Worldcon

Peter Weston, The Hugo Award Rocket Man (1943-2017)

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

Peter Weston with a Hugo Award rocket Peter Weston, the man who created the current version of the iconic Hugo Award rocket, died on January 5, 2017, aged 73, according to a report published by Locus Online today. Although each Worldcon designs its own Hugo Award trophy base, since 1984, all metal Hugo Award trophy rockets have been cast from a mold created by Weston at the foundry he owned. (Non-metallic trophies followed the same design but were constructed using a different process.)

Weston gave presentations about the making of Hugo Award rockets and made the presentation available to The Hugo Awards web site for us to preserve here. The World Science Fiction Society recognized Weston’s contributions to the Hugo Award by including his name in the WSFS Constitution after the original designers of the Hugo Award trophy, Jack McKnight and Ben Jason.

Besides his contributions to the Hugo Awards, Weston chaired the 1979 Worldcon in Brighton, UK, and was Fan Guest of Honor at the 2004 Worldcon. He edited anthologies and was a finalist for the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Related Work for his memoir, Stars in My Eyes: My Adventures in British Fandom.

1941 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced

~ Kevin ~ 4 Comments

The 74th World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II, announced the winners of the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards at a ceremony on the evening of Thursday, August 18, 2016. 869 valid ballots were received and counted in the final ballot.

BEST NOVEL

Slan, A.E. Van Vogt (Astounding Science‐Fiction, December 1940)

BEST NOVELLA

“If This Goes On…”, Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science-Fiction, February 1940)

BEST NOVELETTE

“The Roads Must Roll”, Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science-Fiction, June 1940)

BEST SHORT STORY

“Robbie”, Isaac Asimov (Super Science Stories, September 1940)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

Batman , (Detective Comics, Spring 1940)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

Fantasia written by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer, directed by Samuel Armstrong et al. (Walt Disney Productions, RKO Radio Pictures)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

Pinocchio , written by Ted Sears et al., directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske (Walt Disney Productions, RKO Radio Pictures)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

John W. Campbell

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Virgil Finlay

BEST FANZINE

Futuria Fantasia edited by Ray Bradbury

BEST FAN WRITER

Ray Bradbury

The 1941 Hugo Award winners were announced at a ceremony held at MidAmeriCon II on Thursday August 18th, 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The 1941 Retro-Hugo trophy base was designed by Brent Simmons.

2016 Hugo Award Voting Closed July 31

~ Kevin ~ 2 Comments

Voting for the 2016 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and for the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards closed Sunday, July 31, 2016 at 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time. The votes are now being tabulated, and the results will be announced at MidAmeriCon II, the 2016 World Science Fiction Convention, in Kansas City, August 17-21.

The results of the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards will be announced and trophies presented on Thursday, August 18, 2016 during the Retro-Hugo Swing Dance/Ceremony at MidAmeriCon II.

The results of the 2016 Hugo Awards will be announced and trophies presented at a ceremony on the evening of Saturday, August 20, 2016 at MidAmeriCon II. This year’s Worldcon will broadcast the Hugo Awards Ceremony live on streaming video. Lower-bandwidth text-only coverage of the event will be provided through the Hugo Awards web site. Details of the live streaming and text-based coverage will be announced later this month prior to the convention.

Voting Open for 2016 Hugo Awards

~ Kevin ~ 2 Comments

Voting for the 2016 Hugo Awards, 2016 John W. Campbell Award, and 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards opened on May 15, 2016. Members of the 2016 World Science Fiction Convention (MidAmeriCon II) may vote until 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time on July 31, 2016 using the online ballot available at the 2016 Hugo Awards Voting web page, or by using the paper ballot that will be sent to members and can be downloaded from the MidAmeriCon II web site. Persons who join MidAmeriCon II by July 31, 2016 (the close of voting) are eligible to vote. Members who registered an e-mail address with the 2016 Worldcon will receive instructions including a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for accessing the online ballot.

Finalists for the 2016 Hugo Awards and 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards were selected by nominations received by more than 4,000 members of the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Worldcons. Only Attending, Young Adult, and Supporting members of the 2016 Worldcon can vote on the final ballot. The ballot includes the finalists for the Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (sponsored by the publisher of Analog). The Campbell is not a Hugo Award but is administered and voted upon using the same system as the Hugo Awards and is presented at the Hugo Awards ceremony.

The Hugo Awards Final Ballot uses the “Instant Runoff Voting” (IRV) system. Voters rank their preferences among the nominated works. They mark the work they want to win with a 1, the work they would prefer if their first choice was not on the ballot with a 2, and so forth. Voters need not rank all choices. For more information about how the voting system works, see this page.

