The Hugo Awards have been awarded since 1953, and every year since 1955, by the annual World Science Fiction Convention (the “Worldcon”). Finalists are nominated by members of the previous and impending members of Worldcon, while the winners are selected only by memebers of the upcoming Worldcon.
This year the World Science Fiction Convention, Renovation is being held in Reno, Neveda with the Hugo Awards Cermony on August 21st.
Check out the full list of nominees and winners below the cut!
Best Fan Artist
Presented by Stu Shiffman
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Winner: Brad W. Foster
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Randall Munroe
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Maurine Starkey
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Steve Stiles
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Taral Wayne
Best Fanzine
Presented by David Cake
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Winner: The Drink Tank, edited by Christopher J. Garcia and James Bacon
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Banana Wings, edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
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Challenger, edited by Guy H. Lillian III
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File 770, edited by Mike Glyer
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StarShipSofa, edited by Tony C. Smith
Best Fan Writer
Presented by John Coxon
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Winner: Claire Brialey
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James Bacon
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Christopher J. Garcia
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James Nicoll
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Steven H. Silver
Best Semiprozine
Presented by David G. Hartwell
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Winner: Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, Sean Wallace; podcast directed by Kate Baker
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Interzone, edited by Andy Cox
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Lightspeed, edited by John Joseph Adams
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Locus, edited by Liza Groen Trombi and Kirsten Gong-Wong
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Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer and Stephen H. Segal
Best Professional Artist
Presented by Boris Vallejo
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Winner: Shaun Tan
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Daniel Dos Santos
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Bob Eggleton
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Stephan Martiniere
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John Picacio
Best Editor, Short Form
Presented by Ellen Datlow
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Winner: Sheila Williams
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John Joseph Adams
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Stanley Schmidt
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Jonathan Strahan
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Gordon Van Gelder
Best Editor, Long Form
Presented by Ellen Asher
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Winner: Lou Anders
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Ginjer Buchanan
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Moshe Feder
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Liz Gorinsky
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Nick Mamatas
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Beth Meacham
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Juliet Ulman
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Presented by George R. R. Martin
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Winner: Doctor Who: “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang,” written by Steven Moffat; directed by Toby Haynes (BBC Wales)
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Doctor Who: “A Christmas Carol,” written by Steven Moffat; directed by Toby Haynes (BBC Wales)
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Doctor Who: “Vincent and the Doctor,” written by Richard Curtis; directed by Jonny Campbell (BBC Wales)
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Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury, written by Rachel Bloom; directed by Paul Briganti
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The Lost Thing, written by Shaun Tan; directed by Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan (Passion Pictures)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Presented by Bill Willingham
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Winner: Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner)
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner)
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How to Train Your Dragon, screenplay by William Davies, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders; directed by Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders (DreamWorks)
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, screenplay by Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright; directed by Edgar Wright (Universal)
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Toy Story 3, screenplay by Michael Arndt; story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich; directed by Lee Unkrich (Pixar/Disney)
Best Graphic Story
Presented by Trixe Pixie: Alexander James Adams, Betsy Tinney, S. J. Tucker
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Winner: Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse, written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
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Fables: Witches, written by Bill Willingham; illustrated by Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
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Grandville Mon Amour, by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse)
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Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel, written and illustrated by Howard Tayler; colors by Howard Tayler and Travis Walton (Hypernode)
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The Unwritten, Volume 2: Inside Man, written by Mike Carey; illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)
Best Related Book
Presented by Farah Mendlesohn
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Winner: Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (Mad Norwegian)
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Bearings: Reviews 1997-2001, by Gary K. Wolfe (Beccon)
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The Business of Science Fiction: Two Insiders Discuss Writing and Publishing, by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg (McFarland)
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Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 1: (1907–1948): Learning Curve, by William H. Patterson, Jr. (Tor)
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Writing Excuses, Season 4, by Brandon Sanderson, Jordan Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells
Best Short Story
Presented by David D. Levine
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Winner: “For Want of a Nail” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s, September 2010)
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“Amaryllis” by Carrie Vaughn (Lightspeed, June 2010)
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“Ponies” by Kij Johnson (Tor.com, November 17, 2010)
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“The Things” by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, January 2010)
Best Novelette
Presented by Nancy Kress
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Winner: “The Emperor of Mars” by Allen M. Steele (Asimov’s, June 2010)
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“Eight Miles” by Sean McMullen (Analog, September 2010)
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“The Jaguar House, in Shadow” by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s, July 2010)
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“Plus or Minus” by James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s, December 2010)
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“That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made” by Eric James Stone (Analog, September 2010)
Best Novella
Presented by Robert Silverberg
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Winner: “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
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“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window” by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2010)
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“The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon” by Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All New Tales, William Morrow)
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“The Sultan of the Clouds” by Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s, September 2010)
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“Troika” by Alastair Reynolds (Godlike Machines, Science Fiction Book Club)
Best Novel
Presented by TimPowers
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Winner: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)
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Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
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The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
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Feed by Mira Grant (Orbit)
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The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Presented by Stanley Schimdt and Seana McGuire
Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2009 or 2010, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).
