Worldcon

2020 Worldcon to Present Retrospective Hugo Awards

~ Kevin

The 2020 Worldcon, CoNZealand, will present Retrospective Hugo Awards for the year 1945, for works of science fiction and fantasy first published or appearing in 1944, according to an announcement posted on the CoNZealand web site.

Retrospective Hugo Awards (“Retro-Hugos”) are authorized by the World Science Fiction Society for Hugo Awards held an exact multiple of 25 years prior to the current Worldcon, provided that no Hugo Awards or Retrospective Hugo Awards were already presented for that year. Retro-Hugos cannot be presented for years prior to 1939. A rule change ratified at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki opened up Retro-Hugos to the the “WW II Gap” from 1942-1945, during which no Worldcons were held. Previously, only years in which a Worldcon was held were eligible for Retro-Hugos. As with the “regular” Hugo Awards, Retrospective Hugo Awards are for works published or appearing in the previous calendar year to the year of the award.

Per the WSFS Constitution, the Retrospective Hugo Award categories are the same as those for the current Hugo Awards. Any categories where there are insufficient nominations will be dropped from the final ballot. The Lodestar Award and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award) are not Hugo Awards, and therefore there will not be retrospective versions of those awards.

Members of the 2019 and 2020 Worldcons as of December 31, 2019 will be eligible to nominate for both the 2020 Hugo Awards and the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards.

Administration of both the Hugo Awards and Retrospective Hugo Awards rests with the individual Worldcon committees. Direct any questions about the Hugo Awards and Retrospective Hugo Awards for the relevant years to the CoNZealand committee.

2019 Hugo Awards to be Live-Streamed

~ Kevin ~ 7 Comments

Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon, the 77th World Science Fiction Convention, informs us that the 2019 Hugo Awards Ceremony will be live-streamed through Vimeo. The ceremony is scheduled for 20:00 (8 PM) Irish Summer Time on Sunday, August 18, 2019. Live-streaming video coverage of the Hugo Awards Ceremony is provided by the current Worldcon, not the Hugo Awards web site.

As previously announced, the Hugo Awards web site will provide lower-bandwidth text-only coverage of the 2019 Hugo Awards ceremony here on the Hugo Awards web site. We’ll be “on the air” shortly before 20:00 on Sunday night with our live “play-by-play” of the ceremony.

1944 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced

~ Kevin ~ 7 Comments

Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon, the 77th World Science Fiction Convention, announced the winners of the 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards at a ceremony on the evening of Thursday, August 15, 2019.

BEST NOVEL

Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Unknown Worlds, April 1943)

BEST NOVELLA

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock)

BEST NOVELETTE

“Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” by Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science-Fiction, February 1943)

BEST SHORT STORY

“King of the Gray Spaces” (“R is for Rocket”), by Ray Bradbury (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1943)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

Wonder Woman : Battle for Womanhood, written by William Moulton Marsden, art by Harry G. Peter (DC Comics)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

Heaven Can Wait, written by Samson Raphaelson, directed by Ernst Lubitsch (20th Century Fox)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, written by Curt Siodmak, directed by Roy William Neill (Universal Pictures)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

John W. Campbell

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Virgil Finlay

BEST FANZINE

Le Zombie, edited by Arthur Wilson “Bob” Tucker

BEST FAN WRITER

Forrest J Ackerman

The 1944 Hugo Award winners were announced at a ceremony held at Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon on Thursday August 15th, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland. We will publish detailed results, finalist placements, and nominations breakdowns when they are made available.

Some More Hugo Award History Unearthed

~ admin

In response to a question posted by Dan B., we’ve discovered that the WSFS Business Meeting members made instant-runoff voting (IRV) part of the Hugo Award process at NYcon III in 1967, and it was used for the first time on the 1968 Hugo Awards at Baycon. The Short History of the Hugo Awards Process page has been updated to reflect this new information.

Thanks to the people at FANAC.org who’ve been working hard at scanning and uploading historical fandom documents which make this sort of research possible, and to Dan B. for asking the question.

2019/1944 Hugo Award Final Ballot Open

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

The final ballot for the 2019 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and for the 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards opened on May 11, 2019. Members of Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon have or will shortly receive an e-mail with the necessary information for voting online. A paper copy of the ballot is also available for download from the Dublin 2019 Hugo Awards website.

The e-mail sent to members also includes the information for accessing the Hugo Voter Packet. This download of materials from Hugo Award finalists is supplied free of charge as a courtesy by the creators and publishers of works that are shortlisted for the awards. The purpose of the Hugo Voter Packet is to allow those who are voting on the Hugo Awards to be able to make an informed choice among the nominated works.

