Which prize did The Handmaid's Tale first win in 1987?

The Handmaid’s Tale first won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987.

The prize was especially notable because Atwood’s novel became the inaugural winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. The award recognizes the best science-fiction novel published in the United Kingdom during the relevant eligibility period, placing the book firmly within speculative fiction despite its literary and feminist reputation.

Atwood’s novel had already attracted major attention after its 1985 publication. Its imagined theocracy, environmental crisis, reproductive control, and manipulation of religious language made it both a dystopian political novel and a work of science fiction. The Clarke Award recognized that speculative dimension.

A frequent mistake is to choose the Hugo or Nebula Awards. The Handmaid’s Tale was associated with both through nominations, but it did not win either for this milestone. It was also shortlisted for the 1986 Booker Prize, while the 1987 Clarke Award was its first win among these widely discussed honors.