Riverdale, New York, September 2026 — Baen Books is pleased to announce that two science fiction luminaries who were close friends with David Drake will serve as guest judges for the inaugural round of its newest short story award, the David A. Drake Memorial Award.

New York Times best-selling author David Weber and editor, author, and anthologist Bill Fawcett will serve as the first guest judges for the award. Weber, best known for the Honor Harrington series, together with David Drake and Jerry Pournelle, helped establish the entire field of military science fiction. Fawcett, a longtime game designer, book packager, and author of military SF and nonfiction, edited the six-volume The Fleet anthology series and its follow-on Battlestation anthology with Drake. Baen is confident Weber and Fawcett will help Baen’s editors select stories that reflect the legacy of David Drake’s groundbreaking fiction.

Award submissions of original, unpublished short stories of up to 8,000 words will be accepted starting 24 September 2026. The contest is open to all forms of science fiction and fantasy, and Baen will be looking for works of great science fiction or fantasy with strong military themes central to the characters and plot. Authors do not have to be veterans or active military members to participate, but veterans and those in the military are encouraged to submit. Details of the submission process may be found on the Baen Books website

Submissions will remain open through 10 December 2026, and will be judged blindly by a panel consisting of Baen Books editors as well as guest judges Weber and Fawcett. Baen Books plans to announce the finalists in February 2027 and present the award in June at Baen Books’ Traveling Roadshow at the LibertyCon science fiction and fantasy convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Baen Books is an independent publisher of fantasy and science fiction, in business for over 40 years. They are known for publishing the works of New York Times best-selling authors David Weber, S.M. Stirling, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Lois McMaster Bujold, Elizabeth Moon, Mercedes Lackey, John Ringo, and many others. Baen is distributed by Simon & Schuster.

For more information, contact pr@baen.com.