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Winner: Lev Grossman
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Saladin Ahmed
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Lauren Beukes
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Larry Correia
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Dan Wells
Note: All Campbell finalists are in their 2nd year of eligibility.
This year’s Hugo Awards trophy was designed by Marina Gelineau.
Masters of Ceromony: Jay Lake and Ken Scholes
Congratulatons to all the nominees and winners!
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Well, the second worst novel on the ballot and the fourth worst book that I read from 2010 has won the Hugo, along with the Nebula. As I expected going into this voting, and clearly people do see real value in the text. I'm not one of them, and have to regard this as a terribly disappointing pick, for a work that I find less well designed than Anasi Boys, probably making the worst Hugo win since Hominids took the medal. As with The Emperor of Mars, I see this as a general tendency towards embracing sentimental, regressive, contrived science fiction over the other kind. A shame that a novel as intricate, ambitious and well written as The Dervish House lost to an exercise in tedious poorly designed historical recreation. Willis taking it over McDonald at this point is something I'd expected for quite awhile now, but it doesn't make me any happier at this point. A bit dispiriting that a process as corrupt as the Nebulas here echoes the decision of the largest gathering of Hugo voters in its history. More a shame that Willis can make such an over-sprawling account and be lauded by having made the best science fiction novel of the world. Even more unfortunate that the SF community finds it's measure of greatness in character through Willis' cutsey well-wishers, its guideline for worldbuilding a haphazard recollection of historians and its model towards the future in a return to the London Blitz.
*Best Novella for "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" by Ted Chiang
Thoroughly predictable, but also completely deserved, and a relief to see an actual top-rate writer get the award recognition. This is his fourth piece of short fiction to win a Hugo. This is the type of fiction that should be encouraged--specific, forceful, ambitious while being low key, writing future forms of life in the spaces within which most SF narratives leap.
*Best Novelette for "The Emperor of Mars" by Allen StteleInfuriating, although what I feared in the lead-up to the vote. There was only one worse pick on the ballet and three substantially better, and instead the mass voters went for an unabashed recreation and celebration of all that's conservative in science fiction writing. This is a story that does not withstand even a minimal amount of thought on it, examined beneath the self-congratulatory aspect it falls apart. This is the first pick of the evening's ceremony to really get me angry. "The Jagaur House" should have won this in a landslide.
*Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form for the Pandorica Opens/Big Bang"
Fairly pleased. That matched my top vote for the category, as well as my prediction for winner. Hardly a big surprise, the Doctor Who bloc has been really strong of late, there weren't many quality alternates last year, and few of them nominated. Glad that fandom can now hopefully get past the 'f--- me Ray Bradbury' fanvideo, and possibly regrow a little maturity. As well, hopefully next year one or more episode from Game of Thrones can challenge the Doctor Who monolith. G. R. R. Martin was presenting the award this year, foreshadowing?
It pleases me that neither Deathly Hallows Part One nor Scott Pilgrim won for Dramatic Pres. Long Form. That category was very strong overall this year, though.
Overall boring winners, but so what, that has been the norm for ten years now. And I agree "Vincent and the Doctor" would have been a better winner.
And yeah, the only thing that could have stopped Blackout/All Clear would have been that obscure no award final check thing.
edit: anyway, it seems Girl Genius removed themselves from eligibility for next year.
