Voting Deadlines

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

~ Kevin ~ 9 Comments

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.)
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2017 Hugo Award Voting Closed

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

Voting for the 2017 Hugo Awards closed at 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time on July 15, 2017. The 2017 Hugo Award Administrators reported that 3,319 members of Worldcon 75 in Helsinki voted, which is the third-highest number of votes cast in the history of the Awards.

The results of the 2017 Hugo Awards will be presented at the Hugo Awards Ceremony at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki, on Friday, August 11, 2017. The Hugo Awards web site plans to provide live text-based coverage of the ceremony via CoverItLive as it has done for the past several years. Other coverage of the ceremony such as live-streaming of the audio/video of the event if Worldcon 75 provides it, will be announced here when details become available.

2016 Hugo Award Voting Closed July 31

~ Kevin ~ 2 Comments

Voting for the 2016 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and for the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards closed Sunday, July 31, 2016 at 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time. The votes are now being tabulated, and the results will be announced at MidAmeriCon II, the 2016 World Science Fiction Convention, in Kansas City, August 17-21.

The results of the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards will be announced and trophies presented on Thursday, August 18, 2016 during the Retro-Hugo Swing Dance/Ceremony at MidAmeriCon II.

The results of the 2016 Hugo Awards will be announced and trophies presented at a ceremony on the evening of Saturday, August 20, 2016 at MidAmeriCon II. This year’s Worldcon will broadcast the Hugo Awards Ceremony live on streaming video. Lower-bandwidth text-only coverage of the event will be provided through the Hugo Awards web site. Details of the live streaming and text-based coverage will be announced later this month prior to the convention.

Voting Open for 2016 Hugo Awards

~ Kevin ~ 2 Comments

Voting for the 2016 Hugo Awards, 2016 John W. Campbell Award, and 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards opened on May 15, 2016. Members of the 2016 World Science Fiction Convention (MidAmeriCon II) may vote until 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time on July 31, 2016 using the online ballot available at the 2016 Hugo Awards Voting web page, or by using the paper ballot that will be sent to members and can be downloaded from the MidAmeriCon II web site. Persons who join MidAmeriCon II by July 31, 2016 (the close of voting) are eligible to vote. Members who registered an e-mail address with the 2016 Worldcon will receive instructions including a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for accessing the online ballot.

Finalists for the 2016 Hugo Awards and 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards were selected by nominations received by more than 4,000 members of the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Worldcons. Only Attending, Young Adult, and Supporting members of the 2016 Worldcon can vote on the final ballot. The ballot includes the finalists for the Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (sponsored by the publisher of Analog). The Campbell is not a Hugo Award but is administered and voted upon using the same system as the Hugo Awards and is presented at the Hugo Awards ceremony.

The Hugo Awards Final Ballot uses the “Instant Runoff Voting” (IRV) system. Voters rank their preferences among the nominated works. They mark the work they want to win with a 1, the work they would prefer if their first choice was not on the ballot with a 2, and so forth. Voters need not rank all choices. For more information about how the voting system works, see this page.

A choice of “No Award” is always listed in each category. If this option wins, no Hugo Award is presented in that category for that year.

MidAmeriCon II is preparing a “Hugo Voter Packet.” This is a collection of shortlisted works or excepts of such works provided by the publishers and rights-holders to allow the voters to be better informed about their choices. MidAmeriCon II expects to release the Hugo Voter Packet in late May 2016. The Hugo Voter Packets (both for the 2016 and 1941 Awards) will be available from the 2016 Hugo Awards Voting web page.

The results of the 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards will be announced on Thursday, August 18, 2016 during the Retro-Hugo Swing Dance/Ceremony at MidAmeriCon II in Kansas City, Missouri. The results of the 2016 Hugo Awards will be announced at a ceremony on the evening of Saturday, August 20, 2016 at MidAmeriCon II. The ceremony is planned to be shown live on streaming video and lower-bandwidth text-only coverage of the event will be provided through the Hugo Awards web site. Details of the live streaming and text-based coverage will be announced in August.

Hugo Award Nominations Close March 31

~ Kevin

Nominations for the 2016 Hugo Awards, John W. Campbell Award for Best New Author, and 1941 Retrospective Hugo Awards close at 23:59 Pacific Standard Time at the end of the day on Thursday, March 31, 2016. (That’s 06:59 GMT/UTC on April 1, 2016.) Anyone who was or is a member of the 2015, 2016, or 2017 World Science Fiction Conventions as of the end of January 2016 may nominate. Members may nominate up to five works in each category. Note that you can nominate as little as one work in one category. It is not necessary to fill out every space or to nominate in every category.

