1945 Retro-Hugo Awards

1945 Retro Hugo Award TrophyPresented at: CoNZealand, Wellington, New Zealand

Host:

Base design: James Brown

Awards Administration: Tammy Coxen, Nicholas Whyte, Ian Moore, Kat Jones, Susan de Guardiola


The 1945 Retrospective Hugo Award winners were announced in an online ceremony produced by CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention, on Thursday 30 Jul 2020 (New Zealand Standard Time). The ceremony was live-streamed via The Fantasy Network. We will include a link to the archived event when it is available.

Full Nominating and Final Ballot Voting Details (PDF) In addition to the official statistics, Nicholas Whyte, a member of the 2020 Hugo Awards Administration Subcommittee, provided additional analysis of the results and later further information explaining the numbers behind those categories that the Administrators dropped due to lack of nominator interest.

CoNZealand received and counted 521 final ballots (5 of which were received by mail). The winners and other finalists are listed below. There was a tie in one category: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

CoNZealand received and counted 120 valid nominating ballots (3 of which were received by mail) with a total of 1,677 nominations from the members of Dublin 2019: an Irish Worldcon (Worldcon 77) and CoNZealand (Worldcon 78). Members nominated up to five works/people in each category, and the top six works/people in each category were shortlisted as finalists.

The finalists for the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards were announced by CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention, on the convention’s YouTube Channel on April 8, 2020 (NZST).

Per WSFS rules, categories in which there were insufficient nominations to justify the category were dropped.

The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer are not Hugo Awards, and therefore no retrospective versions of them were included on the nominating ballot.

Please direct all questions about the administration of the 2020 Hugo Awards/Lodestar Award/Astounding Award and 1945 Retro-Hugo Awards to the 2020/1945 Hugo Award Administrators, not to the Hugo Awards web site. The Hugo Awards web site does not administer the Hugo Awards. All questions about the administration of the current Awards should go to the administrators.

Best Novel

  • “Shadow Over Mars” (The Nemesis from Terra), by Leigh Brackett (Startling Stories, Fall 1944)
  • The Golden Fleece (Hercules, My Shipmate), by Robert Graves (Cassell)
  • Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord, by Olaf Stapledon (Secker & Warburg)
  • “The Winged Man”, by A.E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull (Astounding Science Fiction, May-June 1944)
  • The Golden Fleece (Hercules, My Shipmate), by Robert Graves (Cassell)
  • Land of Terror, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.)
  • The Wind on the Moon, by Eric Linklater (Macmillan)

Best Novella

  • “Killdozer!”, by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
  • “The Jewel of Bas”, by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
  • “The Changeling”, by A.E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1944)
  • “Trog”, by Murray Leinster (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1944)
  • “A God Named Kroo”, by Henry Kuttner (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1944)
  • “Intruders from the Stars”, by Ross Rocklynne (Amazing Stories, January 1944)

Best Novelette

  • “City”, by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1944)
  • “No Woman Born”, by C.L. Moore (Astounding Science Fiction, December 1944)
  • “Arena”, by Fredric Brown (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1944)
  • “When the Bough Breaks”, by Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
  • “The Big and the Little” (“The Merchant Princes”), by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1944)
  • “The Children’s Hour”, by Lawrence O’Donnell (C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1944)

Note: “The Big and the Little” and “The Children’s Hour tied for fifth place.

Best Short Story

  • “I, Rocket”, by Ray Bradbury (Amazing Stories, May 1944)
  • “Desertion”, by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
  • “Huddling Place”, by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1944)
  • “The Wedge” (“The Traders”), by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1944)
  • “And the Gods Laughed”, by Fredric Brown (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
  • “Far Centaurus”, by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1944)

Best Series

  • The Cthulhu Mythos, by H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, and others
  • Pellucidar, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  • Doc Savage, by Kenneth Robeson/Lester Dent
  • The Shadow, by Maxwell Grant (Walter B. Gibson)
  • Captain Future, by Brett Sterling (Edmond Hamilton)
  • Jules de Grandin, by Seabury Quinn

Best Related Work

  • “The Science-Fiction Field”, by Leigh Brackett (Writer’s Digest, July 1944)
  • Fancyclopedia, by Jack Speer (Forrest J. Ackerman)
  • “The Works of H.P. Lovecraft: Suggestions for a Critical Appraisal”, by Fritz Leiber (The Acolyte, Fall 1944)
  • Rockets: The Future of Travel Beyond the Stratosphere, by Willy Ley (Viking Press)
  • Mr. Tompkins Explores the Atom, by George Gamow (Cambridge University Press)
  • ’42 To ’44: A Contemporary Memoir Upon Human Behavior During the Crisis of the World Revolution, by H.G. Wells (Secker & Warburg)

Best Graphic Story or Comic

  • Superman: “The Mysterious Mr. Mxyztplk”, by Jerry Siegel, Ira Yarbrough, and Joe Shuster (Detective Comics, Inc.)
  • Donald Duck: “The Mad Chemist”, by Carl Barks (Dell Comics)
  • The Spirit: “For the Love of Clara Defoe”, by Manly Wade Wellman, Lou Fine and Don Komisarow (Register and Tribune Syndicate)
  • Buck Rogers: “Hollow Planetoid”, by Dick Calkins (National Newspaper Service)
  • Flash Gordon: “Battle for Tropica”, by Don Moore and Alex Raymond (King Features Syndicate)
  • Flash Gordon: “Triumph in Tropica”, by Don Moore and Alex Raymond (King Features Syndicate)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

  • (tie) The Canterville Ghost, screenplay by Edwin Harvey Blum from a story by Oscar Wilde, directed by Jules Dassin (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM))
  • (tie) The Curse of the Cat People, written by DeWitt Bodeen, directed by Gunther V. Fritsch and Robert Wise (RKO Radio Pictures)
  • Donovan’s Brain, adapted by Robert L. Richards from a story by Curt Siodmak, producer, director and editor William Spier (CBS Radio Network)
  • It Happened Tomorrow, screenplay and adaptation by Dudley Nichols and René Clair, directed by René Clair (Arnold Pressburger Films)
  • House of Frankenstein, screenplay by Edward T. Lowe, Jr. from a story by Curt Siodmak, directed by Erle C. Kenton (Universal Pictures)
  • The Invisible Man’s Revenge, written by Bertram Millhauser, directed by Ford Beebe (Universal Pictures)

Best Editor, Short Form

  • John W. Campbell, Jr.
  • Dorothy McIlwraith
  • Mary Gnaedinger
  • Raymond A. Palmer
  • Oscar J. Friend
  • W. Scott Peacock

Best Professional Artist

  • Margaret Brundage
  • Earle K. Bergey
  • Boris Dolgov
  • Paul Orban
  • William Timmins
  • Matt Fox

Best Fanzine

  • Voice of the Imagi-Nation, edited by Forrest J. Ackerman and Myrtle R. Douglas
  • Le Zombie, edited by Bob Tucker and E.E. Evans
  • Futurian War Digest, edited by J. Michael Rosenblum
  • The Acolyte, edited by Francis T. Laney and Samuel D. Russell
  • Shangri L’Affaires, edited by Charles Burbee
  • Diablerie, edited by Bill Watson

Best Fan Writer

  • Fritz Leiber
  • Bob Tucker
  • Morojo/Myrtle R. Douglas
  • Jack Speer
  • Harry Warner, Jr.
  • J. Michael Rosenblum