The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
or
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
works and achievements of the previous year, given at the
World Science Fiction Convention
Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...
and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier award in science fiction. The award is administered by the
World Science Fiction Society
Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...
. It is named after
Hugo Gernsback
Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American editor and magazine publisher, whose publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publ ...
, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...
''. Hugos were first given in 1953, at the
11th World Science Fiction Convention
The 11th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Philcon II, was held on 5–7 September 1953 at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was the first Worldcon to present the Hugo Awards. ...
, and have been awarded every year since 1955.
The awards were originally given in seven categories. These categories have changed over the years, and the award is currently conferred in seventeen categories of written and dramatic works. The winners receive a trophy consisting of a stylized rocket ship on a base; the design of the trophy changes each year, though the rocket itself has been standardized since 1984. The Hugo Awards are considered "the premier award in the science fiction genre",
and winners are often noted on book covers.
The 2022 awards were presented at the
80th Worldcon, "Chicon 8", in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
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, subdivision_name ...
on September 4, 2022. The 2023 awards will be presented at the
81st Worldcon, "Chengdu Worldcon", in
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
, China on August 19, 2023.
Award
![Hartwell, Brown, Willis 2008 Hugo Awards](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Hartwell%2C_Brown%2C_Willis_2008_Hugo_Awards.jpg)
The World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) gives out the Hugo Awards each year for the best
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
or
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
works and achievements of the previous year. The Hugos are widely considered the premier award in science fiction.
The award is named after
Hugo Gernsback
Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American editor and magazine publisher, whose publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publ ...
, who founded the pioneering science fiction magazine ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...
'' and who is considered one of the "fathers" of the science fiction genre.
Works are eligible for an award if they were published in the prior calendar year, or translated into English in the prior calendar year. There are no written rules as to which works qualify as science fiction or fantasy, and the decision of eligibility in that regard is left up to the voters, rather than to the organizing committee. Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual
World Science Fiction Convention
Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...
, or Worldcon, and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The selection process is defined in the WSFS constitution as
instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...
with six nominees per category, except in the case of a tie.
The awards are split over more than a dozen categories, and include both written and dramatic works.
For each category of Hugo, the voter may rank "No Award" as one of their choices. Voters are instructed that they should do so if they feel that none of the nominees are worthy of the award, or if they feel the category should be abolished entirely. A vote for "No Award" other than as one's first choice signifies that the voter believes the nominees ranked higher than "No Award" are worthy of a Hugo in that category, while those ranked lower are not.
The six works on the ballot for each category are the most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of stories that can be nominated. With the exception of 1956, the first years of the awards did not include any recognition of runner-up novels, but since 1959 all of the candidates have been recorded.
Initial nominations are made by members in January through March, while voting on the ballot of six nominations is performed roughly in April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held.
Prior to 2017, the final ballot was five works in each category.
Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and take place in a different city around the world each year.
The idea of giving out awards at Worldcons was proposed by Harold Lynch for the 1953 convention.
The idea was based on the
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
,
with the name "Hugo" being given by Robert A. Madle. The award trophy was created by Jack McKnight and
Ben Jason in 1953, based on the design of hood ornaments of 1950s cars. It consisted of a finned rocket ship on a wooden base. Each subsequent trophy, with the exception of the 1958 trophy (a plaque), has been similar to the original design. The rocket trophy was formally redesigned in 1984, and since then only the base of the trophy has changed each year.
There is no monetary or other remuneration associated with the Hugo, other than the trophy.
Retro-Hugos
Retrospective Hugo Awards, or Retro-Hugos, were added as a concept to the Hugo Awards in 1996. They are awards given for years in which no Hugos were originally awarded. Prior to 2017, they could be awarded for works in a year 50, 75, or 100 years prior, after 1939, where there was a Worldcon but where no Hugos were awarded. Retro-Hugos are given by a Worldcon in the categories that are currently in use, and are optional; some Worldcons have chosen not to award them despite a year being eligible. Even for years in which Retro-Hugos are given, not all categories receive enough nominations to receive a ballot.
