Portland – Four novels and a collection of short stories are finalists for the 2011 Endeavour Award. The 2011 will be the thirteenth year for the Award, which comes with an honorarium of $1,000.00. The winner will be announced November 11, 2011, at OryCon, Oregon’s major science fiction convention.

The finalists are:
“A Cup of Normal” by Salem, Ore., writer Devon Monk, published by Fairwood Press;
“The Bards of Bone Plain” by North Bend, Ore., writer Patricia McKillip, published by Ace Books;
“Black Prism” by Sherwood , Ore., writer Brent Weeks, published by Orbit US;
“Dreadnought” by Seattle, Wash., writer Cherie Priest, published by Tor Books; and
“Silver Borne” by Benton City, Wash., writer Patricia Briggs, published by Ace Books.

The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest. All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers. The five highest scoring books then go to three judges, who are all professional writers or editors.

The judges for the 2011 Award are editor John Joseph Adams and writers Bud Sparhawk and Jo Walton.

John Joseph Adams is a bestselling editor of many anthologies and a 2011 Hugo Award-nominee for Best Editor (Short Form). His books have been nominated for the World Fantasy Award. He is also the editor of “Fantasy Magazine” and “Lightspeed Magazine.” John is the co-host of “The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy” podcast.

Bud Sparhawk is a hard science fiction short story writer who started writing in 1975 with three sales to ANALOG. He has published two short story collections and one novel, “Vixen.” and has been a finalist for the Nebula Award three times. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland and is Treasurer of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and Senior Vice President of Macfadden.

Jo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian writer of fantasy and science fiction. She has won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, the World Fantasy Award, the Mythopoeic Award and the Prometheus Award. She had published two poetry collections and nine novels, most recently “Among Others.”

AWARD ELIGIBILITY FOR 2012
To be eligible for 2012Endeavour Award, a book — either a novel or a single-author collection — must have been published for the first time in English during 2011. The majority of the book must have been written, and the book accepted for publication, while the author was living in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, or the Yukon.) Deadline to enter books published during 2011 is February 15, 2012. Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour Web site: www.osfci.org/endeavour.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.