The Hugo Awards are named after Hugo Gernsback, a seminal figure in the foundation of modern magazine science fiction. See our FAQ for further information.

As of 2011, there are 15 Hugo Award categories. The number of categories and their definitions are listed in the constitution of the World Science Fiction Society. The WSFS Constitution as of the start of the 2011 Worldcon is available on the Renovation web site here. The number and definition of categories can be changed by the WSFS Business Meeting (see Changing the Rules for more details). For example, the 2011 WSFS Business Meeting passed an amendment that, if ratified by the 2012 WSFS Business Meeting in Chicago, would add a new category called “Best Fancast,” for podcasts and other serial A/V productions of a fannish nature, separating such works from the existing Best Semiprozine category.

Besides the current 15 permanent categories, Worldcon committees are authorized to add one-shot Additional Categories which are awarded in the same way as the permanent categories.

This is a murky area, but given the history of the category and the works that have been nominated and won, such as Clarkesworld (which doesn’t have paper copies), it is clear that no work is going to be disqualified simply because it doesn’t print paper copies.

Also bear in mind that there are some very significant changes to the Semiprozine category based on the Report of the Special Committee on Semiprozines that were given first passage this the 2011 Worldcon and that will be up for ratification at the 2012 Worldcon. The existing criteria will be completely rewritten, and the issues you raise will be moot.

In practice, the questions are moot anyway, because historically no Hugo Administrator has tried to narrowly apply the criteria. In general, semiprozines have been what the voters pointed at when they nominated.

Another possible criterion is “paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication.” The “and/or” leaves some ambiguity. Imagine three zines:
Zine A has no contributors, but has staff.
Zine B has both staff and contributors.
Zine C has contributors, but no staff.

If Zine A pays its staff money, it clearly fulfills the criterion. Likewise, if Zine C pays its contributors money, it fulfills the criterion.

If Zine B pays money to both its staff and its contributors, it clearly fulfills the criterion. But what if it pays money only to its contributors (or only to its staff)?

The Hugo Awards (and the World Science Fiction Society and the individual Worldcons that present the Hugo Awards) are not involved with rights management. You might consider contacting the Science Fiction Writers of America; they might be able to connect you with various literary estates.