Retro-Hugo Photo Update

This photograph of Worldcon 76 Chair, Kevin Roche, pictured with his husband, Andy Trembley, gives a much better view of the tower behind the rocket. The design is based on the San José Electric Light Tower.

The base of the trophy is made from cherry wood because cherries were a major crop in San José before the advent of Silicon Valley.

2017 Hugo Award Finalists Announced

The finalists for the 2017 Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer were announced via social media by Woldcon 75, the 2017 Worldcon, on April 4, 2017.

2464 valid nominating ballots (2458 electronic and 6 paper) were received and counted from the members of the 2016, 2017 and 2018 World Science Fiction Conventions. Members were eligible to make up to five equally-weighted nominations in each category. The number of voters was second only to last year’s record-setting total at MidAmeriCon II.

A full breakdown of nominations, including how many nominations each finalist received and a list of works that did not make the final ballot but were in the top fifteen places, will be published after the Hugo Award ceremony in August.

Online balloting for the Hugo Awards will be available on the Worldcon 75 web site soon. Worldcon 75 will also distribute paper ballots to its members, and paper ballots will be available for download from their web site when balloting opens. Voting on the final ballot will be open to all Attending (including Adult, First Worldcon, and Youth, but not Child or Kid-in-Tow), and Supporting members of Worldcon 75.

A Hugo Award Voter Packet of works appearing on the final ballot is expected to be issued sometime after the final ballot itself is released. The Voter Packet is dependent upon the rights-holders to the various works permitting those works’ distribution within the Packet. There is no guarantee that any given finalist work will be in the Packet.

The 2017 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award winners will be announced on Friday August 11, 2017, at the Hugo Awards Ceremony in Helsinki.

Please direct questions about the administration of this year’s Hugo and Campbell Awards to the Worldcon 75 Hugo Award Administration Subcommittee. TheHugoAwards.org does not actually manage the administration of each year’s Hugo Awards, and while we can answer general queries, definitive answers to specific questions about a given year’s Awards can only come from that year’s Administrator.

Nominations Closed

The nominating period for this year’s Hugo Awards is now closed. The folks from Helsinki are reporting on Twitter that a large number of ballots has been received.

We are expecting the announcement of the finalists some time in April. For further information on Helsinki’s schedule for the Awards, see their website.

Helsinki to Trial Best Series

Worldcon 75 in Helsinki has announced that it will use its special powers to create one Hugo Award category to trial the proposed Best Series Hugo. This is in line with current tradition whereby seated Worldcons use their category creation power to test proposed new categories that have passed one Business Meeting and are up for ratification at the Worldcon in question. This gives members of WSFS an opportunity to see the category in action before voting on ratification.

The full text of the Worldcon 75 press release is as follows:
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1941 Retro Hugo Statistics Released

With apologies for the delay, we are now able to release the full voting breakdown for the 1941 Retro Hugo Awards. You can find the document here (pdf).

We have also updated the 2016 statistics document to correct a small number of typographical errors in the original document. These did not affect the results of the Awards in any way, and all of the numbers were correct. The only significant change is in the top 15 for fancast where The Coode Street Podcast was incorrectly listed twice. The second listing should have been for Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men, presented by Jay Edidin and Miles Stokes.

2016 Hugo Awards Announced

The 74th World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II, announced the winners of the 2016 Hugo Awards at a ceremony on the evening of Saturday, August 20, 2016. The ceremony was hosted by Toastmaster, Pat Cadigan, assisted by Jan Siegel. 3,130 valid ballots were received and counted in the final ballot.

BEST NOVEL

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

BEST NOVELLA

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)

BEST NOVELETTE

“Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)

BEST RELATED WORK

No Award

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

The Sandman: Overture written by Neil Gaiman, art by J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

The Martian screenplay by Drew Goddard, directed by Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions; Kinberg Genre; TSG Entertainment; 20th Century Fox)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

Jessica Jones: “AKA Smile” written by Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, and Jamie King, directed by Michael Rymer (Marvel Television; ABC Studios; Tall Girls Productions;Netflix)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

Ellen Datlow

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM

Sheila E. Gilbert

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Abigail Larson

BEST SEMIPROZINE

Uncanny Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky

BEST FANZINE

File 770 edited by Mike Glyer

BEST FANCAST

No Award

BEST FAN WRITER

Mike Glyer

BEST FAN ARTIST

Steve Stiles

The 2016 Hugo Award trophy base was designed by Sarah Felix.

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (Not a Hugo Award, but administered along with the Hugo Awards) went to:

Andy Weir

Full details of the voting are available here (PDF).

President Reads Hugo Winner

US President Obama has been open about his interest in science fiction. He had the new Star Wars film screened at the White House before heading off to Hawaii for his Christmas holiday. He is also a very keen reader, and we were delighted to hear that one of the books he took with him for holiday reading was last year’s Hugo Award winner for Best Novel, The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu translator and published by Tor Books.

We hope you enjoyed the book, Mr. President. And do let us know if you have any recommendations for this year’s Hugos.