1939 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced

The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, Loncon 3, announced the winners of the 1939 Retrospective Hugo Awards at a ceremony on the evening of Thursday, August 14, 2014. 1,307 valid ballots were received and counted in the final ballot.

BEST NOVEL

The Sword in the Stone, T. H. White (Collins)

BEST NOVELLA

“Who Goes There?”, Don A Stuart [John W. Campbell] (Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1938)

BEST NOVELETTE

“Rule 18”, Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science-Fiction, July 1938)

BEST SHORT STORY

“How We Went to Mars”, Arthur C. Clarke (Amateur Science Stories, March 1938)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells. Written by Howard Koch & Anne Froelick; Directed by Orson Welles (The Mercury Theater of the Air, CBS)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

John W. Campbell

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Virgil Finlay

BEST FANZINE

Imagination! edited by Forrest J Ackerman, Morojo, and T. Bruce Yerke

BEST FAN WRITER

Ray Bradbury

The 1939 Retrospective Hugo Award winners were announced on Thursday evening, August 14, 2014, at the at the ExCel Convention Center in London, England. The ceremony was hosted by Mary Robinette Kowal and Rob Shearman.

The 1939 Retro-Hugo trophy base was designed by Marina Gélineau.

See the Final Ballot Details for a full breakdown of votes, subsequent placements, and nomination counts.

Retro-Hugo Ceremony Tonight

The 1939 Retrospective Hugo Awards will be presented tonight at a ceremony at the 2014 Worldcon, Loncon 3, hosted by Mary Robinette Kowal and Rob Shearman. You can watch the ceremony on UStream starting at 8 PM British Summer Time tonight. Results of the Retro-Hugo Awards will be posted on the Loncon 3 web site and here at TheHugoAwards.org shortly after the conclusion of tonight’s ceremony.

The 2014 Hugo Awards will be presented later this weekend on the final night of this year’s Worldcon.

Loncon 3 Members Smash Hugo Voting Record

This year’s Worldcon, Loncon 3, has announced that participation in the Hugo Awards is now officially at an all-time high. Loncon 3 received 3,587 valid Hugo Award final ballots (3,571 online, 16 paper). The previous high was 2,100 final ballots cast by members of the 2011 Worldcon, Renovation.

According to Loncon 3’s demographics page, there were 8,784 eligible voters (5,891 attending, 2,893 supporting), meaning that over 40% of the eligible voters participated this year.

Over in the 1939 Retrospective Hugo Awards, there were 1,307 valid ballots cast (1,295 online, 12 paper), a turnout of approximately 15% of eligible voters.

The winners of the 1939 Retro-Hugo Awards and the 2014 Hugo Awards will be announced at ceremonies on the first and last nights of Loncon 3. Detailed results for each set of Awards will be be available from Loncon 3 and TheHugoAwards.org shortly after each ceremony.

Retro-Hugo Voter Packet Available

The 1939 Retro Hugo voter packet is now available for download by Supporting, Attending, and Young Adult members of Loncon 3. The packet is an electronic package of nominated works made available by Hugo nominees and their publishers. The packet will remain available until voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PDT on Thursday 31 July 2014.

The 1939 Retro Hugos celebrate the science fiction and fantasy that fans at the very first Worldcon in 1939 would have known. The voter packet includes full editions of several of the works nominated for the Retro Hugos, though it was not possible to acquire permission for all of the nominated works to be included.

The 1939 Retro Hugo Awards will be presented at a ceremony on the evening of Thursday 14 August at a ceremony jointly presented by Mary Robinette Kowal and Rob Shearman, with music provided by the Brideshead Ballroom Stompers. The ceremony will be streamed live via the Internet to enable fans around the world to take part in this commemoration of the best of the science fiction and fantasy of 1939.

Full details of the 2014 Hugo and 1939 Retro Hugo Awards are available at the Loncon 3 website. Direct questions about the voter packets and the administration of the voting (such as questions about memberships and voting PINs) to Loncon 3, not to the Hugo Awards web site. We here at the Hugo Awards web site do not actually run the individual Hugo Award elections, so questions we receive can be delayed while we forward them to the current Worldcon for action.

