First awarded 1980 Official website thehugoawards.org Instituted 1980 | Most recent winner No award given (2016) Presented by Worldcon Category of Hugo Award | |
Awarded for The best work related to the field of science fiction, fantasy, or fandom, published in the prior calendar year and which is either non-fiction or noteworthy primarily for aspects other than the fictional text People also search for Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer Winners & Nominees The First Draft of My Appendix N BookJeffro Johnson, The First Draft of My Appendix N Book, Nominee, Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe - 1951 to 1986Marc Aramini, Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe - 1951 to 1986, Nominee, The Story of Moira GreylandMoira Greyland, The Story of Moira Greyland, Nominee, SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought PoliceVox Day, SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police, Nominee, Safe Space as Rape Room: Science Fiction Culture and Childhood’s EndDaniel Eness, Safe Space as Rape Room: Science Fiction Culture and Childhood’s End, Nominee, Wisdom from My InternetMichael Z Williamson, Wisdom from My Internet, Nominee, The Hot Equations: Thermodynamics and Military SFKen Burnside, The Hot Equations: Thermodynamics and Military SF, Nominee, Why Science is Never SettledTedd Roberts, Why Science is Never Settled, Nominee, Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful TruthJohn C Wright, Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth, Nominee, Letters from GardnerLou Antonelli, Letters from Gardner, Nominee, We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women - Cattle and Slaves NarrativeKameron Hurley, We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women - Cattle and Slaves Narrative, Winner, Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ Fans Who Love ItSigrid Ellis - Michael Damian Thomas, Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ Fans Who Love It, Nominee, Writing Excuses Season 8Brandon Sanderson - Dan Wells - Mary Robinette Kowal -, Writing Excuses Season 8, Nominee, Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews - Essays and CommentaryJared Shurin - Justin Landon, Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews - Essays and Commentary, Nominee, Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative FictionJeff van der Meer - Jeremy Zerfoss, Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, Nominee, Writing ExcusesBrandon Sanderson - Dan Wells - Mary Robinette Kowal -, Writing Excuses, Winner, Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor WhoL M Myles - Deborah Stanish, Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who, Nominee, The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy LiteratureFarah Mendlesohn - Edward James, The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, Nominee, Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love ThemLynne M Thomas - Sigrid Ellis, Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love Them, Nominee, I Have an Idea for a Book The Bibliography of Martin H GreenbergMartin H Greenberg - John Helfers, I Have an Idea for a Book The Bibliography of Martin H Greenberg, Nominee, The Encyclopedia of Science FictionDavid Langford - John Clute - Peter Nicholls -, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Winner, Writing ExcusesBrandon Sanderson - Dan Wells - Mary Robinette Kowal -, Writing Excuses, Nominee, Jar Jar Binks Must DieDaniel M Kimmel, Jar Jar Binks Must Die, Nominee, The Steampunk BibleJeff van der Meer - S J Chambers, The Steampunk Bible, Nominee, Wicked GirlsSeanan McGuire, Wicked Girls, Nominee | ||
Hugo award for best related work top 23 facts
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially known as the Science Fiction Achievement Award. The award has been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing". The Hugo Award for Best Related Work is given each year for primarily non-fiction works related to science fiction or fantasy, published in English or translated into English during the previous calendar year. Awards are also given out for works of fiction in the novel, novella, novelette, and short story categories.
Contents
The award was originally titled the Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book and was first awarded in 1980. In 1999 the Award was retitled to the Hugo Award for Best Related Book, and eligibility was officially expanded to fiction works that were primarily noteworthy for reasons besides their fictional aspects. In 2010, the title of the award was again changed, to the Hugo Award for Best Related Work. In addition to the regular Hugo awards, beginning in 1996 Retrospective Hugo Awards, or "Retro Hugos", have been available to be awarded for years 50, 75, or 100 years prior in which no awards were given. The Retro Best Related Work Hugo was awarded for 1954, 50 years later, but has not been awarded for any other year due to insufficient nominations.
Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution as instant-runoff voting with five nominees, except in the case of a tie. These five works on the ballot are the five most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of works that can be nominated. Initial nominations are made by members in January through March, while voting on the ballot of five nominations is performed roughly in April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held. Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and are held in a different city around the world each year. Members are permitted to vote "no award", if they feel that none of the nominees is deserving of the award that year, and in the case that "no award" takes the majority the Hugo is not given in that category. This happened in the Best Related Work category in 2015 and 2016.
During the 38 nomination years, 188 authors have had works nominated; 51 of these have won, including co-authors and Retro Hugos. John Clute has won four times; once by himself, once with John Grant as a co-author, once with Peter Nicholls, and once with Nicholls, David Langford, and Graham Sleight. Nicholls has won a third time, and Grant has won a second time, sharing the award with his co-authors Elizabeth L. Humphrey and Pamela D. Scoville. Thomas Disch has also won twice, both without co-authors; no other author has won more than once. Cathy and Arnie Fenner have been nominated eight times for their work on the Spectrum: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art series, both the most number of nominations received by any author and the most number of nominations without winning. Clute has been nominated seven times, Farah Mendlesohn six times with one win, Isaac Asimov and Langford four times with one win, and Mike Resnick four times with no wins. The Writing Excuses team, consisting of Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson, have been nominated four times and won once. Eight other authors have been nominated three times. Many of these writers, editors and artists have won Hugos in other categories, from Fan Writer to Best Novel.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the work was first published. Each date links to the "year in literature" article corresponding with when the work was eligible. Entries with a blue background and an asterisk (*) next to the author's name have won the award; those with a white background are the nominees on the short-list.
* Winners and joint winners + No winner selected
Retro Hugos
Beginning with the 1996 Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Society created the concept of "Retro Hugos", in which the Hugo award could be retroactively awarded for 50, 75, or 100 years prior. Retro Hugos may only be awarded for years in which a Worldcon was hosted, but no awards were originally given. Retro Hugos have been awarded four times: for 1946, 1951, and 1954 (given 50 years later), and for 1939 (given 75 years later). The next year that Retro Hugos can be awarded is 2016, for 1941. The Hugo Award for Best Related Work has only been retroactively awarded once, in 2004; it was not on the ballot for the 1996 Retro Hugo awards, and the 2001 retro-award was "dropped due to insufficient response" after only nine nominating ballots included any response in the category. The 2014 and 2016 retro-awards were also dropped due to insufficient response.