Membership Deadline for Nominating in 2018 Hugo Awards is December 31, 2017

~ Kevin

If you want to nominate for the 2018 Hugo Awards, you must be at least a supporting member of one of these Worldcons by December 31, 2017:

  • Worldcon 75 Helsinki
  • Worldcon 76 San José
  • Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon

Persons who are supporting or attending members (or any other membership class that includes WSFS voting rights) of any of the 2016-2018 Worldcons as of December 31, 2017 will be eligible to nominate in the 2018 Hugo Awards. You do not need to be an attending member of any of these conventions to nominate, only a supporting member.

Nominating for the 2018 Hugo Awards will open in early 2018. The December 31, 2017 deadline is the deadline for joining one of the relevant Worldcons to be eligible to nominate. When nominations for the 2018 Hugo Awards open, we will post an announcement here. We also expect the relevant Worldcons to also make announcements at that time. If you are a member of the 2017, 2018, or 2019 Worldcons as of December 31, 2017, you are eligible to nominate for the 2018 Hugo Awards when nominations open in early 2018.

If you were not a member of Worldcon 75 and still want to nominate for the 2018 Hugo Awards, join Worldcon 76 San José or Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon by December 31, 2017 to be eligible to nominate. Note that joining Dublin makes you eligible to nominate for the 2018 Hugo Awards, but not to vote on the final ballot.

The December 31 deadline applies only to nominating. To vote on the final ballot, you must be a member of Worldcon 75 San José. The deadline for joining to be eligible to vote on the final ballot is the close of voting on the final ballot. (The final ballot deadline has not yet been announced.)

Prior to this year, the deadline for joining to be eligible to nominate for the Hugo Awards was the end of January of the year in which those Hugo Awards were to be presented. Per a change in WSFS rules first passed in 2016 in Kansas City and ratified in 2017 in Helsinki, that deadline was moved up one month to the end of the previous calendar year.

Note that 2018 is the final year in which members of the following year’s Worldcon will be eligible to nominate in the current year’s Hugo Awards. A rule change ratified in 2017 in Helsinki and effective in 2019 limits nominating to only the current and previous year’s members.

The full rules for the Hugo Awards, including any changes that first take effect for 2018, are in the 2017-2018 WSFS Constitution. In case of any discrepancy between what is on our web site or that of any Worldcon, the WSFS Constitution takes priority.

9 thoughts on “Membership Deadline for Nominating in 2018 Hugo Awards is December 31, 2017”

  1. I am sorry but as a supporting member of both Worldcon 75 and 76 I have received nothing about how to nominate or that the deadline was even approaching. I am frustrated at this, but I hope I have caught it before everything ends.

    My name and e-mail are below. Please tell me how to vote.

    1. Bob:

      Nominating has not yet started, and will not start until early 2018. The deadline in this post is the deadline for becoming a member in order to be eligible to nominate when nominations open in early 2018. As a supporting member of Worldcon 76 (and 75), you are eligible to nominate for the 2018 Hugo Awards when nominating opens in 2018. You need take no action at this time. We will post here when nominating opens, and you should also be contacted by Worldcon 76.

      We have added additional material to this post to (we hope) make it clearer that this deadline is only about joining in order to be eligible to nominate, and that nominations themselves will not open until early 2018. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused you. Don’t panic! You haven’t missed anything, and you will be able to nominate when nominations open in early 2018.

    2. Hi Bob,

      I am a writer from India and have written a Novellete… I really do not know how to get my work put up for participation in the Hugo Awards.
      Can you please guide and help me in this regard…

      Sincerely, Prakash

      1. Prakash:

        Works are nominated for the Hugo Awards by the thousands of members of the World Science Fiction Society. There is no panel of judges, nor is their any mechanism for “submitting’ a work for consideration. If enough member of WSFS nominate a work, it is shortlisted as a finalist. See our Information for Publishers for more details.

        Kevin Standlee

        1. Hi.. Kevin,
          Thank you for the information.
          I am a self-published author. In which case, do I stand a chance ?

          Regards, Prakash

          1. Prakash:

            We do not comment on specific works or their “chances.” The way you make the ballot is to come to the attention of enough members of WSFS that they decide to nominate your work. Self-published authors have been finalists and have won the Hugo Award.

            Kevin Standlee

          2. Thank you Kevin..you have been a great help. I just needed to know if books of self-published authors too are considered for nominations.

            Your reply answers my question.

            Regards, Prakash

          3. Yes, self-published works are eligible. Works can be published in paper, electronic, or audiobook form. Medium of publication does not matter. Works do not have to be published by a “publishing company” (however you want to define that). The actual wording of the rule is “Hugo Awards are given for work in the field of science fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year.”

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