Announcements

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.

2020/1945 Hugo Award Finalists to be Announced April 8 NZ / April 7 Americas & Europe

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention, will announce the finalists for the 2020 Hugo Awards and 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 8 AM NZST, which is Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 9 PM British Summer Time, 4 PM Eastern Daylight Time, and 1 PM Pacific Daylight Time. Take note of the times: the announcement will be on the afternoon of April 7 in the Americas, the evening of April 7 in Europe, and the morning of April 8 in New Zealand.

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.

CoNZealand intends to live-stream their finalist announcements on the CoNZealand YouTube Channel starting at the times listed above.

2020/1945 Hugo Award Base Designers Announced

~ Kevin

CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention, has announced the two New Zealand artists who they have selected to design the 2020 Hugo Award and 1945 Retrospective Hugo Award trophy bases.

Worldcons are required to use the standardized rocket topping the Hugo Award trophy, but each Worldcon designs their own bases. CoNZealand invited New Zealand-based artists to submit base designs. Five designers submitted proposals, and two were selected to design the bases for the trophies to be presented by this year’s Worldcon. John Flower will design the 2020 Hugo Awards trophy base, and James Brown will design the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Award trophy base.

The iconic rocket ship atop the Hugo Award trophy originally designed by Jack McKnight and Ben Jason and refined and standardized by Peter Weston is a service mark of the World Science Fiction Society. This registered rocket ship design may only be used on Hugo Awards and may not be used on other awards presented by WSFS.

The announcement from CoNZealand follows:
Continue reading →

2020/1945 Hugo Awards Nominations Closed

~ Kevin ~ 2 Comments

Nominations for the 2020 Hugo/Lodestar/Astounding Awards and for the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards closed 13 March 2020 at 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time (02:59 Eastern Daylight Time, 06:59 UTC/Irish Time, and 19:59 14 March 2020 New Zealand Daylight Time). The 2020 Hugo Award Administrators are tallying the nominations, confirming potential finalists’ eligibility, and contacting potential finalists in accordance with World Science Fiction Society rules. Details of CoNZealand’s plans to reveal the finalists will be announced soon.

Direct questions regarding the 2020/1945 Awards to the 2020 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, contact potential finalists, or select finalists or winners. The 2020/1945 Hugo Awards are administered by the Hugo Awards Administration Subcommittee of CoNZealand, and all decisions regarding the eligibility of works and the administration of nominations are exclusively the committee’s responsibility.

2020/1945 Hugo Awards Nominations Open

~ Kevin ~ 9 Comments

The nominating period for the 2020 Hugo Awards and 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards is now open. CoNZealand, the 2020 Worldcon, has published a video discussing the opening of nominations.

Instructions for accessing the online nominating form have been sent 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 CoNZealand/2020 Worldcon Hugo Awards web page has instructions for accessing the online nominating ballots for the 2020 and 1945 Hugo Awards and links to PDF versions of the paper nominating ballots.

Paper ballots were mailed to those members of CoNZealand who requested paper publications along with the convention’s Progress Report 2.

Nominations will close on 13 March 2020 at 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time (02:59 Eastern Daylight Time, 06:59 UTC/Irish Time, and 19:59 14 March 2020 New Zealand Daylight Time). Paper ballots must be received by mail by 13 March 2020. The six most popular eligible nominees in each category will go forward to the final ballot. The Finalists for the Awards will be announced in early April. The 2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday 1 August 2020 at CoNZealand in Wellington, New Zealand. The timing of the 1943 Retrospective Hugo Awards Ceremony is yet to be announced.

CoNZealand, the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, will be presenting the 2020 Hugo Awards (generally for works first published or appearing in 2019) as well as the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards (generally for works first published or appearing in 1944). Any person who was a voting member of at least one of the 2019 or 2020 World Science Fiction Conventions as of December 31, 2019 may cast a nominating ballot for the 2020 and 1945 Awards.