A choice of “No Award” is always listed in each category. If this option wins, no Hugo Award is presented in that category for that year.

MidAmeriCon II is preparing a “Hugo Voter Packet.” This is a collection of shortlisted works or excepts of such works provided by the publishers and rights-holders to allow the voters to be better informed about their choices. MidAmeriCon II expects to release the Hugo Voter Packet in late May 2016. The Hugo Voter Packets (both for the 2016 and 1941 Awards) will be available from the 2016 Hugo Awards Voting web page.

The results of the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards will be announced on Thursday, August 18, 2016 during the Retro-Hugo Swing Dance/Ceremony at MidAmeriCon II in Kansas City, Missouri. The results of the 2016 Hugo Awards will be announced at a ceremony on the evening of Saturday, August 20, 2016 at MidAmeriCon II. The ceremony is planned to be shown live on streaming video and lower-bandwidth text-only coverage of the event will be provided through the Hugo Awards web site. Details of the live streaming and text-based coverage will be announced in August.

2016 Hugo Award Finalists Announced

~ Kevin ~ 5 Comments

The finalists for the 2016 Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the finalists for the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards were announced via the Twitter feed and Facebook account of MidAmeriCon II, the 2016 Worldcon, on April 26, 2016.

4,032 valid nominating ballots (4,015 electronic and 17 paper) for the 2016 Hugo and Campbell Awards and 481 valid nominating ballots (475 electronic and 6 paper) for the 1941 Retro-Hugo Awards were received and counted from the members of the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Worldcons as of the end of January 2016. Members were eligible to make up to five equally-weighted nominations in each category. The nominating ballot count smashes the previous record of 2,122 ballots set last year by Sasquan, the 73rd Worldcon, in Spokane, Washington.

See the 2016 Hugo Awards page for the full list of 2016 finalists and the 1941 Retro Hugo Awards page for the full list of 1941 finalists.

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 Awards ceremonies in August.

Online balloting for the Hugo Awards will be available on the MidAmeriCon II web site in mid-May. MidAmeriCon II 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, Young Adult, and Supporting members of MidAmeriCon II.

A Hugo Award Voter Packet of works appearing on the final ballot is expect to be issued sometime after the final ballot itself is released in May 2016. 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 2016 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award winners will be announced Saturday, August 20, 2016, at the Hugo Awards Ceremony. The 1941 Retrospective Hugo Award winners will be announced Thursday, August 18, 2016, in conjunction with a Retro Hugo Swing Dance event. Both events will be at MidAmeriCon II in Kansas City.

Please direct questions about the administration of this year’s Hugo and Campbell Awards to the MidAmericon II 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.

MidAmeriCon II Clarifies Delays With Hugo Nomination Confirmation Emails

~ Kevin

MidAmeriCon II, the 2016 Worldcon, has issued a statement through their Facebook Page and Twitter feed addressing concerns about the confirmation emails sent to members casting their 2016 Hugo Award nominating ballots electronically:

In the final days of the Hugo Nomination Period, the high volume of nominating traffic led to a problem with our nomination email receipts. We sincerely apologize for the confusion and concern that this has caused. This error only affects the email system and not the nomination ballots. While a few members may still receive emails from our system, we have identified what caused this problem and have taken the appropriate steps to prevent this from happening during Hugo voting.

The 2016 Hugo Awards are administered by the 2016 World Science Fiction Convention. Address questions about the administration of the 2016 Hugo Awards to the current Worldcon’s Hugo Award Administrators.

2016 Hugo Awards Shortlist to be Announced April 26

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

Nominations for the 2016 Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award and the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards closed on March 31. The finalists will be announced by this year’s Worldcon, MidAmeriCon II, on April 26. Voting on the final ballot will open May 15 and close July 31.

To vote on the final ballot, you must be a member of MidAmeriCon II. Both attending and supporting (non-attending) members can vote. MidAmeriCon II also has certain discounted membership levels that include voting rights. See the MidAmeriCon II Membership Registration page for details.

The 2016 Hugo Awards will be presented at a ceremony at MidAmeriCon II in Kansas City on the evening of August 20, 2016. The 1941 Retro-Hugo Awards will be presented at a separate ceremony earlier in the 2016 Worldcon. We will announce further details of both events when they are revealed by MidAmeriCon II.

Direct all questions about the administration of this year’s Hugo Awards to the current Worldcon’s Hugo Award Administrators. MidAmeriCon II is exclusively responsible for the administration of the 2016 Hugo Awards, the John W. Campbell Award, and the 1941 Retrospective Hugo 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.