The 2016 Worldcon in Kansas City (“MidAmericon II”) has opened nominations for the 2016 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and for the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards for works published in 1940. See the 2016/1941 Hugo Awards Nominating Information page at the MidAmeriCon II web site to make your nominations.

Anyone who is or was a voting member of the 2015, 2016, or 2017 Worldcons by the end of the day (23:59 North American Pacific Standard Time/GMT – 8) on January 31, 2016 is eligible to nominate. You may nominate only once (for each of the two sets of Awards), regardless of how many of those three Worldcons you are a member.

Nominations close at 23:59 North American Pacific Daylight Time (GMT – 7) on March 31, 2016. The works/people receiving sufficient nominations in this first stage of the balloting will go on to the final ballot, which will be announced later in 2016. Only members of the 2016 Worldcon will be eligible to vote on the final ballot. The January 31, 2016 membership deadline does not apply to the final ballot, only the nominating ballot.

In general, works first published or appearing in calendar year 2015 are eligible for the 2016 Hugo Award. Works previously published in languages other than English but first published in English in 2015 are eligible. Works previously published outside of the USA but first published in the USA in 2015 are eligible. Similar rules apply to the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards for works first published or appearing in 1940.

In addition to the above, the following works were granted extended eligibility by the World Science Fiction Society due to limited distribution, and are therefore eligible for the 2016 Hugo Awards:

• I Remember the Future (Dramatic Presentation, Short Form)
• Predestination (Dramatic Presentation, Long Form)

Medium of publication is irrelevant: works published or appearing online are considered the same as if published in hard-copy form or shown on television or in theaters, including film festivals. Self-published works in any medium are eligible. Works published in multiple parts, such as serialized stories including graphic works, are eligible if their final part appeared in 2015/1940. Detailed rules for the Hugo Award are contained in Article 3 of the World Science Fiction Society’s constitution.

Direct specific questions about the 2016 Hugo Awards and 1941 Retro-Hugo Awards to the 2016 Hugo Award Administrators. Please do not ask specific questions about the 2016 Hugo Awards by commenting here or sending inquiries to TheHugoAwards.org. The team managing this web site does not actually run the individual awards, so we can only forward your questions to the current year’s Hugo Award Administrators, which will delay a reply.

Besides online voting (which requires a Personal Identification Number (PIN) issued by the 2016 Worldcon), members can also vote using a paper ballot. Members of the current Worldcon were mailed ballots in January 2016 if they requested paper publications. PDFs of the ballots are available from the 2016/1941 Hugo Awards Nominating Information page at the MidAmericon II web site.

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