Nominations for the 2012 Hugo Awards are now open. The 2012 Hugo Awards are being administered by Chicon 7, the 2012 World Science Fiction Convention. Any person who was or is a member of the 2011, 2012, or 2013 Worldcons as of January 31, 2012, is eligible to nominate for the 2012 Hugo Awards. (Even if you’re a member of more than one of those three Worldcons, you may only cast one nominating ballot.) If you are not a member of any of those conventions, you may join Chicon 7 or LoneStarCon 3, the 2013 Worldcon, before January 31, 2012 to become eligible.

Chicon 7 has exercised its right under the WSFS Constitution to add a Special Category for 2012. The additional award category is Best Fancast, defined as “Any non-professional audio- or video-casting with at least four (4) episodes that had at least one (1) episode released in 2011.” (There is an amendment to the WSFS Constitution pending ratification at Chicon 7 that would make Best Fancast a permanent category.)

If you are eligible to nominate, you may cast a nominating ballot through the Chicon Hugo Nominating Website or by paper ballot by mail. No matter which method you use to vote, Chicon 7 must receive your ballot (postmarks/timestamps do not count) by Sunday, March 11, 2012, 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time. (Convert to your local time here.)

If you have questions about specific procedures for the 2012 Hugo Awards, address them to the Chicon 7 Hugo Awards Administrators. TheHugoAwards.org cannot answer specific questions about eligibility or procedures for a given election, since each Hugo Award election is administered by that year’s Worldcon.

Update, Jan 4: According to a statement posted by Jeff Orth on the File 770 web site, voter PINs (the code number required to cast your ballot online) “are being emailed to current members now. PR3 will be in the mail directly. You can also request a PIN at hugoadmin@chicon.org.”

Note: While this is a “nominating ballot,” and we say that you “nominate” people or works for a Hugo Award when you write them on the nominating ballot, only those people or works that appear on the final Hugo Award ballot later in the year are the actual “Hugo Award Nominees.” Merely writing a work in on your nominating ballot does not make that work a “Hugo Award Nominee” unless the work receives enough nominations from other Worldcon members to make the final ballot.

See the Chicon 7 web site for the official press release announcement.