I Want to Vote

Nominations for the 2010 Hugo Awards are expected to open in January 2010.

The 2010 Hugo Awards are administered by Aussiecon 4, and the nominating ballot, when available, will be published on the Aussiecon 4 Hugo Awards web site.

The 2010 Hugo Awards are for works first published anywhere in the world in 2009 or for works first published in 2009 in the USA that were published in a previous year outside the USA, or for works given a specific extension of their eligibility by the WSFS Business Meeting. Note that even though the 2010 Worldcon is in Australia, the exception for previously published works applies only to works first published outside the USA and first published in the USA in 2009.

Works that appeared in a series of parts qualify based on when the final part was published, so a serialized work that began being published before 2009 but published its final installment in 2009 is eligible for the 2010 Hugo Awards. “Published” doesn’t necessarily mean “printed on pieces of paper” — publication online counts as well. A serialized graphic story appearing online “starts the eligibility clock” on that work, and a subsequent printed collection of that same work released in a later year doesn’t count.

As a specific example, Girl Genius Volume 8, which appeared in book form in 2009, isn’t eligible for the 2010 Hugo Awards because the graphic story it contains was serialized in 2007-8, and in fact won the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.

To vote on the final ballot, you must be a supporting or attending member of Aussiecon 4. You do not need to attend Worldcon in order to participate in the Hugo Awards. A “supporting membership” will be sufficient to make you a member of the World Science Fiction Society and get you voting rights for both the nomination stage and the final ballot. A supporting membership costs AU$70, US$50, or the equivalent in several other currencies. You can buy your membership here.

Nominations for the 2010 Hugo Award were open to anyone who was a member of Anticipation or is a members of Aussiecon 4 by the end of January 2010. Only members of the current Worldcon are eligible to vote on the final ballot.

When considering your nomination for future years, you may want to check the various recommendation web sites where people are talking about what might get nominated.