Voting is open to all supporting and attending members of Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon. Members can vote online or by using a paper ballot downloaded from the website. (Members who requested paper publications will also receive a paper ballot in a progress report.) Voting will be open through July 31, 2019.

2019/1944 Hugo Awards Nominations Closed

~ Kevin

Nominations for the 2019 Hugo/Best YA Book/John W. Campbell Award and for the 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards have closed. The Administrators are tallying the nominations, confirming potential finalists’ eligibility, and contacting potential finalists in accordance with World Science Fiction Society rules. Details of Dublin 2019’s plans to reveal the finalists will be announced soon.

2019/1944 Hugo Awards Nominations Open

~ Cheryl ~ 8 Comments

The nominating period for the 2019 Hugo Awards and 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards is now open, according to an announcement from Dublin 2019. The convention also announced the designers for the various award bases. The 2019 Hugo Award base will be designed by Jim Fitzpatrick; that for the 1944 Retro Hugo Awards will be designed by Dr Eleanor Wheeler; and the trophy for the new Lodestar Award for Young Adult Fiction will be designed by Sara Felix.

Instructions for accessing the online nominating form have been sent via e-mail. Check your junk e-mail/spam/promotions folders in your e-mail client for this e-mail if you did not receive it. Despite the convention’s efforts, voter information notification messages may be flagged as spam.

The Dublin 2019 Hugo Awards web page has the links to the online nominating ballots for the 2019 and 1944 Hugo Awards. Dublin 2019 is not using a voting PIN system. Your email from the convention will contain a unique URL that provides access to your ballot.

Paper ballots will be mailed to those members of Dublin 2019 who requested paper publications along with the convention’s Progress Report 3, currently in production. PDFs of the paper ballots are also available from Worldcon 76’s Hugo Awards page.

Nominations will close on March 16, 2019 at 06:59 UTC (11:59 pm Pacific Daylight Time on 15 March). Paper ballots must be received by mail by 15 March 2019. The Finalists for the Awards will be announced in early April.

Dublin 2019 will be presenting the 2019 Hugo Awards (generally for works first published or appearing in 2018) as well as the 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards (generally for works first published or appearing in 1943). Any person who was a voting member of at least one of the 2018 or 2019 World Science Fiction Conventions as of December 31, 2018 may cast nominating ballots for the 2019 and 1944 Awards.

If you are a member of the 2018 Worldcon but not the 2019 Worldcon and did not give the 2018 Worldcon (San José) permission to share your information with the 2019 Worldcon (Dublin), the 2019 Worldcon will not contact you, due to data-privacy rules. If you are a member of the 2018 Worldcon and did not receive an e-mail from the 2019 Worldcon but want to nominate, contact the Dublin 2019 Hugo Award Administrators.

Included in the ballots will be voting for a Special Hugo Award of Best Art Book. Each Worldcon has the right to add one category to the Hugo Awards for their year only, and Dublin 2019 has elected to use this power to test an Art Book category.

The ballots will also include voting on two other awards administered by the World Science Fiction Society. These are the WSFS Lodestar Award for Young Adult Fiction; and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer presented by Dell Magazines.

Please direct any questions about the administration of the 2019 and 1944 Hugo Awards to the Dublin 2019 Hugo Award Administrators, not to the Hugo Awards web site. The Hugo Awards web site team does not administer the elections for the Hugo Awards, nor do we make eligibility rulings. The 2019/1944 Hugo Awards are administered by the Hugo Awards Administration Subcommittee of Dublin 2019, and all decisions regarding the eligibility of works and the administration of nominations are exclusively the committee’s responsibility.

Join Worldcon by December 31, 2018 to be Eligible to Nominate for 2019 Hugo Awards

~ Kevin ~ 3 Comments

The Hugo Awards are selected by a vote of the members of the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in a two-stage process. The first stage is nominating (which starts in early 2019) and the second stage is the final ballot that includes those works/people that received enough nominations in the first stage (which starts later in 2019). If you want to participate in the nominating stage and are not yet a member of either the 2018 or 2019 Worldcons, take note of the December 31, 2018 deadline for joining Worldcon in order to be eligible to nominate in 2019.

If you want to nominate works/people for the 2019 Hugo Awards, you must be a member of either the 2018 Worldcon (San José) or the 2019 Worldcon (Dublin) by the end of 2018. (You can of course be a member of both, but you can only nominate once.) If you were a member of Worldcon 76 San José (supporting or attending, or any other membership class that included voting rights), you are already eligible to nominate. If you were not a member of Worldcon 76 San José and are not a member of Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon, you must join Dublin by the end of 2018 as at least a supporting member by the end of 2018 to be able to nominate.

