The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995. These awards are for the best alternate history stories and novels of the year.

The awards are named after the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster. In the story, a strange storm makes parts of the Earth exchange places with similar places from other timelines.

Steven H Silver, Evelyn C. Leeper, and Robert B. Schmunk created the award. The number of judges has changed in different years. There have been three to eight judges, including judges in the UK and South Africa.

There are two Sideways awards. The Short-Form award is for writing that is shorter than 60,000 words. The Long-Form award may be for writing that is longer than 60,000 words. This can include a novel or a complete series of novels. The judges may also give a Special Achievement Award, but this is not required every year. Special Achievement awards are for writing that was published befor1995. The awards are given each year, usually at Worldcon.

Award winners

Long Form
1995 Paul J. McAuley, Pasquale's Angel
1996 Stephen Baxter, Voyage
1997 Harry Turtledove, How Few Remain
1998 Stephen Fry, Making History
1999 Brendan DuBois, Resurrection Day
2000 Mary Gentle, Ash: A Secret History
2001 J. N. Stroyar, The Children's War
2002 (tie) Martin J. Gidron, The Severed Wing & Harry Turtledove, Ruled Britannia
2003 Murray Davies, Collaborator
2004 Philip Roth, The Plot Against America
2005 Ian R. MacLeod, The Summer Isles 
2006 Charles Stross, The Family Trade, The Hidden Family, and The Clan Corporate
2007 Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2008 Chris Roberson, The Dragon's Nine Sons
2009 Robert Conroy, 1942
2010 Eric G. Swedin, When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis
2011 Ian R. MacLeod, Wake Up and Dream
2012 C. J. Sansom, Dominion
2013 (tie) D.J. Taylor, The Windsor Faction & Bryce Zabel, Surrounded by Enemies: What If Kennedy Survived Dallas?
2014 Kristine Kathryn Rusch, The Enemy Within
2015 Julie Mayhew, The Big Lie
2016 Ben H. Winters, Underground Airlines
2017 Bryce Zabel, Once There Was a Way
2018 Mary Robinette Kowal, The Calculating Stars

Short Form
1995 Stephen Baxter, Brigantia's Angels
1996 Walter Jon Williams, Foreign Devils (in War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches)
1997 William Sanders, The Undiscovered
1998 Ian R. MacLeod, The Summer Isles
1999 Alain Bergeron, The Eighth Register (translated by Howard Scott)
2000 Ted Chiang, Seventy-two Letters
2001 Ken MacLeod, The Human Front
2002 William Sanders, Empire
2003 Chris Roberson, O One
2004 Warren Ellis, The Ministry of Space
2005 Lois Tilton, Pericles the Tyrant
2006 Gardner Dozois, Counterfactual
2007 (tie): Michael Flynn, Quaestiones Super Caelo Et Mundo & Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Recovering Apollo 8
2008 Mary Rosenblum, Sacrifice
2009 Alastair Reynolds, The Fixation
2010 Alan Smale, A Clash of Eagles
2011 Lisa Goldstein, Paradise Is a Walled Garden
2012 Rick Wilber, Something Real
2013 Vylar Kaftan, The Weight of the Sunrise
2014 Ken Liu, The Long Haul: From the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009
2015 Bill Crider, It Doesn't Matter Anymore
2016 (tie): Daniel M. Bensen, Treasure Fleet & Adam Rovner, What If the Jewish State Had Been Established in East Africa
2017 Harry Turtledove, Zigeuner
2018 Oscar (Xiu) Ramirez and Emmanuel Valtierra, Codex Valtierra

Special Achievement
1995 L. Sprague de Camp, lifetime achievement
1997 Robert N. Sobel, For Want of a Nail
1999 Randall Garrett, the Lord Darcy series
2018 Eric Flint, the 1632 series

Other websites
 The Sidewise Award website.

1995 establishments
Science fiction awards
Literary awards
Lists of books