Lodestar Award

2021 Hugo Awards Nominations Open

~ Kevin

The nominating period for the 2021 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and Astounding Award for Best New Writer opened on January 25 and will remain open until 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT; UTC – 7) on March 19, 2021.

Instructions for accessing the online nominating form have been sent to eligible members via e-mail. Check your junk e-mail/spam/promotions folders in your e-mail client for this e-mail if you did not receive it. Despite the convention’s efforts, voter information notification messages may be flagged as spam by some e-mail systems.

The DisCon III/2021 Worldcon Hugo Awards web page has instructions for accessing the online nominating ballot for the 2021 Hugo Awards and links to PDF versions of the paper nominating ballot.

DisCon III, the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, will present the 2021 Hugo Awards, which are generally for works first published or appearing in 2020. Any person who was a voting member of at least one of the 2020 or 2021 World Science Fiction Conventions as of 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST; UTC -8) on December 31, 2020 may cast a nominating ballot for the 2021 Awards.

The ballots will also include voting on two other awards administered by the Worldcon. These are the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, presented by the World Science Fiction Society, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, presented by Dell Magazines.

Eligible members of the 2020 and 2021 Worldcons can make up to five nominations in each category. You are not required to nominate in all categories or to fill every nomination blank on the ballot. As the DisCon III website says, “the Hugo Awards are fan-run, fan-given, and fan-supported. We recommend that you nominate whatever works and creators you have personally read or seen that were your favorites from 2020.”

Those people/works with sufficient nominations will move on the the final ballot for the 2021 Hugo Awards, which will be announced later this year after the close of nominations. While members of both the 2020 and 2021 Worldcons can nominate for the 2020 Awards, only members of the 2021 Worldcon are eligible to vote on the final ballot. If you are not yet a member of the 2021 Worldcon, see the DisCon III Membership Page for information about joining the convention.

There are no Retrospective Hugo Awards being presented this year. Retro-Hugo Awards for 1946 were presented in 1996. Retro-Hugo Awards cannot be presented for any year for which Hugo Awards or Retro-Hugo Awards have already been presented.

Please direct any questions about the administration of the 2021 Hugo Awards to the DisCon III Hugo Award Administrators, not to the Hugo Awards web site. The Hugo Awards web site team does not administer the elections for the Hugo Awards, nor do we make eligibility rulings. The Hugo Awards web site is the “journal of record” for the Hugo Awards and acts as a central source of information about the Awards, but we do not actually administer or present the Awards. The 2021 Hugo Awards are administered by the Hugo Awards Administration Subcommittee of DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon, and all decisions regarding the eligibility of works and the administration of nominations are exclusively the committee’s responsibility.

Join Worldcon by December 31, 2020 to be Eligible to Nominate for 2021 Hugo Awards

~ Kevin

If you want to nominate works/people for the 2021 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and Astounding Award for Best New Writer, you must be a member of either the 2020 Worldcon (CoNZealand) or the 2021 Worldcon (DisCon III) by the end of 2020. (You can of course be a member of both, but you can only nominate once.) If you were a member of CoNZealand (Worldcon 78/Wellington, New Zealand) (supporting or attending, or any other membership class that included voting rights), you are already eligible to nominate. If you were not a member of CoNZealand and are not a member of DisCon III (Worldcon 79/Washington, DC, USA), you must join DisCon III by the end of 2020 as at least a supporting member to be eligible to nominate.

Continue reading →

2020 Hugo Awards Announced

~ Kevin ~ 16 Comments

BEST NOVEL

A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)

BEST NOVELLA

This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Saga Press; Jo Fletcher Books)

BEST NOVELETTE

Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin (Forward Collection (Amazon))

BEST SHORT STORY

“As the Last I May Know”, by S.L. Huang (Tor.com, 23 October 2019)

BEST SERIES

The Expanse, by James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

BEST RELATED WORK

“2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech”, by Jeannette Ng

BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC

LaGuardia, written by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford, colours by James Devlin (Berger Books; Dark Horse)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios/Narrativia/The Blank Corporation)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

The Good Place: “The Answer”, written by Daniel Schofield, directed by Valeria Migliassi Collins (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal Television)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

Ellen Datlow

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM

Navah Wolfe

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

John Picacio

BEST SEMIPROZINE

Uncanny Magazine, editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, nonfiction/managing editor Michi Trota, managing editor Chimedum Ohaegbu, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky

