Synopsis: From the back jacket of the McBride first edition: "For this new and important anthology, several thousand stories, published in the last year in the leading science-fiction magazines of the United States, were examined by the Jules Verne Award Committee, headed by Forrest J. Ackerman, the pre-eminent authority in this field. To Mr. Wollheim, who advised the committee throughout its deliberations, was left the choice of the twelve outstanding stories which survived the preliminary screening. Each of the contributors to this volume has received a bronze reproduction of the above statuette (Jules Verne's tombstone at Amiens] in token of having produced one of the twelve prize science-fiction stories of the year."