Year: 2015

2016 Hugo Award Base Competition Announced

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

The 2016 World Science Fiction Convention (“MidAmericon II”) has announced an open competition to design the base of the 2016 Hugo Award. The deadline for submitting a proposed design is January 18, 2016.

The Hugo Award trophy consists of a rocket design standardized since 1984 on a design by Peter Weston and registered as a service mark by the World Science Fiction Society. Worldcon committees design the base, and most recent Worldcons have conducted competitions to select a design.

Full details including the specifications and submission guidelines, are on the 2016 Worldcon web site. Direct any questions about the competition to the 2016 Hugo Base Competition Subcommittee, not to the Hugo Awards web site.

2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony Replay Available

~ Kevin ~ 3 Comments

A replay of the live video streaming of the 2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony, including the pre- and post-show analysis and interviews, is now available through Livestream.com.

The large initial demand to watch the live coverage of the 2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony exceeded the capacity purchased by the 2015 Worldcon, and therefore replays of the ceremony were not available until the convention could make alternative arrangements.

Edited to add: Since the initial publication of this post, the recording of the UStream feed once again was made available on the Hugo Awards UStream Channel.

2015 Hugo Award Winners Announced

~ Kevin ~ 85 Comments

The 73rd World Science Fiction Convention, Sasquan, has announced the 2015 Hugo Award winners. 5950 valid ballots were received and counted in the final ballot.

The members of the World Science Fiction Society rejected the slate of finalists in five categories, giving No Award in Best Novella, Short Story, Related Work, Editor Short Form, and Editor Long Form. This equals the total number of times that WSFS members have presented No Award in the entire history of the Hugo Awards, most recently in 1977.

Those categories in which there were Awards presented are listed below. For the full breakdown of voting and nomination see here.

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Hugo Awards Ceremony Tonight

~ Kevin ~ 2 Comments

The 2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony is scheduled for tonight, Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 8 PM Pacific Daylight Time in the INB Performing Arts Center in Spokane, Washington. Live video streaming of the 2015 Hugo Awards ceremony via UStream will be available through Sasquan, the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention. Sasquan’s coverage of the ceremony starts one hour before the ceremony (7 PM PDT) with “The Road to the Hugos”, a livestreamed Internet pre-and-post Hugo broadcast featuring hosts Stephen Schapansky and Warren Frey of Radio Free Skaro. They will return after the ceremony for an hour of post-ceremony interviews and analysis.

For those with lower bandwidth, the Hugo Awards web site coverage team of Kevin Standlee, Mur Lafferty, and Cheryl Morgan will be “on the air” approximately fifteen minutes before the ceremony with our text-only CoverItLive coverage of the event. Our coverage of the event will be in the window below.

Live Blog 2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony
 

Please note that the CoverItLive coverage is not synchronized with the UStream coverage and is likely to run ahead of the UStream broadcast.

2015 Hugo Trophy Unveiled

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

The design of the 2015 Hugo Award trophy was unveiled during the Opening Ceremonies of Sasquan, the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention, on the afternoon of August 19. In keeping with recent practice, Sasquan elected to showcase the trophy early in the convention so that members could see it before the final night of Worldcon. The trophy has been on display in the convention’s Hugo Award history exhibit since shortly after the convention’s Opening Ceremonies.

While the Hugo Award trophy always includes the rocket originally designed by Jack McKnight and Ben Jason as refined by Peter Weston, each year’s Worldcon can design its own base. In recent years, most Worldcons have had an open design competition to design the Hugo Award base. This year’s trophy base designer Matthew Dockery appeared in the Opening Ceremony and unveiled the trophy there.

The 2015 Hugo Awards will be presented at a ceremony in Spokane, Washington on the evening of Saturday, August 22, 2105, starting at 8 PM PDT. The ceremony will be broadcast live on Ustream and described on the Hugo Awards web site as a CoverItLive Broadcast.