In 2017, the eligible years were specified to be 1939–1952 and 1954, which expanded the possible years to include those post-1939 in which no Worldcon was held at all. Of the fifteen years eligible, awards have been given for eight.
History
1950s
The first Hugo Awards were presented at the
11th Worldcon in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
in 1953, which awarded Hugos in seven categories.
The awards presented that year were initially conceived as a one-off event, though the organizers hoped that subsequent conventions would also present them.
At the time, Worldcons were completely run by their respective committees as independent events and had no oversight between years. Thus there was no mandate for any future conventions to repeat the awards, and no set rules for how to do so.
The 1954 Worldcon chose not to, but the awards were reinstated at the 1955 Worldcon, and thereafter became traditional. The award was called the Annual Science Fiction Achievement Award, with "Hugo Award" being an unofficial, but better known name.
The nickname was accepted as an official alternative name in 1958, and since the 1992 awards the nickname has been adopted as the official name of the award.
For the first few years, Hugo Awards had no published rules, and were given for works published in the "preceding year" leading up to the convention, which was not defined but generally covered the period between conventions rather than calendar years. In 1959, though there were still no formal guidelines governing the awards, several rules were instated which thereafter became traditional. These included having a ballot for nominating works earlier in the year and separate from the voting ballot; defining eligibility to include works published in the previous calendar year, rather than the ambiguous "preceding year"; and allowing voters to select "No Award" as an option if no nominated works were felt to be deserving of the award.
"No Award" won that year in two categories:
Dramatic Presentation and
Best New Author.
The eligibility change additionally sparked a separate rule, prohibiting the nomination of works which had been nominated for the 1958 awards, as the two time periods overlapped.
1960s
In 1961, after the formation of the WSFS to oversee each Worldcon committee, formal rules were set down in the WSFS constitution mandating the presenting of the awards as one of the responsibilities of each Worldcon organizing committee. The rules restricted voting to members of the convention at which the awards would be given, while still allowing anyone to nominate works; nominations were restricted to members of the convention or the previous year's convention in 1963.
The guidelines also specified the categories that would be awarded, which could only be changed by the World Science Fiction Society board.
These categories were for
Best Novel,
Short Fiction
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
(short stories, broadly defined), Dramatic Presentation,
Professional Magazine A professional magazine or professional journal is a periodical published by the governing body of a profession."Professional Magazines or Journals" iProfessional/Trade Journals Piedmont College, Library. The standard of quality of such a periodical ...
,
Professional Artist, and
Best Fanzine.
1963 was also the second year in which "No Award" won a category, again for Dramatic Presentation.
In 1964 the guidelines were changed to allow individual conventions to create additional categories, which was codified as up to two categories for that year. These
additional awards were officially designated as Hugo Awards, but were not required to be repeated by future conventions.
This was later adjusted to only allow one additional category; while these special Hugo Awards have been given out in several categories, only a few were ever awarded for more than one year.
In 1967 categories for
Novelette,
Fan Writer, and
Fan Artist
Fan art or fanart is artwork created by fans of a work of fiction and derived from a series character or other aspect of that work. They are usually done by amateur artists, semi-professionals or professionals. As fan labor, fan art refers to ...
were added, and a category for
Best Novella was added the following year; these new categories had the effect of providing a definition for what word count qualified a work for what category, which was previously left up to voters.
Novelettes had also been awarded prior to the codification of the rules. The fan awards were initially conceived as separate from the Hugo Awards, with the award for Best Fanzine losing its status, but were instead absorbed into the regular Hugo Awards by the convention committee.
1970s
While traditionally five works had been selected for nomination in each category out of the proposed nominees, in 1971 this was set down as a formal rule, barring ties.
In 1973, the WSFS removed the category for Best Professional Magazine, and a
Best Professional Editor award was instated as its replacement, in order to recognize "the increasing importance of original anthologies".
After that year the guidelines were changed again to remove the mandated awards and instead allow up to ten categories which would be chosen by each convention, though they were expected to be similar to those presented in the year before. Despite this change no new awards were added or previous awards removed before the guidelines were changed back to listing specific categories in 1977.
