Full details of all the nominees on the SFWA 1981 Nebula Awards page.
Kim Stanley Robinson. Venice Drowned.
George Florance-Guthridge. The Quiet.
Jack Dann. Going Under.
William Gibson. Johnny Mnemonic.
Timothy Robert Sullivan. Zeke.
Poul Anderson. The Saturn Game.
Winner Best Novella.
Gardner Dozois. Disciples.
Michael Bishop. The Quickening.
Winner Best Novelette
John Varley. The Pusher.
(The Winner of the Best Short Story, Lisa Tuttle’s ‘The Bone Flute’ does not appear in this volume’