After nominations close, the Hugo Award Administrators will tally nominations, confirm eligibility, and begin contacting potential finalists. Under the rules of the World Science Fiction Society, every potential finalist must be given an opportunity to decline nomination to the shortlist. Once this process is complete, the current Worldcon, MidAmeriCon II, will announce the shortlist of finalists for each category. It typically takes several weeks to complete the eligibility and contact process. MidAmeriCon II said in a post on Twitter that the 2016 Hugo Awards shortlist will be announced on April 26. Voting on the final ballot will open May 15 May and close July 31.

Note that the people/works who appear on the final ballot are “finalists.” Historically the term “nominees” was used, but this term was officially deprecated by the World Science Fiction Society in favor of “finalist” in a change ratified in 2015. There appear to be some people who have been told by individual members that they’ve received one or more nomination votes in the nomination process, and have started billing themselves as “Hugo Award Nominees.” The term “Hugo Award Nominee” has no official meaning, and it does not mean that the work or person will be on the final Hugo Award ballot.

Voting for 2015 Hugo Awards Ends July 31

~ Kevin ~ 1 Comment

Voting for the 2015 Hugo Awards closes on July 31, 2015 at 23:59 Pacific Standard Time (UTC -7). We recommend that if you want to vote, you do not put it off until the last minute or even the last day, as we anticipate a heavy load on the voting servers that day. Cast your vote at the 2015 Hugo Voting Page at this year’s Worldcon’s web site.

You can cast your vote and then return to it and change any of your choices up until the voting deadline. You do not need to explicitly finalize your ballot, as the voting system will automatically close all ballots as of the deadline.

You must be a supporting or attending (including military and young adult) member of Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon, in order to vote. Memberships are not processed automatically, so if you want to vote and are not yet a member, 2015 Worldcon Membership Registration sooner, not later, to allow enough time for Sasquan to process your membership and send you your voting credentials.

The results of the 2015 Hugo Awards will be announced at the 2015 Hugo Awards Ceremony on the evening of Saturday, August 22 at the Worldcon in Spokane. All attending members of Sasquan may attend (subject to hall capacity). There is no separate ticking for the Hugo Awards ceremony, and seating is limited to the 2700 seats in the INB Performing Arts Center. Sasquan will also provide live video streaming of the Hugo Awards Ceremony, and The Hugo Awards web site will provide text-only coverage via CoverItLive (suitable for lower-bandwidth connections).

Voting Open for 2015 Hugo Awards

~ Kevin ~ 8 Comments

Voting for the 2015 Hugo Awards opened on May 1, 2015. Members of the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention (Sasquan) may vote until July 31, 2015 using the Online Hugo Awards Final Ballot or by using the paper ballot that will be sent to all members. Members who join Sasquan by July 31, 2015 (the close of voting) are eligible to vote. Members who registered an e-mail address with the 2015 Worldcon will receive instructions including a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for accessing the online ballot.

Finalists for the 2015 Hugo Award were selected by nominations received by the members of the 2014, 2015, and 2016 Worldcons. Only members of the 2015 Worldcon can vote on the final ballot. The ballot includes the finalists for the Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (sponsored by the publisher of Analog), which is not a Hugo Award but is administered and voted upon by the same system as the Hugo Award and is presented at the Hugo Award ceremony.

The Final Hugo Award ballot uses the “Instant Runoff Voting” (IRV) system. Voters rank their preferences among the nominated works (including “No Award,” which is always listed in each category; if it wins, no Hugo Award is presented in that category that year). Voters mark the work they want to win with a 1, the work they would prefer if their first choice was not on the ballot with a 2, and so forth. Voters need not rank all choices.

Sasquan is preparing the “Hugo Voter Packet,” a collection of shortlisted works or excepts of such works provided by the publishers and rights-holders to allow the voters to be better informed about their choices. Sasquan expects to release the Hugo Voter Packet in late May 2015. In addition, many publishers, authors, and artists have made full versions of their nominated works available on their websites.

The results of the 2015 Hugo Awards will be announced at a ceremony on August 22, 2015 at Sasquan in Spokane, Washington. The ceremony is planned to be shown live on streaming video and a text-only coverage of the event will be provided through the Hugo Awards web site. Details of the live streaming and text-based coverage will be announced in August.