BEST FANZINE

The Book Smugglers, editors Ana Grilo and Thea James

BEST FANCAST

Our Opinions Are Correct, presented by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders

BEST FAN WRITER

Bogi Takács

BEST FAN ARTIST

Elise Matthesen

LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK (Not a Hugo Award, but administered alongside the Hugo Awards)

Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)

ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER, sponsored by Dell Magazines (Not a Hugo Award, but administered alongside the Hugo Awards)

R.F. Kuang (2nd year of eligibility)

CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention, announced the winners of the 2020 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and Astounding Award for Best New Wrier at a ceremony conducted online on Saturday 1 Aug 2020 (New Zealand Standard Time). We will publish detailed results, finalist placements, and nominations breakdowns on the 2020 Hugo Award page when they are made available.

1945 Retro-Hugo and 2020 Hugo Award Trophy Designs Revealed

~ Kevin ~ 4 Comments

The trophies for the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards and 2020 Hugo Awards were unveiled as part of the CoNZealand opening ceremonies on 29 Jul 2020 (NZST)

1945 Retrospective Hugo Award Trophy designed by James Brown

2020 Hugo Award Trophy designed by John Flower

Click through the photos above to see the artists’ discussion about their designs as revealed during the CoNZealand opening ceremonies.

The 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards and the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for New Zealand speculative fiction will be presented online at CoNZealand at 11:00, Thursday 30 Jul 2020 New Zealand Standard Time. This ceremony will be available live only to those members of CoNZealand attending online.

The 2020 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best YA Book, and Astounding Award for Best New Writer will be presented online at CoNZealand at 11:00, Saturday 1 Aug 2020 New Zealand Standard Time. The Ceremony will be streamed live online (no CoNZealand membership necessary) on The Fantasy Network.

You can use web sites like TimeAndDate to convert local time in New Zealand to local time elsewhere.

2020/1945 Hugo Award Voting Closed

~ Kevin

Voting has closed for the 2020 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and for the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards. The Awards will be announced in an online ceremony during CoNZealand, the 2020 Worldcon, scheduled for Saturday 1 August, 2020, 11:00 AM New Zealand Standard Time. (Consult a web site such as www.timeanddate.com to convert this to your local time if necessary.) We will post the results of the Awards as soon as possible after they are announced by CoNZealand.

2020/1945 Hugo Award Final Ballot Open

~ Kevin

The final ballot for the 2020 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and for the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards opened on July 9, 2020. Members of CoNZealand have or will shortly receive an e-mail with the necessary information for voting online. Members can access their ballots via https://members.conzealand.nz by logging in & clicking on “My Memberships.”

A paper copy of the ballot is also available for download from the CoNZealand website, however, due to potential delays to paper mail, we strongly encourage people to vote online if possible.

Voting is open to all supporting and attending members of CoNZealand, the 2020 Worldcon. Per CoNZealand’s announcement, voting will be open until Wednesday 22 July 2020 at 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)/Thursday, 23 July 2020 at 18:59 New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12)

2020 Hugo Award & 1945 Retro Hugo Award Finalists Announced

~ Kevin ~ 4 Comments

The finalists for the 2020 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and Astounding Award for Best New Writer and for the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards were announced online today by CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention.

Nominations for the 2020 and 1945 Hugo Awards were submitted by the members of CoNZealand, the 78th Worldcon, and Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon, the 77th Worldcon. 1,584 people submitted 27,033 nominations for the 2020 Hugo Awards, while 120 people submitted 1,677 nominations for the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards.

The full list of finalists are listed on the individual pages for the 2020 Hugo Awards and 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards.

Voting for the Hugo Awards is open to all supporting or attending/online members of CoNZealand. Voting is scheduled open later in April 2020. Information on how to submit a voting ballot is available on the CoNZealand web site Hugo Awards page. Voting ends before the convention to allow sufficient time to count votes and prepare trophies. Anyone who joins by the end of voting is eligible to vote. CoNZealand previously announced that due to travel restrictions as a result of the worldwide COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that their Worldcon will be online only, running from July 29-August 2, 2020. They will announce details of how the Hugo Awards Ceremony will be presented at a later date.

Please direct all questions about the administration of the 2020 Hugo Awards/Lodestar Award/Astounding Award and 1945 Retro-Hugo Awards to the 2020/1945 Hugo Award Administrators, not to the Hugo Awards web site. The Hugo Awards web site does not administer the Hugo Awards. All questions about the administration of the current Awards should go to the administrators.