Sources:
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi
http://www.wikipedia.org
www.dpsinfo.com/awardweb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Award
Rules:
Breaking down by category
All writers/artists, etc. count as one, even if they are co-authors
Multiple stories by the same author--author counted for each nomination
Numbers vary because of number of nominations, and also ties count as two separate authors, plus co-authors
Nominee numbers include total number of nominees, including winners
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi
http://www.wikipedia.org
www.dpsinfo.com/awardweb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Award
Rules:
Breaking down by category
All writers/artists, etc. count as one, even if they are co-authors
Multiple stories by the same author--author counted for each nomination
Numbers vary because of number of nominations, and also ties count as two separate authors, plus co-authors
Nominee numbers include total number of nominees, including winners
1965-1969
Best Novel Nominees: 3 women, 31 men (9%, 91%)
Best Novel Winners: 1 woman, 5 men (17%, 83%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 21
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novella Nominees: 3 women, 24 men (11%, 89%)
Best Novella winners: 1 woman, 4 men (20%, 80%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 21
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novelette Nominees: 1 women, 40 men (2%, 98%)
Best Novelette winners: 0 women, 5 men (0%, 100%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 4
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Short Story Nominees: 4 women, 48 men (8%, 92%)
Best Short Story winners: 1 woman, 4 men (20%, 80%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 1
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
1970-1979
Best Novel Nominees: 14 women, 56 men (20%, 80%)
Best Novel Winners: 2 women, 8 men (20%, 80%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 3
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novella Nominees: 12 women, 33 men (27%, 73%)
Best Novella winners: 3 women, 8 men (27%, 73%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 3
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novelette Nominees: 10 women, 45 men (18%, 82%)
Best Novelette winners: 2 women, 9 men (18%, 82%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 3
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Short Story Nominees: 11 women, 49 men (18%, 82%)
Best Short Story winners: 3 women, 6 men (33%, 67%)2
Number of years with no female nominees: 2
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
1980-1989
Best Novel Nominees: 9 women, 53 men (15%, 85%)
Best Novel Winners: 3 women, 7 men (30%, 70%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 4
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novella Nominees: 14 women, 43 men (25%, 75%)
Best Novella winners: 3 women, 7 men (30%, 70%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 2
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novelette Nominees: 17 women, 47 men (27%, 73%)3
Best Novelette winners: 5 women, 5 men (50%, 50%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 24
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Short Story Nominees: 14 women, 53 men (21%, 79%)
Best Short Story winners: 4 women, 6 men (40%, 60%)5
Number of years with no female nominees: 2
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
1990-1999
Best Novel Nominees: 26 women, 36 men (42%, 58%)
Best Novel Winners: 5 women, 5 men (50%, 50%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 0
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novella Nominees: 21 women, 42 men (33%, 67%)
Best Novella winners: 3 women, 7 men (30%, 70%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 1
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novelette Nominees: 27 women, 41 men (40%, 60%)
Best Novelette winners: 5 women, 5 men (50%, 50%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 1
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Short Story Nominees: 30 women, 31 men (49%, 51%)
Best Short Story winners: 6 women, 4 men (60%, 40%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 0
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
2000-2009
Best Novel Nominees: 21 women, 39 men (35%, 65%)
Best Novel Winners: 4 women, 6 men (40%, 60%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 06
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novella Nominees: 16 women, 38 men (29%, 71%)
Best Novella winners: 5 women, 5 men (50%, 50%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 2
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Novelette Nominees: 21 women, 39 men (35%, 65%)
Best Novelette winners: 4 women, 6 men (40%,60 %)
Number of years with no female nominees: 2
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Short Story Nominees: 30 women, 32 men (48%, 52%)
Best Short Story winners: 9 women, 1 men (90%, 10%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 0
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Best Script Awards
This award was first presented in 1973, and continued each year until 1976, when 3 scripts were nominated, but no award was given. In 1977, a special award was given for Star Wars, then the award was put on hiatus until 1999. Awards were given every year from 1999 until 2008. In 2009, this Nebula was suspended in favor of the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, which is presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony, but is considered a separate award. Because of the small number of years that this was awarded, I have counted all of the statistics together. Many of the scripts are by more than one writer, so there are far more writers than scripts nominated. Where the script was based on a novel, I have counted the author(s) of the novel as well. As with all other categories, the nominee count includes the winners as well as those that did not win.
Best Script Nominees: 12 women, 102 men (11%, 89%)
Best Script winners: 8 women, 24 men (25%, 75%)
Number of years with no female nominees: 7 (out of 14)
Number of years with no male nominees: 0
Since there are so few women, here is how they break down:
- 2 movies based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
- 3 wins each for Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, for The Lord of the Rings movies7
- 2 movies with a writing credit to Cindy Davis Hewitt
- 1 Battlestar Galactica episode with Carla Robinson listed as first writer
- 1 movie based on a book by P.D. James, Children of Men (uncredited in the awards, but I added her in my calculations)
A few thoughts I had as I went through these statistics:
- I found it interesting to note how many years there are no female nominees at all. If there were any years with no male nominees, I wouldn’t think that was necessarily a sign of bias – maybe some years the men were just stronger. It defies belief, though, to think that could be true and it would never be the other way around.
- I have been spending a bunch of time on Wikipedia, checking the gender of authors that are not immediately clear from the name (androgynous names like Chris or Alex, initials instead of names, vague ideas I heard that might be a woman – that sort of thing), and I find that I really wish I had more time to flesh out the entries of the female authors. There are a few stubs for male authors, but there are a lot for the women.
- Off the top of my head, it seems that all of the SF writers named Terry are male, and all the writers named Pat are female. I am sure there are some female authors named Terry and some male authors that go by Pat, but I don’t seem to have come across any of them. I am not sure this means anything, I just thought it was interesting.
If anyone has any questions about my methods or results, or any information to add, I would love to hear from you! You can contact me at quinn@gamingangels.com
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Notes
1 Other 3 years had a single female nominee
2 No award given in 1970
3 S. C. Sykes, for whom I could not determine gender, was also a nominee
4 1 year if S.C. Sykes is a woman
5 Lisa Tuttle refused her award in 1981, when she found that a fellow nominee was sending out copies of his story and campaigning for votes, which she thought was unfair
6 There were 5 years with a single female nominee
Notes
1 Other 3 years had a single female nominee
2 No award given in 1970
3 S. C. Sykes, for whom I could not determine gender, was also a nominee
4 1 year if S.C. Sykes is a woman
5 Lisa Tuttle refused her award in 1981, when she found that a fellow nominee was sending out copies of his story and campaigning for votes, which she thought was unfair
6 There were 5 years with a single female nominee
7 Shared with Peter Jackon in all three years, and Stephen Sinclair in 2003
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