The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best English language first novel of the year in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at their annual science fiction convention, Balticon, held in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend. The award, also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award, has been presented since 1983. The list of eligible books is published in the monthly newsletter so that all club members will have a chance to read and vote. The winning author is invited to Balticon (BSFS pays transportation and lodging) for two years, and presented with the cash award of $1,000. Compton Crook, who wrote under the name of Stephen Tall, was a long-time Baltimore resident, Towson University professor, and science fiction author who died in 1981. Winners 1983 - Donald Kingsbury, Courtship Rite 1984 - Christopher Rowley, War For Eternity 1985 - David R. Palmer, Emergence 1986 - Sheila Finch, Infinity's Web 1987 - Thomas Wren, Doomsday Effect 1988 - Christopher Hinz, Liege-Killer 1989 - Elizabeth Moon, Sheepfarmer's Daughter 1990 - Josepha Sherman, The Shining Falcon 1991 - Michael Flynn, In the Country of the Blind 1992 - Carol Severance, Reefsong 1993 - Holly Lisle, Fire in the Mist 1994 - Mary Rosenblum, The Drylands 1995 - Doranna Durgin, Dun Lady's Jess 1996 - Daniel Graham Jr., The Gatekeepers 1997 - Richard Garfinkle, Celestial Matters 1998 - Katie Waitman, The Merro Tree 1999 - James Stoddard, The High House 2000 - Stephen L. Burns, Flesh and Silver 2001 - Syne Mitchell, Murphy's Gambit 2002 - Wen Spencer, Alien Taste 2003 - Patricia Bray, Devlin's Luck 2004 - E. E. Knight, Way of the Wolf 2005 - Tamara Siler Jones, Ghosts in the Snow 2006 - Maria V. Snyder, Poison Study 2007 - Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon 2008 - Mark L. Van Name, One Jump Ahead 2009 - Paul Melko, Singularity's Ring 2010 - Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl 2011 - James Knapp, State of Decay 2012 - T. C. McCarthy, Germline 2013 - Myke Cole, Control Point 2014 - Charles E. Gannon, Fire With Fire 2015 - Alexandra Duncan, Salvage 2016 - Fran Wilde, Updraft 2017 - Ada Palmer, Too Like the Lightning 2018 - Nicky Drayden, The Prey of Gods 2019 - R. F. Kuang, The Poppy War 2020 - Arkady Martine, A Memory Called Empire 2021 -