Nominating For The Hugo Awards
John Lorentz,
hugos
Have you seen the "Hugo-winning novel" of the cover of a classic science fiction novel, or even attended the Hugo Awards ceremony at a previous Worldcon, and wondered how those awards were decided? It's very simple. The voters for the Hugo Awards are all members of the World Science Fiction Convention, and all members of L.A.con IV are eligible to vote on this year's Hugo Awards.
Hugo voting consists of two stages. In this first step, voters can name up to five items in each category. In the final step, we'll take the five items gaining the most nominations in each category and we'll ask the voters to rank their preferences among those five. (More about that in the next Progress report.)
In this Progress Report, you'll find the Nominating Ballot for this year's Hugo Awards. Use this form to send in your nominations, or vote online, using the Hugo PIN that you'll find on the mailing label. You can even fax your ballot -- the phone number is listed on the ballot. Do not worry if you don't have five items to nominate in each category, or haven't read everything that's been published in 2005 (has anyone?). Nominate as many (up to five in a category) or as few as you desire. By combining the votes of several hundred people, we can get a proper overview of that came out in 2005. (No fair nominating an item more than once -- we'll only count that as one vote.)
Not a member of L.A.con IV? Not to worry -- if you were an attending or supporting member of Interaction, you are also eligible to nominate items for the Hugos (you will have to be an L.A.con IV member in order to vote on the final ballot). Still not a member? You can purchase your L.A.con IV membership the same time you vote (if you're using a mail-in ballot)... but remember -- you need to have joined L.A.con IV by January 31, 2006 in order to cast a nominating ballot.
L.A.con IV must receive your ballot (mailed, faxed, or sent electronically) by Midnight (2400hrs) Pacific Standard Time on Friday, March 10, 2006 (i.e. 12:01AM on Saturday, March 11, is too late). We need to receive the ballots early enough to count them, contact the nominees (they can decline the nomination, if they desire) and prepare the final ballot for Progress Report 3, scheduled to be sent out at the beginning of April. (The final ballot won't be due back until late July, giving you plenty of time to read the nominated works that you haven't had a chance to get to yet.)
Be sure to mail your ballots to the address printed (in Portland, Oregon) -- ballots mailed to the main L.A.con IV address will be delayed, and may not get counted.
From the very beginning, both fantasy and science stories (whether written, filmed or other media) have been eligible for the Hugos. Because "fantasy" and "science fiction" have been intertwined for decades, the Hugo rules make no effort to try to distinguish between the two. So feel free to nominate the stories you've enjoyed, whether they feature rocket ships or wizards.
For the Hugos, written fiction is divided by length into four categories: Novels (usually any full-length book, but defined by the rules as any work over 40,000 words); Novellas (from 17,500 words to 40,000); Novelettes (from 7,500 to 17,500 words) and Short Stories (7,500 words and under). Several magazines indicate which category a story falls into, but collections and web sites often do not. Not to worry -- give it your best guess where a story fits, and the Hugo Administrator can relocate a nominated story to its proper category. There is even a 20% gray area. The idea is that if a story is within 20% of the boundary and gets most of its nominations in the "wrong" category, the Hugo Administrator is allowed to leave it in the category that most of the voters felt it belonged in, despite the official word count of the story.
Similarly, the Dramatic Presentation nominees are divided be length into two categories: Long Form (usually movies), which are more than 90 minutes in length; and Short Form (usually single or two-part television or radio episodes), which are 90 minutes in length or less. Here again, there is a 20% overlap, so that a short film of 85 minutes in length can be placed in Long Form if most of the voters feel it belongs there; and a two-part television episode that last 95 minutes can be placed in Short Form, if most of the voters feel it properly belongs there.
Each year, rule 3.3.14 allows a Worldcon to add one special Hugo category. (Sometimes, the special category can become a permanent category, such as when Noreascon Two awarded a Hugo for Best Nonfiction Book. That Hugo category is still on the ballot, now listed as "Best Related Book".)
Last year, Interaction awarded a Hugo for Best Web Site (ConJose awarded the same special category in 2002). This year, L.A.con IV is a awarding a special Hugo for the Best Interactive Video Game category, defined as:
Best Interactive Video Game. Any interactive computer, game console, or on-line graphics-based game whose subject is science fiction or fantasy and which has been released for the first time during the previous calendar year.
Games re-issued or ported to new platforms but not substantially changed do not qualify as new games for purposes of this award.
Eligibility and voting for this special category operates in exactly the same manner as with the permanent categories.
In recent years, it's been common practice for Worldcon Business Meetings to award an additional year of eligibility to stories that had not yet been published in the United States during the year (since the majority of Hugo voters are usually from the US). Last year, the Interaction Business Meeting decided not to award a similar blanket extension. But they did allow .Singing My Sister Down., by Margo Lanagan, one more year of eligibility for this year's ballot.
Check the L.A.con IV web site or contact me directly.
John Lorentz, L.A.con IV Hugo Administrator
Profiles can be browsed at the John W. Campbell Award Eligible
Authors pages.
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