George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin took the podium at the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS) Prometheus Award ceremony on 16 August 2026, arguing that libertarian ideas have found a more receptive home in science fiction and fantasy than in any other fiction genre.
The event was the 46th annual Prometheus Awards, held online via Zoom and emceed by LFS President William H. Stoddard. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the LFS has presented the awards live via Zoom before posting recordings to YouTube and its website, breaking from the long-standing tradition of hosting the ceremony at Worldcon or NASFIC.
Somin, also a Cato Institute scholar and self-described lifelong science-fiction fan, spoke for roughly thirteen minutes, from the 1:30 to 14:40 mark of the ceremony recording. His address covered why libertarian themes proliferate in speculative fiction, why their presence in the genre matters, and what lessons libertarians might draw from the literature.
At the Prometheus Award Ceremony: Brave New World Enters the Hall of Fame
Somin also presented the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, first published in 1932 by Chatto and Windus. A representative of the Huxley estate and two of the author’s grandchildren accepted the award on behalf of the late novelist.
The induction made Brave New World the 50th classic work of science fiction and fantasy to enter the Prometheus Hall of Fame, according to File 770. The novel beat out four other finalists: The Star Dwellers by James Blish, That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, Salt by Adam Roberts, and Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, as reported by Locus Magazine.
Huxley’s dystopia joins George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four on the Hall of Fame list. Orwell’s novel, described by the LFS as a similarly influential dystopian classic and a companion piece to Huxley’s vision, was inducted in 1994. The LFS Prometheus Blog characterises Brave New World as a prescient study of collectivist soft tyranny, one that denies individuality, choice, history, culture, and art.
Best Novel and the Shape of the 2026 Awards
The 2026 Prometheus Award for Best Novel went to A Kiss for Damocles by J. Kenton Pierce, published by Raconteur. The prize honours pro-freedom works of fiction published in the preceding year.
A Special Award was also presented at the ceremony to Storm-Dragon by Dave Freer. The full list of winners and finalists is available via Locus Magazine’s coverage of the 2026 ceremony.
The Prometheus Award trophy itself takes the form of a gold coin, representing free trade and free minds. According to the SF Encyclopedia, the Best Novel category was established by L. Neil Smith in 1979 but was not awarded regularly until the LFS revived it in 1982.
Somin noted after the ceremony that he addressed the relationship between libertarianism and science fiction in greater depth in a 2011 article, and that the keynote in some ways updates that earlier analysis. He indicated he intends to revisit the theme more fully when time permits, having written previously on political ideas in speculative fiction across several articles and book chapters.
With Brave New World now marking the Hall of Fame’s fiftieth induction, the question of which classic will reach the fifty-first becomes the natural point of interest for next year’s ceremony.
