Years ago Isaac Asimov told me that having a story accepted for publication was like winning a major competition. After all, the story had to face long odds in its quest to capture one of the limited spaces in a magazine or anthology. The seventy-three short pieces of fiction that made it into Asimov’s last year beat out thousands of others for their coveted spots. The same odds held true for the thirty poems that found a place in the magazine. We’re proud to have published all of these stories and poems, but it is also a delight to announce which ones were selected by you to receive our annual Readers’ Awards.

As always, my favorite part of the contest was reading over your comments. Your diverse opinions were thought provoking, uplifting, and entertaining. First-time voter, Jason McWright, wrote, “I have enjoyed almost every story in Asimov’s and have been particularly surprised with the high quality of the poetry. It was pleasantly painful attempting to pick three poems out of the many excellent offerings.” Returning voter, Alan K. Lipton, wrote: “Thank you all for another great year! Not everything you publish is to my taste, but I respect your editorial judgement. The good stories are always standouts. Being asked to vote for just a few gives me a sense of the choices you have to make on a daily basis. Keep up the good work.”

Opinions as to which stories were the best were wide ranging. As usual, one person’s hands-down favorite tale was another reader’s weakest link in the chain. Soon Lee and other readers gave our new format “a cautious note of approval,” and a great deal of praise was heaped on our cover art. For only the second time in the award’s history, we had a tie for best cover. Both artists were making their very first appearance in Asimov’s. Tomasz Maronski received the nod for a piece of art that we reprinted on our March issue, while John Picacio received his for the original artwork that accompanied our September issue.

Although Robert Reed’s “Truth” had a strong run for best novella, Kristine Kathryn Rusch eventually won the category handily with her story, “The Room of Lost Souls.” Kij Johnson, whose short story “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” is nominated for the Nebula and the Hugo awards as well, breezed to the top of her category. While James Alan Gardner’s “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” is also a finalist for both honors, he ran neck-in-neck for the best novelette award. “The Ray-Gun” nosed out Ted Kosmatka’s “Divining Light” by the tiniest margin possible, but we were delighted to see how many readers thoroughly enjoyed both stories.

While Joanne Merriam’s amusing, if wry, depiction of “Deaths on Other Planets” was the clear winner in poetry this year, the jockeying for position occurred in the next several spots. Only four points separate Jack O’Brien’s second-place “Classic of Science Fiction: ‘The Cold Equations’ ” from Bruce Boston’s fifth place “Gargoyle People.”

In addition to how you ranked the stories, it was interesting to learn a few facts about you, too. While some monikers were ambiguous, it was apparent that close to 30 percent of our voters were women and around 70 percent were men. Voters represented every region of the United States and six out of seven continents (no votes came in from penguins or McMurdo Station). Some of you are brand-new subscribers while others have been reading the magazine for years. We value all of your opinions and hope to hear from even more readers next year.