The Great Award of the Imaginary is a french literary prize created in 1974 by the writer and critic Jean-Pierre Fontana at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival of Science Fiction. It’s the oldest still active french award and it covers science fiction, fantastika, fantasy, various fusions of these sub-genres and transfictions.
Originally titled “Grand Prix de la Science-Fiction Française” (Great Award of the French Science Fiction), it was renamed Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in 1992, which corresponds to an extension of its jurisdiction.
The Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire is presented in November at the Utopiales Festival in Nantes.
Each year, the jury composed of specialists (writers, critics, journalists, translators: Jean-Pierre Fontana, President and Founder since 1974 ; Pascal Patoz; Bruno Para ; Jean-Claude Dunyach; François Angelier; Sandrine Brugot-Maillard; Jean-Luc Rivera ; Jean-Claude Vantroyen ; Joëlle Wintrebert), is rewarding the best SF&F from several categories, the number has changed over the years. To date, these categories are twelve.
Francophone Novel (category created in 1974)
“The Night has Devoured the World” (La Nuit a dévoré le monde) – Pit Agarmen (Laffont)
“The Last Perfects” (Les Derniers parfaits) – Paul Béorn (Mnémos)
“Oniromaque” – Jacques Boireau (Armada)
“Elliot of the Void” (Elliot du Néant) – David Calvo (The Turnaround)
“Salt Under the Eyelids” (Du sel sous les paupières) – Thomas Day (Folio SF)
“Hotspots” (Points chauds) – Laurent Genefort (The Belial ‘)
“Mimosa” – Vincent Gessler (L’Atalante)
“Exoduses” (Exodes) – Jean-Marc Ligny (L’Atalante)
“120 Days” (120 journées) – Jerome NOIREZ (Calmann-Levy)
“The First Blood” (Le Premier sang) – Sir Cedric (Le Pré aux Clercs)
“Remains” (Vestiges) – Laurence Suhner (L’Atalante)
Foreign Novel (category created in 1992)
“Tau Zero” – Poul Anderson (Le Bélial’)
“The Uplift Girl” – Paolo Bacigalupi (Au diable vauvert)
“Eymerich’s Castle” (Il castello di Eymerich) – Valerio Evangelisti (La Volte)
“Riddley Walker” – Russell Hoban (Monsieur Toussaint Louverture)
“Among Thieves” – Douglas Hulick (L’Atalante)
“Butcher Bird” – Richard Kadrey (Denoël)
“Prince of Thorns – Mark Lawrence (Bragelonne)
“ The Return of the Dead” (Sulky och Bebbe regerar okej) – John Ajvide Lindqvist (Télémaque)
“ Falling Out of Cars” – Jeff Noon (La Volte)
“ The Alloy of Law” – Brandon Sanderson (Orbit)
“ Blackout” – Connie Willis (Bragelonne)
Translated Works Prize (category created in 1992), renamed Jacques Chambon Translations Prize in 2004
Florence Bury for “Among Thieves” by Douglas Hulick (L’Atalante)
Camille Croqueloup for “The Scorpio Races” by Maggie Stiefvater (Hachette)
Sara Doke for “The Uplift Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Au diable vauvert)
Pierre-Paul Durastanti for “Zendegi” by Greg Egan (Le Bélial’) & “The Monkey Treatment” by George R.R. Martin (Bifrost n°67)
Patrick Imbert for “Robocalypse” by Daniel H. Wilson (Fleuve Noir)
Gilles Goullet for “ßéhémoth” de Peter Watts (Fleuve Noir) & “The Little Goddess” by Ian McDonald (Bifrost n°68)
Pascal Loubet for “Shadow of Night” by Deborah Harkness (Orbit)
Jean-Pierre Pugi for “The Dervish House” by Ian McDonald (Denoël) & “Butcher Bird“ by Richard Kadrey (Denoël)
Nicolas Richard for “Riddley Walker” by Russell Hoban (Monsieur Toussaint Louverture)
Non-Fiction (category created in 1989)
“Science Fiction in France” (La Science-Fiction en France) by Simon Bréan (Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne)
“Those Frenchmen Who Wrote Tomorrow. Utopia, Anticipation and Science Fiction in the 20th Century” (Ces français qui ont écrit demain. Utopie, anticipation et science-fiction au XXe siècle) by Natacha Vas Deyres (Honoré Champion)
“Man-Machine and its Avatars“ (L’Homme-machine et ses avatars) – Marc Atallah & Dominique Kunz Westerhoff, editors (Vrin)
“Retro-future !” by Raphaël Colson (Les Moutons électriques)
“Bram Stoker. In the Shadow of Dracula” (Bram Stoker. Dans l’ombre de Dracula) by Alain Pozzuoli (Pascal Galodé)
“ A Little Philosophy of the Zombie” (Petite philosophie du zombie) by Maxime Coulombe (Presses Universitaires de France)
Other categories
Francophone Story (1975) ; Foreign Story (1995); Special Prize (1976); Young Adult Novel (1982), splitted into Young Adult Francophone Novel and Young Adult Foreign Novel in 2010 ; Visual Works (2000), renamed Wojtek Siudmak Graphic Award in 2006 ; European Prize (2001- 2010) ; Comics (2010) ; Manga (2010) : http://www.noosfere.org/gpi/2013.php
