:

• George R.R. Martin introduces SF artist John Picacio, champion of underrepresented creators and fans, especially his Mexicanx initiative, and pushing the community into making the WorldCon a real WORLD convention.
• Jeffe Kennedy introduces “our paladin,” historical fantasy author David Gaughran, recognized for his efforts to alert indie writers about predatory schemes and warn them about changes in independent publishing.

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

• LeVar Burton introduces the nominees; the winner was Riverland by Fran Wilde, as published by Harry N. Abram. Ms. Wilde has now won this award two years in a row.

SFWA president Mary Robinette Kowal thanks Cat Rambo for five years in the same office and introduces her speech on how SFWA is for the writers to look out for each other. Mary presents a video portrait of Cat Rambo.

Best Novella

Sarah Gailey introduces the nominees for this category; the winner is This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, Published by Gallery and Saga Press.

Game Writing

Whitney Beltran (The Strix) introduces the nominees for Game Writing, by way of a stirring speech about how narrative writing transcends the media, for a category only in its second year of the Nebulas.

• Winner: The Outer Worlds by Leonard Boyarsky, Kate Dollarhyde, Paul Kirsch, Chris L’Etoile, Daniel McPhee, Carrie Patel, Nitai Poddar, Marc Soskin, and Megan Starks, published by Obsidian.

Special guest Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, the first woman to be elected to the US Senate, and also a SF/Fantasy fan, takes the podium. She encourages the writers, who transform the world in fiction to visualize the world as it could be.

Best Novel

Charlie Jane Anders introduces the Best Novel nominees, in an amazing unicorn hoodie tutu ensemble.

• Winner: A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker published by Berkley. Her speech was full of mixed feelings, for how do you write an acceptance speech when the world is burning, some places literally? She thanked the appropriate people including her wife, and let the rest of the world really have it, including the memorable final sentence: “Please make my book fiction again.”

The Nebula Awards, given annually, recognize the best works of science fiction and fantasy published in the previous year. They are selected by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The first Nebula Awards were presented in 1966

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