American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist Society revived it in 1982.
The Society created a Prometheus Hall of Fame Award (for classic works of libertarian and anti-authoritarian science fiction and fantasy, not necessarily novels) in 1983, and also presents occasional one-off Special Awards.
Since 2019, LFS members have launched an Appreciation series of review-essays honoring all past winners and making clear why each work of fiction fits the distinctive focus of the award – something that was viewed as not necessarily obvious to sf/fantasy fans unfamiliar with the broad scope of libertarian thinking and analysis, which often overlaps with classical liberalism, its philosophical cousin.
Some authors have won the award for best novel more than once: Five authors have won the Prometheus Hall of Fame award more than once: Books published in a given year are eligible (although books from the last few months of the previous year are also eligible if it is felt that they have been overlooked).
The awards are given at the Annual Worldcon or NASFIC or, during and since the pandemic, presented live via Zoom and then posted on YouTube and the Videos page of the LFS website (www.lfs.org).