The ballots will also include voting on two other awards administered by the Worldcon. These are the Lodestar Award for Young Adult Book, presented by the World Science Fiction Society, and the Astounding Award (formerly known as the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer), presented by Dell Magazines. No retrospective versions of these awards are presented.

Eligible members of the 2019 and 2020 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 announcement from CoNZealand states, “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 2019 and 1944.”

While members of both the 2019 and 2020 Worldcons can nominate for the 2020 and 1945 Hugo Awards, only members of the 2020 Worldcon are eligible to vote on the final ballot.

Please direct any questions about the administration of the 2020 and 1945 Hugo Awards to the ConZealand 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 2020/1945 Hugo Awards are administered by the Hugo Awards Administration Subcommittee of CoNZealand, and all decisions regarding the eligibility of works and the administration of nominations are exclusively the committee’s responsibility.

2019 Hugo Awards Clarification

~ The Hugo Awards ~ 6 Comments

We would like to clarify that the winner of the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Related Work is Archive Of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works.

This category of the Hugo Awards is one which recognizes works that are non-fiction or which are notable primarily for aspects other than fiction. Thus, the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Related Work recognizes AO3 as a project and a platform; the fiction hosted on that site is not the award recipient, nor are the authors of fiction hosted on that site the award recipients.

Further, the only officially recognized 2019 Hugo Award Winner for Best Related Work is Archive Of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works. No natural persons can claim to be a Hugo Award Winner, Finalist, or Nominee for this award on behalf of AO3.

Individual works of fiction on AO3 are eligible for the Hugo Awards in the fiction categories of the corresponding length, for the award year in which they are first published. In addition, the Hugo Awards have Fan Writer, Fan Artist, Fanzine, and Fancast categories which recognize contributions that fans give freely to fandom.

Members of AO3 are welcome and encouraged to promote themselves as “participant in the Hugo Award-Winning project Archive Of Our Own” or “contributor to the Hugo Award-Winning AO3 website”.

The WSFS Mark Protection Committee, which manages the protection of the intellectual property of the World Science Fiction Society, including the mark “Hugo Award,” has issued this statement regarding commercial use of “Hugo Award” by individual contributors to Archive of Our Own, winner of the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Related Work. Examples of commercial use include selling unauthorized merchandise that uses “Hugo Award,” the Hugo Award logo, or any other service mark owned by WSFS, or including claims to being a “Hugo Award winning author” or “Hugo Award nominated author” in a professional resume or on a professional web site.

2020 Worldcon to Present Retrospective Hugo Awards

~ Kevin

The 2020 Worldcon, CoNZealand, will present Retrospective Hugo Awards for the year 1945, for works of science fiction and fantasy first published or appearing in 1944, according to an announcement posted on the CoNZealand web site.

Retrospective Hugo Awards (“Retro-Hugos”) are authorized by the World Science Fiction Society for Hugo Awards held an exact multiple of 25 years prior to the current Worldcon, provided that no Hugo Awards or Retrospective Hugo Awards were already presented for that year. Retro-Hugos cannot be presented for years prior to 1939. A rule change ratified at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki opened up Retro-Hugos to the the “WW II Gap” from 1942-1945, during which no Worldcons were held. Previously, only years in which a Worldcon was held were eligible for Retro-Hugos. As with the “regular” Hugo Awards, Retrospective Hugo Awards are for works published or appearing in the previous calendar year to the year of the award.

Per the WSFS Constitution, the Retrospective Hugo Award categories are the same as those for the current Hugo Awards. Any categories where there are insufficient nominations will be dropped from the final ballot. The Lodestar Award and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award) are not Hugo Awards, and therefore there will not be retrospective versions of those awards.

Members of the 2019 and 2020 Worldcons as of December 31, 2019 will be eligible to nominate for both the 2020 Hugo Awards and the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards.

Administration of both the Hugo Awards and Retrospective Hugo Awards rests with the individual Worldcon committees. Direct any questions about the Hugo Awards and Retrospective Hugo Awards for the relevant years to the CoNZealand committee.

