1996 Hugo Awards

1996 Hugo Award Trophy Presented at: L.A. Con III, Anaheim, California, August 29 – September 2, 1996

Toastmaster: Connie Willis

Base design: Barry Workman, Mike Donahue and Shawn Crosby

Awards Administration: Mike Glyer, David Bratman, Seth Goldberg


The 1996 Hugo Awards Ceremony was held in Anaheim on Sunday, September 1, 1996.

442 members of L.A.con III and Intersection submitted valid nominating ballots. There were 939 valid final ballots received. Of these voters, 558 also voted for the 1946 Retro-Hugo Awards.

In some categories more than 5 nominations appear due to tie votes. “The Fall of Night” (Babylon 5) received enough votes to be nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation, but the producers declined its nomination in favor of “The Coming of Shadows”, the other Babylon 5 episode nominated. File 770 received enough votes to be nominated for Best Fanzine, but was ruled ineligible because its editor, Mike Glyer, is a member of the Hugo Awards subcommittee. Linda Nagata received enough votes to be nominated for the John W. Campbell Award, but was ruled ineligible due to professional publication of fiction in the science fiction and fantasy field prior to 1994.

For the full breakdown of voting and nomination see here. (This is a PDF of an archived copy of the 1996 Worldcon web site and has certain formatting challenges.)

Best Novel

  • The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson [Bantam Spectra, 1995]
  • The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter [HarperPrism, 1995]
  • Brightness Reef by David Brin [Bantam Spectra, 1995]
  • The Terminal Experiment (alt: Hobson’s Choice) by Robert J. Sawyer [HarperPrism, 1995; Analog mid-Dec 1994,Jan,Feb,Mar 1995]
  • Remake by Connie Willis [Bantam Spectra, 1995]

Best Novella

  • “The Death of Captain Future” by Allen Steele [Asimov’s Oct 1995]
  • “A Woman’s Liberation” by Ursula K. Le Guin [Asimov’s Jul 1995; Four Ways to Forgiveness (HarperPrism), 1995]
  • “Bibi” by Mike Resnick and Susan Shwartz [Asimov’s mid-Dec 1995]
  • “A Man of the People” by Ursula K. Le Guin [Asimov’s Apr 1995; Four Ways to Forgiveness (HarperPrism), 1995]
  • “Fault Lines” by Nancy Kress [Asimov’s Aug 1995]

Best Novelette

  • “Think Like a Dinosaur” by James Patrick Kelly [Asimov’s Jun 1995]
  • “When the Old Gods Die” by Mike Resnick [Asimov’s Apr 1995]
  • “The Good Rat” by Allen Steele [Analog mid-Dec 1995]
  • “Must and Shall” by Harry Turtledove [Asimov’s Nov 1995]
  • “Luminous” by Greg Egan [Asimov’s Sep 1995]
  • “TAP” by Greg Egan [Asimov’s Nov 1995]

Best Short Story

  • “The Lincoln Train” by Maureen F. McHugh [F&SF Apr 1995]
  • “A Birthday” by Esther M. Friesner [F&SF Aug 1995]
  • “TeleAbsence” by Michael A. Burstein [Analog Jul 1995]
  • “Life on the Moon” by Tony Daniel [Asimov’s Apr 1995]
  • “Walking Out” by Michael Swanwick [Asimov’s Feb 1995]

Best Related Non-Fiction Book

  • Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia by John Clute [Dorling Kindersley, 1995]
  • Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters by Isaac Asimov by Isaac Asimov [Doubleday, 1995]
  • Alien Horizons: The Fantastic Art of Bob Eggleton by Bob Eggleton [Paper Tiger, 1995]
  • Spectrum II: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art by Cathy Burnett and Arnie Fenner [Underwood Books, 1995]
  • To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction by Joanna Russ [Indiana University Press, 1995]

Best Dramatic Presentation

  • Babylon 5 – “The Coming of Shadows” (1995) [Babylonian Productions] Directed by Janet Greek; Written by J. Michael Straczynski
  • Apollo 13 (1995) [Imagine/Universal] Directed by Ron Howard; Screenplay by William Broyles Jr. & Al Reinert; based on the book Lost Moon by Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger
  • Twelve Monkeys (1995) [Atlas/Universal] Directed by Terry Gilliam; Screenplay by David Webb Peoples & Janet Peoples; based on the film La Jetee by Chris Marker
  • Toy Story (1995) [Disney/Pixar
    Animation] Directed by John Lasseter; Screenplay by Joss Whedon and
    Andrew Stanton and Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow; Story by John Lasseter
    and Peter Docter and Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – “The Visitor” (1995) [Paramount] Directed by David Livingston; Written by Michael Taylor

Best Professional Editor

  • Gardner Dozois
  • Kristine Kathryn Rusch
  • Stanley Schmidt
  • Ellen Datlow
  • Scott Edelman

Best Professional Artist

  • Bob Eggleton
  • Michael Whelan
  • Don Maitz
  • Jim Burns
  • Thomas Canty

Best Original Art Work

  • Dinotopia: The World Beneath by James Gurney [Turner, 1995]
  • Cover (Analog Jan 1995) [Tide of Stars by Julia Ecklar] by Bob Eggleton [Analog Jan 1995]
  • Cover (F&SF Jan 1995) [Tea and Hamsters by Michael G. Coney] by Gary Lippincott [F&SF Jan 1995]
  • Cover (F&SF Oct/Nov 1995) [Dankden by Marc Laidlaw] by Bob Eggleton [F&SF Oct/Nov 1995]
  • Cover (Analog Mar 1995) [Renascence by Poul Anderson] by George H. Krauter [Analog Mar 1995]

Best Semiprozine

  • Locus ed. by Charles N. Brown
  • Science Fiction Chronicle ed. by Andrew I. Porter
  • Interzone ed. by David Pringle
  • The New York Review of Science Fiction ed. by Kathryn Cramer, David G. Hartwell, Ariel Haméon and Tad Dembinski
  • Crank! ed. by Bryan Cholfin

Best Fanzine

  • Ansible ed. by Dave Langford
  • Mimosa ed. by Dick Lynch and Nicki Lynch
  • Lan’s Lantern ed. by George “Lan” Laskowski
  • Attitude ed. by Michael Abbott, John Dallman and Pam Wells
  • Apparatchik ed. by Andrew P. Hooper and Victor Gonzalez
  • FOSFAX ed. by Timothy Lane and Elizabeth Garrott

Best Fan Writer

  • Dave Langford
  • Sharon N. Farber
  • Evelyn C. Leeper
  • Andrew P. Hooper
  • Joseph T. Major

Best Fan Artist

  • William Rotsler
  • Teddy Harvia
  • Joe Mayhew
  • Peggy Ranson
  • Ian Gunn

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

  • David Feintuch*
  • Felicity Savage
  • Michael A. Burstein
  • Sharon Shinn
  • Tricia Sullivan

*Finalist in their 2nd year of eligibility