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The shortlist for the 2009 Arthur C. Clarke Award has been announced:

Song of Time, Ian R. MacLeod (PS Publishing)
The Quiet War, Paul McAuley (Gollancz)
House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
Anathem, Neal Stephenson (Atlantic)
The Margarets Sheri S. Tepper (Gollancz)
Martin Martin's on the Other Side, Mark Wernham (Jonathan Cape)

That's the second nomination for Anathem.  I suspect there will be more.  Anybody read that one yet?

From The Guardian:

The most pleasing repetition from last year was the excited atmosphere and the general conviction that this award wasn't just about media exposure and money for the winner. The fans and organisers seemed to share the genuine belief – no doubt inherited from Arthur C Clarke himself – that SF can be a force for good. These books can inspire scientific exploration and discovery as well as amuse and entertain. And that – as someone said – is a worthwhile endeavour in a country where university physics departments are closing because of a lack of interest rather than a lack of funding. Marek Kukula, the public astronomer from the Royal Observatory, proved the point in a short and sweet keynote speech in which he explained how he owed his career path and continuing sense of wonder to the SF he read as a teenager.

It was all quite heartening even if this sense of continuity and lack of cynicism seemed at odds with the world outside the Apollo Cinema. If anyone was worried about swine flu, for instance, they weren't letting on. As someone pointed out to me, there was no point worrying anyway because the room we were in was so crowded that "we're all frelled anyway. And that's assuming that the tube journey here hadn't got them first".[...]

MacLeod was literally speechless as he walked up to collect his prize. He'd prepared nothing in advance, claiming to have been certain that he wouldn't win. But the few words he managed were all the more touching for being so shambolic. The whole event had once more been a most uplifting experience. And if I don't catch swine flu because of it I will remember it fondly once again.

"An inspiring night at the Arthur C Clarke awards"