2015 Hugo Ceremony Coverage Plans

~ Kevin ~ 9 Comments

The 2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 8 PM Pacific Daylight Time in the INB Performing Arts Center in Spokane, Washington. The Hugo Awards web site will once again offer text-based coverage of the 2015 Hugo Awards ceremony via CoverItLive, suitable for people with bandwidth restrictions. For those with the bandwidth for it, Sasquan will also offer live video streaming of the 2015 Hugo Awards ceremony via UStream. In addition, Sasquan will present “The Road to the Hugos”, a livestreamed Internet pre-and-post Hugo broadcast featuring hosts Stephen Schapansky and Warren Frey of Radio Free Skaro, as part of the coverage, starting one hour before and ending one hour after the ceremony.

The Hugo Awards web site coverage team of Kevin Standlee, Mur Lafferty, and Cheryl Morgan will 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.

If you can’t be in Spokane, we hope you’ll join us on CoverItLive or watch the ceremony on UStream as ceremony hosts David Gerrold and Tananarive Due present what some think may be the most highly-anticipated Hugo Awards announcement in the long history of the Awards.

2015 Hugo Voting Participation Smashes Records

~ Kevin ~ 6 Comments

5,950 members of this year’s Worldcon voted in the 2015 Hugo Awards, according to an announcement from Sasquan, the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention. This breaks last year’s record of 3,587 ballots, and represents a 57% voter turnout, the highest participation level in the past decade. More people voted this year than attended all but eight of the 72 past Worldcons.

There were 5,914 ballots cast online and 36 on paper. Sasquan will release full details about voting and nominating for the 2015 Hugo Awards following the 2015 Hugo Award Ceremony on the evening of August 22 in Spokane, Washington. The details will be included with the 2015 Hugo Awards information on the Hugo Awards web site.

2015 Hugo Award Voting Closed; Ceremony Plans in Place

~ Kevin ~ 3 Comments

Voting for the 2015 Hugo Awards closed at the end of July. The Awards will be announced at a ceremony at the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention, Sasquan, in Spokane, Washington.

The 2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony will be on the final night of the convention, Saturday, August 22, in the INB Performing Arts Center starting at 8 PM. Sasquan Guest of Honor David Gerrold and Tananarive Due will host the ceremony. The ceremony will also include the announcement of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and selected other awards.

Admission to both ceremonies is open to all attending members of Sasquan (and day admission holders for Saturday of the convention). No separate admission or ticket is required. Formal attire is neither required nor prohibited; in other words, feel free to dress up for the event, but don’t be afraid to come as you are.

The ceremony is planned to be live-streamed via UStream by Sasquan, and also will be covered by text-based coverage on CoverItLive by the Hugo Awards Web Site team. Results of the Awards will also be posted on the Hugo Awards web site shortly after the end of the ceremony.

The design for the base of the 2015 Hugo Awards will be unveiled at the Sasquan Opening Ceremonies on Wednesday, August 19, at 3 PM, and the sample trophy will be on display throughout the convention in the Exhibits area.

Voting for 2015 Hugo Awards Ends July 31

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

Voting for the 2015 Hugo Awards closes on July 31, 2015 at 23:59 Pacific Standard Time (UTC -7). We recommend that if you want to vote, you do not put it off until the last minute or even the last day, as we anticipate a heavy load on the voting servers that day. Cast your vote at the 2015 Hugo Voting Page at this year’s Worldcon’s web site.

You can cast your vote and then return to it and change any of your choices up until the voting deadline. You do not need to explicitly finalize your ballot, as the voting system will automatically close all ballots as of the deadline.

You must be a supporting or attending (including military and young adult) member of Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon, in order to vote. Memberships are not processed automatically, so if you want to vote and are not yet a member, 2015 Worldcon Membership Registration sooner, not later, to allow enough time for Sasquan to process your membership and send you your voting credentials.

The results of the 2015 Hugo Awards will be announced at the 2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony on the evening of Saturday, August 22 at the Worldcon in Spokane. All attending members of Sasquan may attend (subject to hall capacity). There is no separate ticking for the Hugo Awards ceremony, and seating is limited to the 2700 seats in the INB Performing Arts Center. Sasquan will also provide live video streaming of the Hugo Awards Ceremony, and The Hugo Awards web site will provide text-only coverage via CoverItLive (suitable for lower-bandwidth connections).