Hugo Awards
The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. Named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, the Hugo Awards are given each year at the annual World Science Fiction Convention as the central focus of the event. Organized and overseen by the World Science Fiction Society, the awards were first given in 1953 at the 11th World Science Fiction Convention, and have been awarded every year since 1955. Over the years that the award has been given, the categories presented have changed; currently Hugo Awards are given in more than a dozen categories, and include both written and dramatic works of various types.
The Hugo Award is one of the most prestigious science fiction and fantasy awards. Works that have won the award have been published in special collections, and the official logo of the Hugo Awards is often placed on the winning books’ cover as a promotional tool.
The current standard award categories are:
- Best Novel
- Best Novella
- Best Novelette
- Best Short Story
- Best Related Work
- Best Graphic Story
- Best Dramatic Presentation (Long and Short Forms)
- Best Semiprozine
- Best Fanzine
- Best Professional Editor (Long and Short Forms)
- Best Professional Artist
- Best Fan Artist
- Best Fan Writer
Worldcons may also give out special awards during the Hugo ceremony, which are not voted on and are not considered to be Hugo Awards. An additional award, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, is presented at the Hugo Award ceremony and voted by the same process, but is not formally a Hugo Award.
For more information on the Hugo Awards, please visit http://www.thehugoawards.org/.
“World Science Fiction Society”, “WSFS”, “World Science Fiction Convention”, “Worldcon”, “NASFIC”, and “Hugo Award”, the Hugo Award Logo, and the distinctive design of the Hugo Award Trophy Rocket are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.
