Living Canon

Nebula Awards 2022: Complete list of winners

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced the 2022 Nebula Awards winners, celebrating the year’s most inventive and artfully crafted speculative fiction. R. F. Kuang’s Babel, a sprawling alternate-history novel about language, power, and resistance, took home Best Novel—a landmark win for a book that weaves academic intrigue with urgent social commentary. The 2022 Nebula Awards shortlist as a whole reflected the field’s increasingly diverse voices and willingness to grapple with complex themes, from intimate character studies to grand worldbuilding that challenges genre conventions.

Beyond the novel category, this year’s winners showcase the depth of storytelling happening across science fiction and fantasy at every length. John Chu’s “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Formal You” earned Best Novelette, while C. L. Polk’s “Even Though I Knew the End” took Best Novella, with Samantha Mills’s “Rabbit Test” securing Best Short Story. The Young Adult category honored K. Tempest Bradford’s Ruby Finley vs. The Interstellar Invasion, a win that underscores how YA speculative fiction continues to merit serious literary recognition alongside adult work. The breadth of these selections reflects what makes the Nebula Awards enduringly significant in the science fiction and fantasy community—they’re determined by writers voting for writers, ensuring the award celebrates craft and imagination in equal measure.

Here are the complete 2022 Nebula Awards winners:

Best Novel

Best Novelette

  • If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Formal You by John Chu

Best Novella

Best Short Story

Best Young Adult