Nebula Awards 1965: Complete list of winners

The inaugural Nebula Awards in 1965 marked a watershed moment for speculative fiction. While the Hugo Awards had been celebrating science fiction fandom’s favorites since 1953, the newly established Nebula Awards represented something different—a prize voted on by professional science fiction writers themselves, giving the field’s most respected craftspeople a direct say in recognizing excellence. That first year didn’t disappoint, ushering in what many consider a golden age of thoughtful, ambitious SF.

Frank Herbert’s colossal Dune took the top prize for Best Novel, an obvious choice for a work that would reshape the genre’s landscape. But the other 1965 Nebula winners revealed the breadth of what writers were attempting: Roger Zelazny delivered the audacious “The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth” in the novelette category, Brian W. Aldiss conjured The Saliva Tree as Best Novella, and Harlan Ellison—ever the provocateur—claimed Best Short Story with the acidic “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman.” These four works demonstrated that the Nebula Awards would champion both the epic and the intimate, the strange and the intensely personal.

Here are the complete winners from that landmark first year:

Best Novel

• Dune by Frank Herbert

Best Novelette

• The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth by Roger Zelazny

Best Novella

• The Saliva Tree by Brian W. Aldiss

Best Short Story

• ‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison