banner with text that reads, J Wayne and Elsie M Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction, vintage design by McKitterick

This is part of an archived version of James Gunn's original Center for the Study of Science Fiction website, designed, built, and managed by McKitterick. The Center was run by Gunn, Johnson, and McKitterick 1992-2021, then taken over by the KU English department in 2022.

CSSF history overview 1969 - 2022

All content (except where otherwise noted) copyright Christopher McKitterick, 1992-2022.
Creative Commons License

 

Chris McKitterick, Kij Johnson, and James Gunn of Gunn's original Center for the Study of Science Fiction (1982-2021, the first of its kind in the world) managed the Campbell Conference / Gunn Center Conference until the Center was taken over. The new English SF Center does not own or manage the Conference or the Campbell Award, and we are seeking a new host organization friendly with our history and mission to carry on the event and Award.
 


John W. Campbell Memorial Award
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award
Trophies

The Theodore Sturgeon Award for the best short science fiction of the year was established in 1987 by James Gunn, founder of his J Wayne and Elsie M Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at KU, and the heirs of Theodore Sturgeon, including his widow Jayne Sturgeon and Sturgeon's children, as an appropriate memorial to one of the great short-story writers in a field distinguished by its short fiction.

The John W. Campbell Award for the best science-fiction novel of the year is one of the three major annual awards for science fiction. The first Campbell Award was presented at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1973. Since then the Award has been presented in various parts of the world: at California State University at Fullerton; at St. John's College, Oxford; at the World SF Writers Conference in Dublin; in Stockholm; at the World SF meeting in Dublin again; and since 1979 during the Campbell Conference at the University of Kansas and elsewhere.

James Gunn and Chris McKitterick with the Sturgeon and Campbell trophies.

When Gunn began presenting the Sturgeon and Campbell Awards during his annual Campbell Conference and Awards Banquet, he wanted to create something special, so he personally hired Elden Tefft, a Lawrence sculptor, to create these permanent artifacts honoring the winners.

When Kij Johnson and Chris McKitterick began running the Conference in the late 1990s, they wanted the winners to have something more than a document to take home with them, and Kij came up with the designs for the lucite trophies that were presented from 2004 until the Center was taken over in 2021. Every prior winner also received one of these lucite trophies, and those who attended the special 2004 event were presented their trophy in person (others were mailed).

Below are photos of the permanent trophies, which remain with the award juries, and the two sets of take-home trophies made to be presented during the 2004 Campbell Conference.

Note and update: Sometime during the period between the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and the takeover of Gunn's original SF Center in 2021, the original trophies went missing while in the Center's Wescoe Hall office at KU (largely unoccupied during that time. These precious artifacts of SF history have yet to be located, and no one who had been involved with the original Center has any leads. If you have any information as to their whereabouts - these are originals, and the only pair of their kind! - please contact McKitterick ( cmckit.sf@gmail.com ), as they belonged to Gunn and should be on display with other artifacts of his life.

Sturgeon Award Trophies

Descriptions of the trophy are below each photo.

The original Sturgeon Award trophy, designed by Elden Tefft. This permanent trophy bears the names of every winner on two engraved plaques.
TThe original bronze and wood Sturgeon Award trophy, designed by Elden Tefft.
Why the Q with an arrow through it? See Sturgeon's essay here regarding "Ask the next question."
This permanent trophy bears the names of every winner on the attached, engraved plaques.

Starting in 2004, winners of the Sturgeon Award began receiving personalized trophies, designed by Kij Johnson. The permanent trophy stands beside the new trophies in this photo.
Starting in 2004, winners of the Sturgeon Award began receiving personalized trophies,
designed by Kij Johnson. The permanent trophy stands beside the set of all (until that date) take-home trophies in this photo.

Closeup of the Sturgeon Award plaque with the first winners.
CClose-up of the Sturgeon Award plaque with the first winners.

Closeup of the second Sturgeon Award plaque with the more-recent winners.
Close-up of the second Sturgeon Award plaque with the more-recent winners.
If the trophy is located, we will update this page with photos of the other plaques.

Campbell Award Trophies

Descriptions of the Campbell Award trophy are below each photo.

The original Campbell Award trophy, designed by Elden Tefft. This permanent trophy bears the names of every winner on two engraved plaques.
The original bronze and wood Campbell Award trophy, designed by Elden Tefft.
The design represents a stylized Möbius strip.
This permanent trophy bears the names of every winner on engraved plaques.

Starting in 2004, winners of the Campbell Award began receiving personalized trophies, designed by Kij Johnson. The permanent trophy stands beside the new trophies in this photo.
Starting in 2004, winners of the Campbell Award began receiving personalized trophies,
designed by Kij Johnson. The permanent trophy stands beside the set of all (to that date) take-home trophies in this photo.

Closeup of the Campbell Award plaque with the first winners.
Close-up of the Campbell Award plaque with the first winners.

Closeup of the second Campbell Award plaque with the more-recent winners.
Close-up of the second Campbell Award plaque with the more-recent winners.

page updated 3/2/2025
(permanent trophy photos from 2005, lucite trophy photos from 2004)