This award was established by Sir Arthur C. Clarke in 1986 to encourage quality science fiction writing. The award goes annually to the best science fiction novel published in England in the previous year.

The award is administered by the British Science Fiction Association and the Science Fiction Foundation. The monetary prize associated with the award was £2,001 -- approximately $2800 US -- in 2001.

• 1987 -- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• 1988 -- Drowning Towers by George Turner
• 1989 -- Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack
• 1990 -- The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman
• 1991 -- Take Back Plenty by Colin Greenland
• 1992 -- Synners by Pat Cadigan
• 1993 -- Body of Glass by Marge Piercy (published as He, She and It in the U.S.)
• 1994 -- Vurt by Jeff Noon
• 1995 -- Fools by Pat Cadigan
• 1996 -- Fairyland by Paul J McAuley
• 1997 -- The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
• 1998 -- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
• 1999 -- Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan
• 2000 -- Distraction by Bruce Sterling
• 2001 -- Perdido Street Station by China Mieville