The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States.

The SFWA Nebula Conference, at which the awards are announced and presented, is held each spring in the United States.

[4] There are no written rules as to which works qualify as science fiction or fantasy, and the decision of eligibility in that regard is left up to the nominators and voters, rather than to SFWA.

Members then vote on the ballot throughout March, and the final results are presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony in May.

The idea for such an award, funded by the sales of anthologies collecting the winning works, was proposed by SFWA secretary-treasurer Lloyd Biggle, Jr. in 1965.

[5] The initial ceremony consisted of four literary awards, for Novels, Novellas, Novelettes, and Short Stories, which have been presented every year since.

Works were added to a preliminary list for the year if they had ten or more nominations, which were then voted on to create the final ballot.

Beginning with the 2010 awards, the rolling eligibility system and paperback publication exemption were replaced with the current rules.

[13] The Solstice Award may be presented posthumously (where only living writers may be named Grand Master or Author Emeritus).

[16][2] Brian Aldiss, in his book Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, claimed that the Nebula Award provided "more literary judgment" while the Hugo was a barometer of reader popularity, rather than artistic merit, though he did note that the winners of the two awards often overlapped.

[6] Several people within the publishing industry have said that winning or being nominated for a Nebula Award has effects on the author's career and the sales of that work.

Spider Robinson in 1992, as quoted in Science Fiction Culture (2000), said that publishers "pay careful attention" to who wins a Nebula Award.