To join the 2019 Worldcon, go to the Dublin 2019 Membership Page. You do not have to attend Dublin to be a member. A supporting membership includes all of the membership rights including nominating for the Hugo Awards, but not the right to attend the convention itself. The other membership classes including Attending and Young Adult can attend the convention and also have the nominating and voting rights. If you join Dublin as at least a supporting member by the end of 2018, you will be eligible to nominate for the 2019 Hugo Awards.

The final ballot will be announced sometime after nominations close. Only members of the 2019 Worldcon will be eligible to vote on the final ballot. The deadline for joining in order to vote on the final ballot is when final ballot voting closes. Dublin 2019 has not yet announced specific dates. The December 31, 2018 deadline applies only to joining in order to nominate, not to vote on the final ballot.

The 2019 Hugo Awards will be administered by the 2019 Worldcon. See the 2019 Hugo Awards web page on the 2019 Worldcon’s web site for additional information. Address specific questions about the 2019 Hugo Awards to the 2019 Worldcon. The Hugo Awards web site does not run the Hugo Awards. Each year’s Awards are run by that year’s Worldcon.

In general, the 2019 Hugo Awards (and the 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards, also being run by the 2019 Worldcon) are for work first published in the previous year. Therefore the 2019 Hugo Awards are for works first published in 2018 and the 1944 Retro-Hugo Awards are for works first published in 1943. There are exceptions for works previously published in languages other than English, and for works originally published outside of the USA. See the section about “Year of Eligibility” on the Hugo Award Categories page for a longer discussion of this.

1943 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced

~ Kevin ~ 6 Comments

The 2018 World Science Fiction Convention, Worldcon 76, announced the winners of the 1943 Retrospective Hugo Awards at a ceremony on the evening of Thursday, August 16, 2018. 703 valid ballots (688 electronic and 15 paper) were received and counted from the members of the 2018 World Science Fiction Convention.

BEST NOVEL

Beyond This Horizon, by Anson MacDonald (Robert A. Heinlein) (Astounding Science-Fiction, April & May 1942)

BEST NOVELLA

“Waldo,” by Anson MacDonald (Robert A. Heinlein) (Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1942)

BEST NOVELETTE

“Foundation,” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science-Fiction, May 1942)

BEST SHORT STORY

“The Twonky,” by C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner (Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1942)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

Bambi, written by Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, et al., directed by David D. Hand et al. (Walt Disney Productions)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

John W. Campbell

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Virgil Finlay

BEST FANZINE

Le Zombie, edited by Arthur Wilson “Bob” Tucker

BEST FAN WRITER

Forrest J Ackerman

The 1943 Hugo Award winners were announced at a ceremony held at Worldcon 76 on Thursday August 16th, 2018 in San Jose, California. See also the announcement on the Worldcon 76 web site and breakdown of detailed results including subsequent placements.

2018 Hugo Ceremony Coverage Plans

~ Kevin ~ 10 Comments

The 2018 Hugo Awards Ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, August 19, 2018 at 8:00 PM North American Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7) in the McEnery Convention Center Grand Ballroom in San Jose, California. The ceremony is open to all attending members of Worldcon 76, with additional seating available in “Callahan’s Place” in the convention center Exhibit Hall.

The Hugo Awards web site will once again offer text-based coverage of the Hugo Awards ceremony via CoverItLive, suitable for people with bandwidth restrictions. For those with the bandwidth for it, Worldcon 76 San Jose plans to offer live video streaming of the Hugo Awards ceremony. Details of the live-streaming coverage will be available at the 2018 Worldcon web site.

The Hugo Awards web site coverage team of Kevin Standlee, Susan de Guardiola, and Cheryl Morgan plan to be “on the air” approximately fifteen minutes before the ceremony. You can sign up at the CoverItLive event site for an e-mail notification before the event starts. Remember that the CoverItLive text coverage is text-only, and is likely to not be in synch with the video streaming. Also, the CoverItLive team here at TheHugoAwards.org is not responsible for the video streaming coverage and cannot answer any questions about it.

If you can’t be in San Jose, we hope you’ll join us on CoverItLive or watch the ceremony online.

Coverage of the 2018 Hugo Awards Ceremony on TheHugoAwards.org is made possible in part by a grant from the Utah Fandom Organization and Westercon 72, July 4-7, 2019 in Layton, Utah.