Presented at: MidAmeriCon II, Kansas City, Missouri, USA on August 20, 2016
Host: Pat Cadigan
Base design: Sara Felix
Awards Administration: Dave McCarty, Will Frank, Tammy Coxen, Diane Lacey, and Joe Siclari
4032 valid nominating ballots (4015 electronically-submitted and 17 paper) were received and counted. Members of the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Worldcons as of the end of January 2016 were eligible to make up to five equally-weighted nominations in each category. 3,130 valid final ballots were cast by the members of MidAmeriCon II.
For the full breakdown of voting and nomination see here (PDF).
2016 Hugo Awards Ceremony video
In some categories below, the members voted to give No Award in a category. This means no Hugo Award was presented in that category. In some categories, the members voted No Award ahead of some of the finalists. When this happened, we have listed No Award as if it was a finalist, with all finalists listed in the order in which they placed.
Best Novel (2903 final ballots, 3695 nominating ballots)
- The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
- Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
- Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
- The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (Roc)
Best Novella (2,903 final ballots, 2416 nominating ballots)
- Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
- Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum)
- Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)
- Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson (Dragonsteel Entertainment)
- The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com)
Best Novelette (2560 final ballots, 1975 nominating ballots)
- “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015)
- “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed, Feb 2015)
- “Obits” by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner)
- No Award
- “What Price Humanity?” by David VanDyke (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
- “Flashpoint: Titan” by CHEAH Kai Wai (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
Best Short Story (2706 final ballots, 2451 nominating ballots)
- “Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)
- No Award
- Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle (Amazon Digital Services)
- “Asymmetrical Warfare” by S. R. Algernon (Nature, Mar 2015)
- “Seven Kill Tiger” by Charles Shao (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
- “If You Were an Award, My Love” by Juan Tabo and S. Harris (voxday.blogspot.com, Jun 2015)
Best Related Work (2545 final ballots, 2080 nominating ballots)
- No Award
- Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986 by Marc Aramini (Castalia House)
- “The Story of Moira Greyland” by Moira Greyland (askthebigot.com)
- “The First Draft of My Appendix N Book” by Jeffro Johnson (jeffro.wordpress.com)
- “Safe Space as Rape Room” by Daniel Eness (castaliahouse.com)
- SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day (Castalia House)
Best Graphic Story (2171 final ballots, 1838 nominating ballots)
- The Sandman: Overture written by Neil Gaiman, art by J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)
- No Award
- Invisible Republic Vol 1 written by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, art by Gabriel Hardman (Image Comics)
- The Divine written by Boaz Lavie, art by Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka (First Second)
- Full Frontal Nerdity by Aaron Williams (ffn.nodwick.com)
- Erin Dies Alone written by Grey Carter, art by Cory Rydell (dyingalone.net)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (2171 final ballots, 2904 nominating ballots)
- The Martian screenplay by Drew Goddard, directed by Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions; Kinberg Genre; TSG Entertainment; 20th Century Fox)
- Mad Max: Fury Road written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Village Roadshow Pictures; Kennedy Miller Mitchell; RatPac-Dune Entertainment; Warner Bros. Pictures)
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens written by Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt, directed by J.J. Abrams (Lucasfilm Ltd.; Bad Robot Productions; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
- Ex Machina written and directed by Alex Garland (Film4; DNA Films; Universal Pictures)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron written and directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (2423 final ballots, 2219 nominating ballots)
- 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)
- Doctor Who: “Heaven Sent” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay (BBC Television)
- Grimm: “Headache” written by Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt, directed by Jim Kouf (Universal Television; GK Productions; Hazy Mills Productions; Open 4 Business Productions; NBCUniversal Television Distribution)
- No Award
- Supernatural: “Just My Imagination” written by Jenny Klein, directed by Richard Speight Jr. (Kripke Enterprises; Wonderland Sound and Vision; Warner Bros. Television)
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: “The Cutie Map” Parts 1 and 2 written by Scott Sonneborn, M.A. Larson, and Meghan McCarthy, directed by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller (DHX Media/Vancouver; Hasbro Studios)
Best Editor, Short Form (2257 final ballots, 1891 nominating ballots)
- Ellen Datlow
- Sheila Williams
- Neil Clarke
- John Joseph Adams
- No Award
- Jerry Pournelle
Best Editor, Long Form (2386 final ballots, 1764 nominating ballots)
- Sheila E. Gilbert
- Liz Gorinsky
- No Award
- Toni Weisskopf
- Jim Minz
- Vox Day
Best Professional Artist (1907 final ballots, 1481 nominating ballots)
- Abigail Larson
- No Award
- Michal Karcz
- Larry Elmore
- Larry Rostant
- Lars Braad Andersen
Best Semiprozine (2063 final ballots, 1457 nominating ballots)
- Uncanny Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky
- Strange Horizons edited by Catherine Krahe, Julia Rios, A. J. Odasso, Vanessa Rose Phin, Maureen Kincaid Speller, and the Strange Horizons staff
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
- No Award
- Daily Science Fiction edited by Michele-Lee Barasso and Jonathan Laden
- Sci Phi Journal edited by Jason Rennie
Best Fanzine (2281 final ballots, 1455 nominating ballots)
- File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
- Lady Business edited by Clare, Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan
- No Award
- Tangent Online edited by Dave Truesdale
- Superversive SF edited by Jason Rennie
- Castalia House Blog edited by Jeffro Johnson
Best Fancast (1497 final ballots, 1267 nominating ballots)
- No Award
- Tales to Terrify, Stephen Kilpatrick
- The Rageaholic, RazörFist
- 8-4 Play, Mark MacDonald, John Ricciardi, Hiroko Minamoto, and Justin Epperson
- Cane and Rinse, Cane and Rinse
- HelloGreedo, HelloGreedo
Best Fan Writer (1909 final ballots, 1568 nominating ballots)
- Mike Glyer
- No Award
- Jeffro Johnson
- Morgan Holmes
- Shamus Young
- Douglas Ernst
Best Fan Artist (1855 final ballots, 1073 nominating ballots)
- Steve Stiles
- No Award
- Christian Quinot
- Matthew Callahan
- Kukuruyo
- disse86
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (2406 final ballots, 1922 nominating ballots)
Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2014 or 2015, sponsored by Dell Magazines. (Not a Hugo Award, but administered along with the Hugo Awards.)
- Andy Weir*
- Alyssa Wong*
- No Award
- Pierce Brown*
- Sebastien de Castell*
- Brian Niemeier
*Finalists in their 2nd year of eligibility.
For the full breakdown of voting and nomination see here (PDF).
CoverItLive text-based coverage of the 2016 Hugo Awards Ceremony
See Hugo Award Categories for a more detailed discussion of the categories. The technical definitions of the categories are in the current version of the WSFS Constitution, and those technical definitions take priority in case of any ambiguity. Decisions regarding eligibility are made by the current year’s Hugo Administration Subcommittee, whose decisions are final in all cases.
Last year a number of finalists who made the final Hugo ballot dropped out of the running to avoid association with the slates. This year’s unwilling and unwitting draftees should probably feel more exasperation than anything else. No one this year should feel obliged to quit the field simply because some group will take credit for their presence. Hugo voters are smart enough, and trust their own tastes enough, to know the truth.