Press Releases

Lifeboat to the Stars

Abstract
 
The Lifeboat Foundation will present the “Lifeboat to the Stars” award along with $1,000 to the winner at the 2013 Campbell Conference where the topic of the conference will be interstellar travel.
 
They will also present a bibliographical survey at the conference which will cover prior science fiction describing methods of interstellar travel.
 
Story
 
October 23, 2012 — The Lifeboat Foundation will provide the “Lifeboat to the Stars” award along with $1,000 to the winner at the 2013 Campbell Conference where the topic of the conference will be interstellar travel.
 
The conference will be held June 13–16, 2013. It will take place at the Oread Hotel in Lawrence, Kansas, as the midway point between the Science Fiction Writing Workshops and the Intensive English Institute on the Teaching of Science Fiction. The Award dinner is held on the opening Friday of the Conference and features the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of the year and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short science fiction of the year.
 
The “Lifeboat to the Stars” award will be for the best work of science fiction of any length published in 2011 or 2012 contributing to an understanding of the benefits, means, and difficulties of interstellar travel. This award will be presented by Lifeboat's Robert J. Sawyer, winner of the 2006 John W. Campbell Memorial Award. We thank our James E. Gunn for conceiving the name of this award.
 
Lifeboat's coordinating judge will be Robert J. Sawyer, their consulting judge will be Greg Bear, and their other judges will include Catherine Asaro, Jason Batt, Sherry E. Bell, Kevin M. Berry, Don V. Black, Stephan Vladimir Bugaj, Brenda Cooper, Niklas Järvstråt, Jim Karkanias, Rouslan Krechetnikov, Eva-Jane Lark, Mike E. McCulloch, George Perry, Allen M. Steele, Jr, John K. Strickland Jr, and Allen G. Taylor.
 
The Lifeboat Foundation will also present a bibliographical survey at the 2013 Campbell Conference which will cover prior science fiction describing methods of interstellar travel.
 
The Chair of the Interstellar Travel Bibliographical Survey will be Lifeboat's James Blodgett. Other members of the survey team will include Tracy Atkins, Jason Batt, Greg Bear, Kevin M. Berry, André Caminoa, Niklas Järvstråt, Eva-Jane Lark, Mike E. McCulloch, Robert J. Sawyer, Allen M. Steele Jr, John K. Strickland Jr, and Allen G. Taylor.
 
Lifeboat Foundation wishes to thank James E. Gunn and Frederick Pohl for their suggestions that led to this award and bibliographical survey.
 
Ongoing updates for this award will be posted at https://russian.lifeboat.com/ex/lifeboat.to.the.stars.
 
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About Lifeboat Foundation
 
The Lifeboat Foundation is a nonprofit nongovernmental organization dedicated to encouraging scientific advancements while helping humanity survive existential risks and possible misuse of increasingly powerful technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics/AI, as we move towards the Singularity.
 
Contacts:
 
Lifeboat Foundation News office
1468 James Rd
Gardnerville, NV 89460, USA
+1 (512) 548-6425
[email protected]