Hugo Voting Opens

Online voting for the 2014 Hugo Awards and the 1939 Retrospective Hugo Awards is now open. You can vote online or download a paper ballot and mail it to Loncon 3.

The deadline for voting is 1 August 2014 at 00:00 PDT (that is, the end of the day Pacific Daylight Time on 31 July; note that this is 07:00 GMT/UTC on 1 August). The online voting pages will close at that time, and any paper ballots mailed in will need to also have been received by then.

Only attending, supporting, and young adult members of Loncon 3, the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention, are eligible to vote on the final ballots for the 2014 and 1939 Awards. You do not have to attend Worldcon to vote; you only need to be a member. You can join Loncon 3 at their membership page.

Loncon 3 will remind voters of their Loncon 3 Membership Numbers and Hugo PINs, and you can request your PIN through the voting web page as well. You can change your votes right up to the deadline; however, Loncon 3 recommends that you not wait until the last moment, due to anticipated heavy traffic on the voting web site during the final hours of the voting.

The Hugo Awards voting is conducted by Loncon 3. Direct any questions about the 2014 and 1939 Awards to the hugoadmin@loncon3.org. Please do not submit questions about the administration of the awards to us here at TheHugoAwards.org, because this will result in a delay while we forward the questions to this year’s Administrators.

Hugo Voter Packet Released

The 2014 Hugo Awards voter packet — an electronic package of nominated works made available by Hugo nominees and their publishers — is now available for download by Supporting, Attending and Young Adult members of Loncon 3, the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention.

The voter packet, which includes full editions of many Hugo-nominated works and preview versions of others, enables Loncon 3 Supporting, Attending, and Young Adult members to familiarize themselves with the Hugo Award contenders before voting. The packet will remain available until voting closes at 0000 PDT on Friday 1 August 2014. Only Supporting, Attending, and Young Adult members of Loncon 3 can vote on the final ballot for the 2014 Hugo Awards. You can become a member of Loncon 3 at their membership web site.

The 2014 Hugo Awards will be presented at a ceremony on the evening of Sunday, 17 August 2014 in London. The ceremony will be streamed live via the internet to enable fans around the world to experience this celebration of the best of the year’s science fiction and fantasy.

A voter packet for the Retro Hugos, commemorating the best in science fiction and fantasy available to fans in 1939, is also being organized by the Loncon 3 Hugo team, and we’ll announce it here when it is available.

The full press release from Loncon 3 is available on their web site.

2014 Hugo Award Nominations Open

Nominations for the 2014 Hugo Awards, the 2014 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and the 1939 Retrospective Hugo Awards are now open. These Awards are being administered by Loncon 3, the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention in London, England. Any person who was or is a member of the 2013, 2014, or 2015 Worldcons as of January 31, 2014 is eligible to nominate for the 2014 Hugo and Campbell Awards and the 1939 Retro-Hugos. (Even if you’re a member of more than one of those three Worldcons, you may only cast one nominating ballot for each set of Awards.) If you are not a member of any of those conventions, you may join Loncon 3, the 2014 Worldcon or Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon before January 31, 2014 to become eligible.

If you are eligible to nominate, you may cast a nominating ballot through the Loncon 3 Hugo Awards Website. You can also vote by paper mail using the paper ballots distributed in Loncon 3 Progress Report 2. No matter which method you use to vote, Loncon 3 must receive your ballot (postmarks do not count) by Monday, March 31, 2014, 23:59 Pacific Daylight Time (April 1, 07:59 British Summer Time). (Convert to your local time here.)

If you have questions about specific procedures for the 2014 Hugo Awards, address them to the Loncon 3 Hugo Awards Administrators. TheHugoAwards.org cannot answer specific questions about eligibility or procedures for a given election, since each Hugo Award election is administered by that year’s Worldcon.

The PINs required for online voting are in the process of being emailed by Loncon 3 to all eligible members of LoneStarCon 3, Loncon 3, and Sasquan. For PIN queries, please write to Loncon 3 at hugopin@Loncon3.org.

