1956 Hugo Awards

1956 Hugo Award Trophy Presented at: NyCon II, New York, August 31 – September 3, 1956

Toastmaster: Robert Bloch

Base design:

Awards Administration:


Best Novel

  • Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein [Astounding Feb,Mar,Apr 1956]
  • Call Him Dead, by Eric Frank Russell
  • The End of Eternity, by Isaac Asimov
  • Not this August, by Cyril Kornbluth
  • The Long Tomorrow, by Leigh Brackett

Best Novelette

  • “Exploration Team” (alt: “Combat Team”) by Murray Leinster [Astounding Mar 1956]
  • “A Gun for Dinosaur”, by L. Sprague de Camp
  • “Brightside Crossing”, by Alan Nourse
  • “Home There’s No Returning”, by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore
  • “Legwork”, by Eric Frank Russell
  • “The Assistant Self”, by F.L. Wallace
  • “The End of Summer”, by Algis Budrys
  • “Who?”, by Theodore Sturgeon

Best Short Story

  • “The Star” by Arthur C. Clarke [Infinity Nov 1955]
  • “End as a World”, by F.L. Wallace
  • “King of the Hill”, by James Blish
  • “Nobody Bothers Gus”, by Algis Budrys
  • “The Game of Rat and Dragon”, by Cordwainer Smith
  • “The Dragon”, by Ray Bradbury
  • “Spy Story”, by Robert Sheckley
  • “Twink”, by Theodore Sturgeon

Best Professional Magazine

  • Astounding Science Fiction ed. by John W. Campbell, Jr.

Note: No shortlist of finalists was published in this category. The ballot instructions read “Pro mag names must be written in.”

Best Professional Artist

  • Frank Kelly Freas
  • Chesley Bonestell
  • Ed Emshwiller
  • Virgil Finlay
  • Mel Hunter
  • Edward Valigursky

Best Fanzine

  • Inside and Science Fiction Advertiser ed. by Ron Smith
  • A Bas
  • Fantasy-Times
  • Grue
  • Hyphen
  • Oblique
  • Peon
  • Psychotic-SF Review
  • Skyhook

Best Feature Writer

  • Willy Ley
  • L. Sprague de Camp
  • Robert A. Madle
  • Rog Phillips
  • R.S. Richardson

Best Book Reviewer

  • Damon Knight
  • Henry Bott
  • P. Schyler Miller
  • Anthony Boucher
  • Groff Conklin
  • Villers Gerson
  • Floyd Gale
  • Hans Stefan Santesson

Most Promising New Author

  • Robert Silverberg
  • Harlan Ellison
  • Frank Herbert
  • Henry Still

Finalist information obtained from page 15 of the 1956 Worldcon Progress Report 3. Listing order does not imply order of finish on final ballot. The shortlist appears to have been created by the 1956 Worldcon Committee, rather than from an initial round of solicitation of nominations as the current Awards do. The final ballot included space for write-in candidates. We thank Olav Rokne for bringing to our attention this list of finalists in September 2017.