Perhaps it was just a dry year for the good authors who like to make their readers think. Wasn't that was SF about, at some stage?
If I sound bitter, it's because I am.
Hopefully I can feel a little better about next year's. At least Ted Chiang got a plaudit. Perhaps he's working on a novel, finally...
Rob
The Best Novel Hugo award does not equal Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year. It equals most Popular Speculative Fiction novel of the Year. Because although I personally dislike the fact that fantasy can win the Hugo, it can and does.
I am a Bujold fan and the only novel nominee I read this year was Cryoburn. I would have preferred Cyroburn beat Blackout/All Clear, but I am not upset it didn't turn out that way. Cyroburn was a lot of fun but formulaic not particularly deep. Personally I would have preferred one of the other nominees win although neither of the scream out to me as something I have to read.
I'm happy with the short story win "For Want of a Nail" because that was my favorite of the four nominees.
I am also happy with the win for "The Lifecycle of Software Objects." I haven't read the other nominees, but I think Software Objects is a worthy winner.
I do agree that for the Best Dramatic Presentation short form "Vincent and the Doctor" was a better story than "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang." The last 15-20 min "reset" of the "The Big Bang" had some huge sci fi plot holes that bug me.
I have reservations about it, the uncritical embrace of market values and the possibly too-happy ending and the shrugging off of one act of cowardice which I, too, might have committed, but it's still a wonderful novel.
I need to get out more.
I heard lots of complaints. I wrote some of them myself. "This book is incomplete," I said. "This first book could have been cut down to two or three chapters without damaging the narrative in any way!" Rant James rant. See James rant.
That said, decades of buying fragments of fantasy novels in 500-600 page installments has probably conditioned F&SF readers into accepting that they will be reading something that begins in media res and ends without resolution.
Because although I personally dislike the fact that fantasy can win the Hugo, it can and does.
Some of the most interesting work in F&SF is done on the F side of things and I say this for whom fantasy is generally carob to SF's chocolate, as someone whose desire to read SF is so overwhelming I own Robert Forward novels. Heck, I owned Cap Kennedy books back in the day....
Without regard to the quality of the competing books (again, this is the only one in the category I've read), I'd expected this to win for the reason SF_Fangirl gave above--this award is for most popular, not best, and that it was not the most popular of the year surprises me.
I really need to get out more.
That said, it cannot help that Heinlein died decades ago, that at least some libraries no longer bother to put his YA books in the childrens section (because nobody was signing them out; this is how a friend got a complete set of first editions) or that of all the fanbases, the Heinlein one is most likely to go dingo at a hint of a slight towards The Master.
Grumbles from the Grave was nominated in 1990. It lost to Alexei Panshin & Cory Panshin's The World Beyond the Hill: Science Fiction and the Quest for Transcendence.
James Gifford's annotated bibliography Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion was nominated in 2001. It lost to Bob Eggleton and Nigel Suckling's Greetings from Earth: The Art of Bob Eggleton
Joseph T. Major's Heinlein's Children: The Juveniles was nominated in 2007 (annoyingly, I've never found a copy of this). It lost to Julie Phillips' James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
Bill Patterson's Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 1: (1907–1948): Learning Curve was nominated in 2011. It lost to Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O'Shea's Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It.
In fact, Heinlein non-fiction turns out to be poor bet for the Hugo Award except when Panshin writes it. The obvious solution here is for him to do a new, updated edition of Heinlein in Dimension.
No matter what, though, I know that it's all going to be extra special special special!
Dervish house was so complex and a cool vision of the future, it got my #1 vote.
I guess we all have our own opinion... I loved That Leviathon, Whom Thou Hast Made... I think I might be the only one.
In my book creepiest story goes to Ponies... I guess I didnt get it... way too weird for me.
I have never read any zombie-type books before, so Feed was a nice surprise.
All around it was just a great experience being a Hugo voter and reading all of this great stuff. I have to thank Brandon Sanderson for posting on his blog about the opportunity. I never would have stumbled upon it on my own, and as a life-long SF reader it was a very cool thing.
