The 7th annual Norton Awards, a San Francisco Bay area specific award, are given each year for “extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason.” They were presented on August 30th at the Tachyon Publications 14th anniversary party held at Borderlands Books in San Francisco. The award is named after and commemorates the memory of Joshua Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America and Protector of Mexico, and is represented by a bust of Norton sculpted by Paul Groendes. The physical award is called a Joshua. It is a juried award, and the judges are Richard Lupoff (author), Alan Beatts (book store proprietor), and Jacob Weisman (editor/publisher). Two awards are given, one to a single work of SF/F/H or to an author in these genres; the second to any creation, creator, or service relating to those genres. The winners for 2009 were:
- Doug Dorst for Alive in Necropolis
- Charlie Jane Anders for Writers with Drinks and io9.com