1971 and 1977 both saw "No Award" win the Dramatic Presentation category for the third and fourth time; "No Award" did not win any categories afterwards until 2015.
1980s and 1990s
In 1980 the category for Best Non-Fiction Book (later renamed
Best Related Work) was added, followed by a category for
Best Semiprozine (semi-professional magazine) in 1984.
In 1983, members of the
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...
were encouraged by people such as
Charles Platt to nominate as a bloc ''
Battlefield Earth'', written by the organization's founder
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianeti ...
, for the Best Novel award; it did not make the final ballot.
Another campaign followed in 1987 to nominate Hubbard's ''
Black Genesis''; it made the final ballot but finished behind "No Award".
1989 saw a work—''The Guardsman'' by Todd Hamilton and P. J. Beese—withdrawn by its authors from the final ballot after a fan bought numerous memberships under false names, all sent in on the same day, in order to get the work onto the ballot.
In 1990 the Best Original Art Work award was given as a special Hugo Award, and was listed again in 1991, though not actually awarded, and established afterward as an official Hugo Award.
It was then removed from this status in 1996, and has not been awarded since.
The Retro Hugos were created in the mid-1990s, and were first awarded in 1996.
Since 2000
Another special Hugo Award, for Best Web Site, was given twice in 2002 and 2005, but never instated as a permanent category.
In 2003, the Dramatic Presentation award was split into two categories, Long Form and Short Form.
This was repeated with the Best Professional Editor category in 2007.
2009 saw the addition of the
Best Graphic Story category, and in 2012 an award for
Best Fancast was added.
In 2015, two groups of science fiction writers, the "
Sad Puppies
Sad Puppies was an unsuccessful right-wing anti-diversity voting campaign run from 2013 to 2017 and intended to influence the outcome of the annual Hugo Awards, the longest-running prize (since 1953) for science fiction or fantasy works. It wa ...
" led by
Brad R. Torgersen
Brad R. Torgersen (born April 6, 1974) is an American science fiction author whose short stories regularly appear in various anthologies and magazines, including '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' and ''Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine ...
and
Larry Correia
Larry Correia is an American fantasy and science fiction writer, known for his ''Monster Hunter International'', ''Grimnoir Chronicles'', and ''Saga of the Forgotten Warrior'' series. He has authored or co-authored over 20 novels, has over 50 pub ...
, and the "Rabid Puppies" led by
Vox Day
Theodore Robert Beale (born August 21, 1968), also known as Vox Day, is an American far-right activist, writer, publisher, and video game designer. He has been described as a white supremacist, a misogynist, and part of the alt-right. ''The Wall ...
, each put forward a similar
slate of suggested nominations which came to dominate the ballot.
The Sad Puppies campaign had run for two years prior on a smaller scale, with limited success. The leaders of the campaigns characterized them as a reaction to "niche, academic, overtly
eftist nominees and the Hugo becoming "an affirmative action award" that preferred female and non-white authors and characters.
In response, five nominees declined their nomination before and, for the first time, two after the ballot was published.
Multiple-Hugo-winner
Connie Willis
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born December 31, 1945), commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than ...
declined to present the awards.
The slates were characterized by ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' as a "right wing",
"orchestrated backlash"
and by ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' as a "group of white guys",
and were linked with the
Gamergate controversy
Gamergate or GamerGate (GG) was a loosely organized misogynistic online harassment campaign and a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture. It was conducted using the hashtag "#Gamergate" pri ...
.
Multiple Hugo winner
Samuel R. Delany
Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ) (born April 1, 1942), is an American author and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays (on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society). His ...
characterized the campaigns as a response to "socio-economic" changes such as minority authors gaining prominence and thus "economic heft".
In all but the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form category, "No Award" placed above all nominees that were on either slate, and it won all five categories that only contained slate nominees.
