2019 Hugo Awards Clarification

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

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.

2019 Hugo Awards Announced

Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon, the 77th World Science Fiction Convention, announced the winners of the 2019 Hugo Awards at a ceremony on the evening of Sunday, August 18, 2019.

BEST NOVEL

The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)

BEST NOVELLA

Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)

BEST NOVELETTE

“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018)

BEST SHORT STORY

“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)

BEST SERIES

Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)

BEST RELATED WORK

Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman (Sony)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

The Good Place: “Janet(s),” written by Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan, directed by Morgan Sackett (NBC)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

Gardner Dozois

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM

Navah Wolfe

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Charles Vess

BEST SEMIPROZINE

Uncanny Magazine, publishers/editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, managing editor Michi Trota, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky, Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Special Issue editors-in-chief Elsa Sjunneson-Henry and Dominik Parisien

BEST FANZINE

Lady Business, editors Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay & Susan

BEST FANCAST

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

BEST FAN WRITER

Foz Meadows

BEST FAN ARTIST

Likhain (Mia Sereno)

BEST ART BOOK
(A one-off category created as per WSFS rules by Dublin 2019)

The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga Press /Gollancz)

The following awards which are administered by WSFS and voted on alongside the Hugo Awards were also included in the ceremony.

LODESTAR AWARD for BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK

Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books)

JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD for BEST NEW WRITER

Jeannette Ng (2nd year of eligibility)

The 2019 Hugo Award winners were announced at a ceremony held at Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon on Sunday August 18th, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland. Detailed results, finalist placements, and nominations breakdowns are available here (PDF).

2019 Hugo Awards to be Live-Streamed

Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon, the 77th World Science Fiction Convention, informs us that the 2019 Hugo Awards Ceremony will be live-streamed through Vimeo. The ceremony is scheduled for 20:00 (8 PM) Irish Summer Time on Sunday, August 18, 2019. Live-streaming video coverage of the Hugo Awards Ceremony is provided by the current Worldcon, not the Hugo Awards web site.

As previously announced, the Hugo Awards web site will provide lower-bandwidth text-only coverage of the 2019 Hugo Awards ceremony here on the Hugo Awards web site. We’ll be “on the air” shortly before 20:00 on Sunday night with our live “play-by-play” of the ceremony.

1944 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced

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

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

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.

Some More Hugo Award History Unearthed

In response to a question posted by Dan B., we’ve discovered that the WSFS Business Meeting members made instant-runoff voting (IRV) part of the Hugo Award process at NYcon III in 1967, and it was used for the first time on the 1968 Hugo Awards at Baycon. The Short History of the Hugo Awards Process page has been updated to reflect this new information.

Thanks to the people at FANAC.org who’ve been working hard at scanning and uploading historical fandom documents which make this sort of research possible, and to Dan B. for asking the question.

Hugo History Updates Posted

We have now added the Full Nominating and Voting Statistics historical data for the 1943 Retro Hugo Awards (awarded in 2018), 1946 Retro Hugo Awards (awarded in 1996), and 1954 Retro Hugo Awards (awarded in 2004).

We continue to update historical data for past Hugo Awards as data becomes available to us. If you have historical Hugo Award data (such as nominating and voting statistics) that are not shown on the page for that year’s Awards, please contact us so we can add it.