Hugo Awards
The
Hugo Award® is the leading award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The Hugos are awarded each year by the
World Science Fiction Society, at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).
Voting for the Hugo Awards takes place in two stages. The first stage, nomination, is open to anyone who has a Supporting or Attending membership in the previous, current, or following year's Worldcon as of January 31.
For Chicon 7, this meant members of Renovation (the 2011 Worldcon), Chicon 7 itself, and LoneStarCon 3 (the 2013 Worldcon). During this stage, which closed on Sunday, March 11, 2012, members could nominate any eligible work or person.
The second stage of voting is the final ballot. This stage, which closed on July 31, 2012, was open only to Chicon 7 members. In the final ballot, members choose between the five finalists in each category.
The full list of 2012 nominees can be found on this page.
The Hugo Awards themselves are presented at a formal ceremony which is always one of the highlights of the Worldcon, and Chicon 7's ceremony was no different. The Chicon 7 ceremony took place on Sunday, September 2, 2012.
You can watch a complete video re-run of the full ceremony on the Hugo Awards Ustream channel at www.ustream.tv/channel/hugo-awards.
The official web site of the Hugo Awards is at
www.thehugoawards.org. This site includes a full history of the Hugo Awards, nominees and winners, information on the voting process, a photo gallery of past trophy designs, and much more.
Chicon 7 members should remember that they will be entitled to nominate for the 2013 Hugo and John W Campbell Awards, which will be administered by LoneStarCon 3, the 2013 Worldcon. Nominations are expected to open in January 2013.
Hugo Winners
Chicago, Illinois, USA - Chicon 7 is pleased to announce the 2012 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award Winners. 1922 valid ballots were received and counted in the final ballot. A PDF is available with the
full statistics for the nominating and final ballots.
Best Novel:
Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor)
Best Novella:
“The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (
Asimov's, September/October 2011)
Best Novelette:
“Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)
Best Short Story:
“The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2011)
Best Related Work:
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz)
Best Graphic Story:
Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)
Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form):
Game of Thrones (Season 1), created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor (HBO)
Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form):
“The Doctor's Wife” (
Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales)
Best Editor (Short Form): Sheila Williams
Best Editor (Long Form): Betsy Wollheim
Best Professional Artist: John Picacio
Best Semiprozine:
Locus edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al.
Best Fanzine:
SF Signal edited by John DeNardo
Best Fan Writer: Jim C. Hines
Best Fan Artist: Maurine Starkey
Best Fancast:
SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente
The John W. Campbell Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2010 or 2011, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award): E. Lily Yu
The 2012 Hugo Award winners were announced on Sunday evening, September 2, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago. The ceremony was hosted by Chicon 7 Toastmaster John Scalzi.
The 2012 Hugo trophy base was designed by artist Deb Kosiba, who had also previously designed the bases for the 2005 and 2006 Worldcons.
Chicon 7 also presented a Special Committee Award to Chicago resident and science fiction author, editor, and collector Robert Weinberg.
Hugo Voter Packet
Chicon 7 produced the
2012 Hugo Voter Packet, an electronic package of nominated works graciously made available to voters by nominees and their publishers.
The 2012 Hugo Voter Packet was made available to Supporting, Attending, and Young Adult members of Chicon 7 to help inform them about the works under consideration before voting. The Packet is now closed.
Note: the Best Fancast nominees were not included in the download files but were freely available online. We have provided
a separate page introducing these nominees and linking to selected examples of their 2011 work.
Hugo Award Categories
A full list of the current award categories with definitions is available
here. In summary, however, the ongoing categories, for which Hugos are presented every year, are:
- Best Novel (40,000 words or more)
- Best Novella (17,500 to 40,000 words)
- Best Novelette (7,500 to 17,500 words)
- Best Short Story (up to 7,500 words)
- Best Related Work
- Best Graphic Story *
- Best Dramatic Presentation "Long Form" (more than 90 minutes)
- Best Dramatic Presentation "Short Form" (less than 90 minutes)
- Best Editor Short Form
- Best Editor Long Form
- Best Professional Artist
- Best Semiprozine
- Best Fanzine
- Best Fan Writer
- Best Fan Artist
This year, Chicon 7 has also chosen to exercise its right under section 3.3.15 of the
WSFS constitution to
create a single, extra, one-time Hugo Award. The additional award category is
Best Fancast, defined as "Any non-professional audio- or
video-casting with at least four (4) episodes that had at least one (1) episode released in 2011."
By tradition, the Hugo voting process also includes the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. The Campbell Award is not a Hugo Award, and the rules governing it are determined by the award sponsor, Dell Magazines. However, the award traditionally is selected through the Hugo Awards voting process and presented at the Worldcon Hugo Awards Ceremony.
* Note: The Best Graphic Story Hugo is currently undergoing a trial period. This award was ratified at Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon, and will be awarded until 2012. However, it must be re-ratified at the Business Meeting of the 2012 Worldcon (Chicon 7) or it will automatically
be removed as a category.
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