The two campaigns were repeated in 2016 with some changes, and the "Rabid Puppy" slate again dominated the ballot in several categories, with all five nominees in Best Related Work, Best Graphic Story, Best Professional Artist, and Best Fancast.
In response to the campaigns, a set of new rules, called "E Pluribus Hugo", were passed in 2015 and ratified in 2016 to modify the nominations process. Intended to ensure that organized minority groups cannot dominate every finalist position in a category, the new rules define a
voting system
An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...
in which nominees are eliminated one by one, with each vote for an eliminated work then spread out over the uneliminated works they nominated, until only the final shortlist remains. These rules were ratified in 2016 to be used for the first time in 2017. A rule mandating that the final nominees must appear on at least five percent of ballots was also eliminated, to ensure that all categories could reach a full set of nominees even when the initial pool of works was very large.
Each nominator is limited to five works in each category, but the final ballot was changed to six in each; additionally, no more than two works by a given author or group, or in the same dramatic series, can be in one category on the final ballot.
In 2018 the newest permanent category,
Best Series, was begun; it was run the year prior as a special Hugo Award prior to being ratified at the business meeting.
Another special Hugo Award, for Best Art Book, was run in 2019 but not repeated or made a permanent category.
The 2021 Hugo Awards featured a special Hugo award for
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s. The Hugo Study Committee is evaluating a proposal for a "Best Game or Interactive Experience" category, which they or others may propose to the 2022 convention.
Categories
Worldcon committees may also give out special awards during the Hugo ceremony, which are not voted on. Unlike the additional Hugo categories which Worldcons may present, these awards are not officially Hugo Awards and do not use the same trophy, though they once did.
Two additional awards, the
Astounding Award for Best New Writer
The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...
and the
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book is an award given annually to a book published for young adult readers in the field of science fiction or fantasy. The name of the award was chosen because a lodestar is "a star that guides or leads, ...
, are presented at the Hugo Award ceremony and voted on by the same process, but are not formally Hugo Awards.
Recognition
The Hugo Award is highly regarded by observers. The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' has termed it "among the highest honors bestowed in science fiction and fantasy writing",
a claim echoed by ''
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'', who said that it was "the premier award in the science fiction genre".
Justine Larbalestier
Justine Larbalestier ( )' (born 23 September 1967) is an Australian writer of young adult fiction best known for her 2009 novel, '' Liar''.
Personal life
Larbalestier was born and raised in Sydney. She now alternates residence between Sydney ...
, in ''The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction'' (2002), referred to the awards as "the best known and most prestigious of the science fiction awards",
and
Jo Walton
Jo Walton (born 1964) is a Welsh and Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel ''Among Others'', which won the Hugo Award, Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and ''Tooth and Claw (novel), Tooth ...
, writing in ''
An Informal History of the Hugos
''An Informal History of the Hugos'' (subtitled ''A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953–2000'' is a 2018 reference work on science fiction and fantasy written by Jo Walton. In it, she asks if the nominees for the Hugo Award for Best ...
'', said it was "undoubtedly science fiction's premier award".
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' similarly acknowledged it as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" as well as "one of the most venerable, democratic and international" science fiction awards "in existence".
James Gunn
James Francis Gunn Jr. (born August 5, 1966) is an American filmmaker and executive. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s, starting at Troma Entertainment with ''Tromeo and Juliet'' (1997). He then began working as a director ...
, in ''The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (1988), echoed ''The Guardian''s statement of the award's democratic nature, saying that "because of its broad electorate" the Hugos were the awards most representative of "reader popularity".
Camille Bacon-Smith Camille Bacon-Smith is an American scholar and novelist. She has a Ph.D. in folklore and folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. Her books, ''Enterprising Women'' (1992) and ''Science Fiction Culture'' (1999), investigated science fiction fan ...
, in ''Science Fiction Culture'' (2000), said that at the time fewer than 1000 people voted on the final ballot; she held, however, that this is a representative sample of the readership at large, given the number of winning novels that remain in print for decades or become notable outside of the science fiction genre, such as ''
The Demolished Man
''The Demolished Man'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester, which was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. An inverted detective story, it was first serialized in three parts, beginning with the January 1952 issue of '' G ...