Yes, the award is a popularity contest by and large. That doesn't mean that it can't also deliver a win to works of real quality. The Dispossessed, Man in the High Castle, Neuromancer--by definition they managed to be the most popular at the time, but I'd say they said things of substanc as well, and looking back there's every reason to second these picks as identifying classics. Just last year the Hugo voters went for a rare tie with City & the City and The Windup Girl--both works I consider excellent, innovative and well crafted. They certainly have a lot more in the way of plotting, worldbuilding, characterization and basic narrative skill than Willis' later. I don't have any problem with Yiddish Policeman's Union or Rainbows Edge winning either. It's possible for even contemporary fandom to do better, and the attitude that accepts mediocre popular wins as inevitable seems untrue and insofar as its accepted more likely to deliver more mediocre winners in the future.
http://www.renovationsf.org/downloads/2011-hugo-stats.pdf
For example, "The Things" got by far the most nominations in its category but fared quite poorly in the finals cagematch.
Me, I like reading the longlist (at end of linked pdf) where you'll find works that were interesting enough to garner a number of nominations but not enough (for whatever reasons) to make the final ballot. Makes for an interesting reading list.
But, yeah. I'm very disappointed in the Hugo voters this year.
Remember the "controversy" about the use of the standard Hugo rules to determine the winner of that award?
Nominating statistics are fairly interesting. Just a handful more votes would have put Croburn off the list, and gotten Who Fears Death on it. A few more could have boosted Feed/Croburn and replaced it with Kraken/Who Fears Death. That would have been a vastly stronger shortlist, I feel. And the nominating number for short stories and novelettes is miniscule, with great fiction and terrible balancing on the edge of under four votes in many cases. Incredible.
It's rather dispiritng to see in the voting stage how a lot of things I consider the one truly worthy elements in their category--Toy Story 3, The Unwritten, Bearings--got steamrolled and knocked out in the first round of voting. I can understand how some works and writers have much bigger fandoms than others going in, so a lot of worthy stuff gets overlooked. I don't see how, given the existence of the Voter's Packet, one looks at "Emperor of Mars", Blackout/All Clear or "For Want of a Nail" and concludes that it's better than everything else in that category. Blackout/All Clear especially.
And Abigail Nussbaum still didn't even come close to nomination of Best Fanwriter? Only 11 votes? That's truly puzzling.
I voted for Feed myself.
Beamjockey did my homework for me:
You're welcome.
Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey
(This should really be "Bill Higgins, Beam Jockey," but circa 1988, putting a comma in the "From:" string broke some mailers, so my sobriquet acquired two hyphens and a space instead.)
Remember the "controversy" about the use of the standard Hugo rules to determine the winner of that award?
Um, no?
http://news.ansible.co.uk/a170.html
"James Gifford, author of the Heinlein companion shortlisted for a Hugo as Best Related Book, applauded the winner with good grace but later issued a polemic since withdrawn – DRL] about the transferable-vote process: 'I won the first, second and third rounds of voting by a significant margin. That the fourth and fifth rounds were allowed to determine this award is a travesty...' "
So the number of people nominating is quite high; numbers had been declining but activism & the availability of the Hugo packet has made it more attractive which is all to the good; the more voices heard, the better. If you didn't like what happened, you could pony up for a supporting membership (US$50 this year) to nominate, get the voter's packet & vote.
I wonder if it is time to revisit the 5% threshold given that there were only four Short Story nominees in the final ballot because none of the others could muster enough nominations to reach the 5% threshold. To me that's more an indication of the evenness of the field rather than the (lack of) worth of the nominees.
"Joseph T. Major's Heinlein's Children: The Juveniles was nominated in 2007 (annoyingly, I've never found a copy of this)."
It's still listed on the Nesfa Press website.
I'm quite pleased to see Best Novella go to Ted Chiang too. That was a great story.
I just did a web search and found a list of Charles Manson's children — but that name wasn't on it.
I don't mean to be rude, but the poor guy even comes up in Google Auto-Complete. Bugliosi claims he was raised by his grandparents in Eau Claire and became a plumbing supply salesman in Colorado. May the worst thing to befall him be not knowing who to have rooted for in Super Bowl 32.
Oh well, I still consider the supporting membership well spent, especially considering the voters' packet, and will be buying copies of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Dervish House.
No need to revise that opinion yet.