Clare L. Deming

With the announcement of the finalists for the Locus Awards earlier this month, I thought I’d take some time to muse on why we pick out certain stories for recognition and to also relate some information on the awards that I follow (Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus).

I recently read some of the nominees for the Nebula Awards so that I could vote for these (my pick for short story was The Sound of Children Screaming, which can be found here). I’ve also been reading some of the short stories that won Hugos and/or Nebulas in the past couple of years (Rabbit Test, If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You).

So what’s with all these awards? What does each one mean? Who votes for them? And why does anyone care?

First of all, I think that it is important to provide recognition for outstanding talent and achievements in any field. The nomination and awards process also highlights a set of work and helps readers find stories that they might not have been otherwise aware of. Let’s go through each of these major awards and talk about the nomination process, categories, and other information about each one.

Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards have been awarded since 1953 and are named for Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the first classic magazine of science fiction, Amazing Stories. The current categories awarded include Best Novel (>40,000 words), Best Novella (17,500 to 40,000 words), Best Novelette (7,500 to 17,500 words), Best Short Story (<7500 words), Best Series, Best Related Work, Best Graphic Story, Best Dramatic Presentation (long and short forms), Best Semiprozine, Best Fanzine, Best Professional Editor, Best Professional Artist, Best Fan Artist, Best Fan Writer, Best Fancast, and Best Game or Interactive Work.

The Hugos are one of the most prestigious awards for the science fiction and fantasy genre. A list of nominees and winners can be found here. The Hugo Awards are presided over by the World Science Fiction Society. Attending and supporting members of the World Science Fiction Convention can nominate and vote on the awards. Even if you can’t attend the convention physically, you can purchase a supporting membership for voting privileges. The physical awards are announced and presented at that year’s World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which is held generally around September and moves to a different city each year (2024 = Glasgow).

The Hugo Awards have been associated with some recent controversies. The Sad Puppies ran a campaign to nominate slates of works in reaction to the recent success of BIPOC authors and overall diversification in the genre. This led to several nominated authors declining to have their works considered (when included on the Sad Puppy slate), and No Award being selected in several categories where the Sad Puppy nominees dominated. The World Science Fiction Society made changes to the nomination and voting process in 2017.

More recently, the 2023 Hugo Awards became the source of another controversy when the voting statistics from the recent Worldcon held in Chengdu, China were released (scroll down to page 20 on the linked .pdf). Authors whose work may have been considered too political for Chinese censorship laws had received nominating votes, but were declared ineligible. Other votes from Chinese citizens were thrown out because they were considered to be following a slate suggested by a magazine (despite the rules not permitting this). Going forward, the Hugo administration has vowed to improve transparency in the process. You can find more details about what happened here.

Nebula Awards

The Nebula Awards follow a similar process, with the main difference being that those who nominate and vote for these awards must be members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA). This is the professional organization for authors, artists, and editors in the science fiction and fantasy genres.

Categories for the Nebula Awards currently include Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Novelette, Best Short Story, and Best Game Writing (same word count requirements as for the Hugos). Other awards that are not technically Nebula Awards are also included in the Nebula process. These recently have included the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction of Fantasy Book, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award (for lifetime achievement), Author Emeritus (awarded posthumously for lifetime achievement), the Kevin O’Donnell Award for service to SFWA, and the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award for significant impact on speculative fiction.

The Nebula Awards go through a similar round of nominations followed by voting, with the announcement and presentation of the winners at the SFWA Nebula Conference. This is usually in the spring and is held in the United States (2024 = Pasadena, California).

World Fantasy Awards

The World Fantasy Awards are a favorite of mine, I think because I lean more toward fantasy in my reading overall. These are administered by the World Fantasy Convention, which occurs annually in a different location around the world (2024 = Niagara Falls, New York). While the World Science Fiction Convention is a larger event with plenty for fans of the genre, the World Fantasy Convention is a professional event for authors, artists, editors, agents, and publishers. It can be a great place to meet people in the field for an upcoming author.

The World Fantasy Award nominees are partly selected by the attendees of the World Fantasy Convention, but also by a panel of judges who are professionals in the field. The categories for awards are Best Novel (>40,000 words), Best Novella (10,000 to 40,000 words), Best Short Fiction (<10,000 words), Best Collection (single author), Best Anthology (multiple authors), Best Artist, Special Award–Professional, Special Award–Non-Professional, Convention Award, and Life Achievement Award.

Controversy about the physical award arose in recent years. It had formerly been a bust of H.P. Lovecraft who has been criticized for his outspoken racism. The new award was changed to the one pictured in 2016.

Locus Awards

The Locus Awards are put together by Locus Magazine, which is a monthly trade publication for the science fiction and fantasy genre. The awards are open for nomination by the public and the votes of subscribers to the magazine count twice. You can find the recent top 10 nominees here.

Categories for the Locus Awards include Best Science Fiction Novel, Best Fantasy Novel, Best Horror Novel, Best Young Adult Novel, Best First Novel, Best Novella, Best Novelette, Best Short Story, Best Anthology, Best Collection, Best Magazine, Best Publisher, Best Editor, Best Artist, Best Non-Fiction, and Best Illustrated and Art Book.

The winners are announced during an awards presentation that is associated with a weekend of readings and panels held in Oakland, California this year.

This has turned out to be a longer post than I thought it would be, but I hope it was helpful to explain some of the honors awarded in the science fiction and fantasy genres.

Have you voted for any of the awards? Which books have you read that won one of these awards? Let me know in the comments (above).