The Harland Prize is the oldest annual award for original Dutch short science fiction, fantasy or horror stories. It was originally called the King Kong Award, than the Millennium Award, than it was renamed after Dutch science fiction author Paul Harland, who died in 2003, and later on it was renamed again to Harland Award.

This award is for short stories and novelettes, but the word count changed sometimes.

History

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The award was presented for the first time in 1976 by SF fan and critic Rob Vooren, on the occasion of a short story contest which had been organised that same year. Initially, Vooren called it the King Kong Award, and also published an irregular fanzine with the same name.

Over the next ten years, the contest was mostly organised by Rob Vooren, who not only assembled the jury, but also ensured availability of the prize money (usually 1000 guilders), and later enlisted the help of a publisher. In 1984 this finally resulted in professional publication for the award winners.

In 1987 Rob Vooren handed over the organisation for the last time, to a rotating committee. For reasons of credibility, and with a view to attracting more sponsors, it was decided in 1996 to change the name to Millennium Prize. Following the death of Paul Harland, who had not only won the award several times, but had also organised it, in addition to being on the jury more often than almost anyone else, the prize was given his name in 2003.

In 2011 the Prize was organized by author Martijn Lindeboom, who in 2013 collaborated on it with author Thomas Olde Heuvelt. In 2016, authors Floris Kleijne and Esther Scherpenisse organized the award. In 2017, the Harland Awards were organized for the first time by a four-headed organization consisting of Mariska Reniers, Freya Sixma, Jorrit de Klerk and Yarrid Dhooghe.

In 2013, there was a record number of entries, 206 stories (totaling some 1.3 million words), in the following years the number of entries stabilized around 200. In 2015, the writing competition was renamed Harland Awards and the novel prize was briefly added. The first Harland Awards Novel Prize was won by Auke Hulst with his science fiction novel Sleep Softly, Johnny Idaho. In 2023, the prize was again renamed and is now called the 'Harland Prize'.

Winning authors

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Edition First Second Third Fourth Fifth
1976 Bert Vos
1977 Peter Cuijpers Guido Eekhaut Annemarie van Ewijck Eddy C. Bertin Martin Berkelaar
1978 Wim Burkunk Wim Burkunk Peter Cuijpers Eddy C. Bertin Kathinka Lannoy
1979 Tais Teng Robert Smets Frank Frankhuizen Luuk Simonis Eddy C. Bertin
1980 Bert Vos Peter Cuijpers Rob Zaagman Sophie van der Waaij Eddy C. Bertin / Frank Visser
1981 <not granted> Sophie van der Waaij Jan Bee Landman
1983 Gert and Jan J.B. Kuipers Peter Cuijpers Paul Harland / Tais Teng Reinold Widemann
1984 Paul Harland and Tais Teng / Peter Cuijpers Paul Harland Jan J.B. Kuipers Gerben Hellinga jr
1985 Gerben Hellinga, Jr. / Tais Teng Tais Teng Gerben Hellinga, Jr. Jan J.B. Kuipers
1986 Thomas Wintner Jan Bee Landman Jan J.B. Kuipers Guido Eekhaut Jan J.B. Kuipers
1987 Jan J.B. Kuipers Jannelies Smit & Paul Harland Eddy C. Bertin Antony den Ridder Guido Eekhaut / Jan Bee Landman
1988 Paul Evenblij Thomas Cool Gerben Hellinga Jr Peter Cuijpers Rijna Elijzen
1989 Tais Teng Julien C. Raasveld Jan Bee Landman and Paul Harland Peter Cuijpers Jan J.B. Kuipers
1990 Paul Harland Jan Bee Landman Thomas Wintner Gerben Hellinga Jr Jan J. B. Kuipers
1991 Peter Cuijpers Jan J. B. Kuipers Martin Berkelaar Gerben Hellinga Jr Peter Cuijpers
1992 Mike Jansen and Paul Harland Paul van Leeuwenkamp Jaap Boekestein Nico Stikker Geeske M. Kruseman / Paul van Leeuwenkamp
1994 Nico Stikker Peter Cuijpers Vincent Hoberg Jan J.B. Kuipers Tony de Haan
1995 Paul Harland and Vincent Hoberg Jan J. B. Kuipers Paul van Leeuwenkamp Martijn Kregting Dirk Bontes
1996 Dirk Bontes Jan J.B. Kuipers Mark J. Ruyffelaert Frank van Dongen Martijn Kregting
1997 Jan J.B. Kuipers Bart van Geldrop Paul Evenblij Gerben Hellinga Jr Nico Stikker
1998 Henri Achten Richard Meijer Marcel Orie Henri Achten Jay Hill
1999 Sophia Drenth Mirjam Gielen Sophia Drenth Cor Oosting Diana van der Pluijm
2000 Anne-Claire Verham Chris Braga / Jan J.B. Kuipers Anne-Claire Verham Mirjam Gielen
2001 Paul Evenblij Dirk Bontes Chris Braga Mirjam Gielen Chris Braga
2002 Dirk Bontes Peter Kaptein Robert Tetteroo Jurgen Appelo / Marco Knauff
2003 Jaap Boekestein Martijn Kregting Jaap Boekestein Marco Knauff Auke Pols
2004 Christien Boomsma Chris Braga Katrien Rutten Sarah de Waard Thomas Olde Heuvelt
2005 Auke Pols Esther Scherpenisse Thomas Olde Heuvelt Sarah de Waard Mark Bartels
2006 Christien Boomsma Fred Rabouw Jan J.B. Kuipers Claudia van Arkel Jenny Hoogeboom
2007 Wim Stolk Anne Witberg Martijn Lindeboom Jaap Boekestein Esther Scherpenisse
2008 Boukje Balder Fred Rabouw Rianne Lampers Anne Witberg Fred Rabouw
2009 Thomas Olde Heuvelt Django Mathijsen Fred van der Meulen Jos Lexmond Fred Rabouw
2010 Kurt Forel Martijn Kregting Patrick Brannigan Boukje Balder / Frank Norbert Rieter
2011 Boukje Balder Freek de Bruin Patrick Brannigan Pieter Van de Walle Anaïd Haen
2012 Thomas Olde Heuvelt Linda Mulders Jürgen Snoeren Ben Adriaanse Auke Pols
2013 Esther Scherpenisse Saskia van Oostenrijk Peter Kaptein Olga Ponjee Fred Rabouw and Johan Zonnenberg
2021 Gerthein Boersma Jan van Gorkum Marius van Bruggen

See also

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References

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