Note: While this is a “nominating ballot,” and we say that you “nominate” people or works for a Hugo Award when you write them on the nominating ballot, only those people or works that appear on the final Hugo Award ballot later in the year are the actual “Hugo Award Nominees.” Merely writing a work in on your nominating ballot does not make that work a “Hugo Award Nominee” unless the work receives enough nominations from other Worldcon members to make the final ballot.

Deadline Approaching for Right to Nominate on 2013 Hugo Awards

Although nominations for the 2013 Hugo Award will remain open though March 10, you must become a member of LoneStarCon 3 (the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention, Loncon 3 (the 2014 Worldcon), or already be a member of Chicon 7 by January 31, 2013 in order to be eligible to nominate for the 2013 Hugo Awards.

Anyone who is a member of one of those three Worldcons by the end of January may cast a nomination ballot for the 2013 Hugo Awards. Ballots must be received by Sunday, March 10, 2013, 11:59 p.m. EDT (Sunday, March 10, 2013, 8:59 p.m. PDT; Monday, March 11, 2013, 3:59 a.m. UTC/GMT).

After the finalists are announced later this year, all Supporting, Attending, and Young Adult members of LoneStarCon 3 (including all members who join prior to the closing date of the final ballot) will be invited to submit ballots to select the Hugo winners. LoneStarCon 3 members will also be eligible to nominate for the 2014 Hugo Awards, to be hosted next year by Loncon 3, the 72nd Worldcon, in London, UK.

2013 Hugo Award Nominations Open

Nominations for the 2013 Hugo Awards are now open. The 2013 Hugo Awards are being administered by LoneStarCon 3, the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Any person who was or is a member of the 2012, 2013, or 2014 Worldcons as of January 31, 2013, is eligible to nominate for the 2013 Hugo Awards. (Even if you’re a member of more than one of those three Worldcons, you may only cast one nominating ballot.) If you are not a member of any of those conventions, you may join LoneStarCon 3 or Loncon 3, the 2014 Worldcon, before January 31, 2013 to become eligible.

If you are eligible to nominate, you may cast a nominating ballot through the LoneStarCon 3 Hugo Nominating Website or by paper ballot by mail. No matter which method you use to vote, LoneStarCon 3 must receive your ballot (postmarks/timestamps do not count) by Sunday, March 10, 2013, 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time. (Convert to your local time here.)

If you have questions about specific procedures for the 2013 Hugo Awards, address them to the LoneStarCon 3 Hugo Awards Administrators. TheHugoAwards.org cannot answer specific questions about eligibility or procedures for a given election, since each Hugo Award election is administered by that year’s Worldcon.

The PINs required for online voting are in the process of being emailed by LoneStarCon 3 to all eligible members of Chicon 7, LoneStarCon 3, and Loncon 3. For PIN queries, please write to LoneStarCon 3 at hugopin@lonestarcon3.org

Note: While this is a “nominating ballot,” and we say that you “nominate” people or works for a Hugo Award when you write them on the nominating ballot, only those people or works that appear on the final Hugo Award ballot later in the year are the actual “Hugo Award Nominees.” Merely writing a work in on your nominating ballot does not make that work a “Hugo Award Nominee” unless the work receives enough nominations from other Worldcon members to make the final ballot.

2012 Hugo Voting Process Underway

According to Chicon 7, the final ballot process for the 2012 Hugo Awards started on Monday, April 9, 2012 and will continue until Tuesday, July 31, 2012. Voting will be available online and by paper ballot distributed to all members of Chicon 7 and through their website. You do not have to attend Chicon 7 to vote, but you must be either an attending or supporting member of the convention. (Members of last year’s and next year’s Worldcons could nominate on this year’s Hugo Awards, but cannot vote on the final ballot unless they also join Chicon 7.)

We have as yet received no official word about a Hugo Voter Packet of nominated works; however, informal reports indicate that Chicon 7 is working on this and will make an announcement when such a package is available.

For more information about the 2012 Hugo Awards, see the Chicon 7 Hugo Awards page. If you have specific questions about this year’s Hugo Awards process, contact Chicon 7’s Hugo Administrators directly through Chicon 7’s website. If you send your questions to us here at TheHugoAwards.org, we will forward them to Chicon 7, but there may be a delay in getting your question to the right people.