The Hugo awards are the most prestigious fan award, given by readers in the field (the Nebulas are given by writers). It's a huge deal to win a Hugo -- and it's a pretty big deal even to be nominated. If Strange Horizons, or one of its stories or artists, makes it onto the ballot, that'll do great things for us in terms of prestige and increased readership. So please consider us when making your Hugo choices. Keep in mind that while many thousands of people attend WorldCon every year, only a few hundred bother to participate in the Hugo voting process. So your vote could easily be critically important in determining whether we make it onto the ballot. Please do vote!
You are eligible to nominate for the Hugos if you fall into one of the following categories:
- You attended or supported last year's Millenium PhilCon
- You are registered to attend this year's ConJose
- You purchase a supporting membership ($35) for this year's ConJose
The deadline for voting is March 31, 2002 -- but sooner is better. The deadline for *registering* is January 31, 2002! If you're not registered by the end of January (at least as a supporting member), you can't nominate. You can download the form (if you haven't received it) at the ConJose website; you can also register there if you haven't yet.
The categories in which SH is eligible are:
- Best Novelette
- Best Short Story
- Best Professional Editor
- Best Professional Artist
- Best Website
Best Novelette
In this category, we have published three eligible novelettes. They are:- Slugball, by K. Mark Hoover
- The Anthvoke, by Steve Berman
- Carol for Mixed Voices, by Madeleine Rose Reardon Dimond
Best Short Story
In this category, all of the short fiction we published last year is eligible, excepting only the novelettes listed above, and the five reprint stories. Please take some time and wander through our fiction archives -- I'm hesitant to recommend particular stories, but really, I think much of what we've published has been wonderful, and worthy of nomination.
Best Professional Editor
Ah, here's a tricky one. In the past, the magazine editor has generally also been the sole fiction editor. But given our set-up at SH, that just isn't true. Jed and Susan and Chris (our three fiction editors) cordially request that when you vote in this category, you do *not* vote for them. Please vote for me, to avoid confusion. They promise not to be mad if I actually win a Hugo. :-) So you'd write in:Mary Anne Mohanraj, Strange Horizons
Thank you.
Best Professional Artist
All of our illustrating artists are eligible, we believe. There's been some amazing work done at the site, most recently with the incredible illo for "Fiddler" by Shelton Bryant. But please see for yourself -- back at the fiction archives, you can look for the illustrated work. I'm inclined towards Bryant, Noel Bebee, and Bill Reames, but my mind may change before I actually vote. Please do *not* vote for Christiane Pflug, as that work is a reprint.Also, please note that Frank Wu would prefer to be nominated in the Best Fan Artist category, as the majority of his recent work has appeared in the semi-pros. Thanks!
Best Website
This one's easy! It's us! Just write in:Strange Horizons Magazine, http://www.strangehorizons.com
(The Hugo committee would appreciate it if you'd include the website address on any nomination in this category.)
Best SemiProzine
Please do *not* vote for us in this category! Our understanding is that the Hugo committee is inclined to let magazines sort themselves into pro and semipro categories; we wish to be firmly established as a prozine, so voting for us in this category would muddy the waters. Thanks for not voting for us here. :-)And you're all done...wait, except for the Campbell, of course.
The Campbell Award for Best New Writer
This one is given to the best new writer; authors are eligible for two years from the time of their first pro sale. To my best knowledge, six of the SH authors are eligible this year. They are, in no particular order:
- Alan DeNiro -- Last Call in Temperance
- Jo Walton -- Relentlessly Mundane, Unreliable Witness, On the Wall
- Mike Jasper -- Crossing the Camp, Explosions
- Alex Irvine -- forthcoming at SH
- Ruth Nestvold -- forthcoming at SH
- Benjamin Rosenbaum -- Other Cities
Thanks so much for taking the time to read through all of that. I know nominating and voting can be a pretty tedious process, but the Hugo really is a very important award for our authors and artists, so I think it's worth investing a little time into doing it right. And of course, despite all of my suggestions above, you should really vote for the work you think is the best from the past year, no matter where it was published. We'll just cross our fingers and hope you think it was published by us. :-)
One penultimate note: If you have time, please send your recommendations to the Emerald City Hugo recommendation list. It's a great way to help make others aware of your favorite material/authors from SH (and elsewhere).
Remember -- the deadline is March 31, but sooner is better. Happy nominating!