'' or ''
The Left Hand of Darkness
''The Left Hand of Darkness'' is a science fiction novel by U.S. writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Published in 1969, it became immensely popular, and established Le Guin's status as a major author of science fiction. The novel is set in the fictiona ...
''.
The 2014 awards saw over 1900 nomination submissions and over 3500 voters on the final ballot, while the 1964 awards received 274 votes.
The 2019 awards saw 1800 nominating ballots and 3097 votes, which was described as less than in 2014–2017 but more than any year before then.
Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist, and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for ...
, in his book ''
Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction'', claimed that the Hugo Award was a barometer of reader popularity, rather than artistic merit; he contrasted it with the panel-selected
Nebula Award
The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...
, which provided "more literary judgment", though he did note that the winners of the two awards often overlapped.
Along with the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award is also considered one of the premier awards in science fiction, with Laura Miller of
Salon.com
''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events.
Content and coverage
''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...
terming it "science fiction's most prestigious award".
The official logo of the Hugo Awards is often placed on the winning books' cover as a promotional tool.
Gahan Wilson
Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations.
Biography
Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...
, in ''First World Fantasy Awards'' (1977), claimed that noting that a book had won the Hugo Award on the cover "demonstrably" increased sales for that novel,
though
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...
said in his 1990 book ''How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy'' that the award had a larger effect on foreign sales than in the United States.
Spider Robinson
Spider Robinson (born November 24, 1948) is an American-born Canadian list of science fiction authors, science fiction author. He has won a number of awards for his hard science fiction and humorous stories, including the Hugo Award 1977 and 198 ...
, in 1992, claimed that publishers were very interested in authors that won a Hugo Award, more so than for other awards such as the Nebula Award.
Literary agent Richard Curtis said in his 1996 ''Mastering the Business of Writing'' that having the term Hugo Award on the cover, even as a nominee, was a "powerful inducement" to science fiction fans to buy a novel,
while Jo Walton claimed in 2011 that the Hugo is the only science fiction award "that actually affects sales of a book".
There have been several anthologies of Hugo-winning short fiction. The series ''
The Hugo Winners'', edited by
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
, was started in 1962 as a collection of short story winners up to the previous year, and concluded with the 1982 Hugos in Volume 5. ''
The New Hugo Winners
''The New Hugo Winners'' was a series of books which collected science fiction and fantasy short-form works that had recently won a Hugo Award for best Short Story, Novelette or Novella. Published by Baen Books, the series succeeded Doubleday's ...
'', edited originally by Asimov, later by
Connie Willis
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born December 31, 1945), commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than ...
and finally by
Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford (born January 30, 1941) is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is professor emeritus at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is a contributing editor of ''Reason ...
, has four volumes collecting stories from the 1983 to the 1994 Hugos.
The most recent anthology is ''The Hugo Award Showcase'' (2010), edited by
Mary Robinette Kowal
Mary Robinette Kowal (; born February 8, 1969) is an American author and puppeteer. Originally a puppeteer by primary trade after receiving a bachelor's degree in art education, she became art director for science fiction magazines and by 2010 was ...
. It contains most of the short stories, novelettes, and novellas that were nominated for the 2009 award.
See also
*
List of science fiction awards
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to science fiction:
Science fiction – a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting. Explor ...
*
List of joint winners of the Hugo and Nebula awards {{Short description, none
This is a list of the works that have won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, given annually to works of science fiction or fantasy literature. The Hugo Awards are voted on by science-fiction fans at the World Science ...
*
Nebula Award
The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...
*
BSFA Award
The BSFA Awards are literary awards presented annually since 1970 by the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) to honour works in the genre of science fiction. Nominees and winners are chosen based on a vote of BSFA members. More recently, m ...
*
Locus Award
The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the pl ...
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
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Current rules (including Constitution) of the WSFS
{{Fantasy fiction
1953 establishments in the United States
Awards established in 1953
Fantasy awards
Science fiction awards