1944 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced

~ Kevin ~ 7 Comments

Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon, the 77th World Science Fiction Convention, announced the winners of the 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards at a ceremony on the evening of Thursday, August 15, 2019.

BEST NOVEL

Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Unknown Worlds, April 1943)

BEST NOVELLA

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock)

BEST NOVELETTE

“Mimsy Were the Borogoves,” by Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science-Fiction, February 1943)

BEST SHORT STORY

“King of the Gray Spaces” (“R is for Rocket”), by Ray Bradbury (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1943)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

Wonder Woman : Battle for Womanhood, written by William Moulton Marsden, art by Harry G. Peter (DC Comics)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

Heaven Can Wait, written by Samson Raphaelson, directed by Ernst Lubitsch (20th Century Fox)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, written by Curt Siodmak, directed by Roy William Neill (Universal Pictures)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

John W. Campbell

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Virgil Finlay

BEST FANZINE

Le Zombie, edited by Arthur Wilson “Bob” Tucker

BEST FAN WRITER

Forrest J Ackerman

The 1944 Hugo Award winners were announced at a ceremony held at Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon on Thursday August 15th, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland. We will publish detailed results, finalist placements, and nominations breakdowns when they are made available.

Live Coverage of Hugo Award Ceremonies

~ Cheryl ~ 12 Comments

As usual we will be providing live, text-based coverage of this year’s Hugo Award Ceremony, which takes place at 8:00pm on Sunday evening, Dublin time.

This year we also plan to bring you live, text-based coverage of the Retro-Hugo Award Ceremony, which will take place as part of the Worldcon Opening Ceremonies at 8:00pm on Thursday evening, Dublin time.

We will be posting more information as soon as someone from our team is on the ground in Dublin and able to confirm details.

Hugo Award Voting Closed; Ceremonies August 15, 18

~ Kevin

Voting for the 2019 Hugo Awards and 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards closed on August 1. The results of the voting will be announced with the presentation of the 1944 Retro-Hugo Awards on Thursday, August 15 as part of the Opening Ceremonies of Dublin 2019, an Irish Worldcon, with the 2019 Hugo Awards presented on Sunday, August 18 at Dublin 2019.

The 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards will be part of the Dublin 2019 Opening Ceremony on Thursday, August 15, 2019, starting at 20:00 Irish Summer Time (UTC +1) in the Convention Centre Dublin Auditorium. This opening-night event of Dublin 2019 will be hosted by Ellen Klages and Dave Rudden, and will also include the presentation of the Big Heart and First Fandom Awards.

The 2019 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer will be presented at the Hugo Awards Ceremony on Sunday, August 18, 2019 starting at 20:00 Irish Summer Time (UTC +1) in the Convention Centre Dublin Auditorium. The Hugo Awards Ceremony will be hosted by Afua Richardson and Michael Scott.

Further information about all of Dublin 2019’s Special Events are available on the convention’s web site.

Dublin 2019 intends to live-stream both the Opening Ceremonies/Retro-Hugo Ceremony and the 2019 Hugo Awards Ceremony through Vimeo. We will announce details of the live streaming when Dublin 2019 makes them available.

As we have done in past years, the Hugo Awards web site team will be presenting live text-only commentary (suitable for lower-bandwidth connections) of the 2019 Hugo Awards Ceremony. We will publish details of our live coverage of the Hugo Awards Ceremony closer to the day of the event and it will be the lead item here at TheHugoAwards.org on the day of the event itself. We will also be at the Retro-Hugo Ceremony, and we are currently exploring whether we can do the same live text-only commentary there as well. We will also be commenting on the Retro-Hugos via the @TheHugoAwards Twitter account.

Whether you attend the events in person at Dublin 2019, watch them via Vimeo, or follow along with TheHugoAwards.org coverage, we hope you’ll be following this year’s Hugo Awards results coming up during the 2019 Worldcon.