Nominations for the 2017 Hugo Award are open now. The Hugos are the biggest awards in the Science Fiction and Fantasy world, and are given out each year at the World Science Fiction Convention. Awards are given in dozens of categories, and honour everything from novels to short stories to comics to movies. The awards have been awarded every year since 1955, and guess who decides the winners of these prestigious awards?

We do. Anyone can nominate works for the Hugo Awards. From these nominations five finalists are chosen, and then anyone can vote for the winners.

Well, okay, ‘anyone’ is probably a bit of a stretch. To nominate and vote on the Hugo Awards, you have to be a member of the current Worldcon. Membership is open to anyone; you don’t have to actually attend the convention. It’s easy, but it isn’t free.

This year, the Hugos will be presented at Worldcon75, at the Messukeskus convention centre in Helsinki Finland. (Website here). If you wish to attend the convention, a full membership will get you in all week. But if a trip to Finland isn’t quite practical right now, a Supporting Membership costs 35€/$40. A Supporting Membership gives you the ability to nominate works for the awards, and the ability to vote on the winners. To make the voting easier, Supporting Membership also gives you access to a downloadable Hugo Packet, which contains samples of all the works. Last year these samples included the complete Novellas, Novelettes, and Short Stories that get nominated. If you are interested in participating, you can join Worldcon75 here.

Last year, I voted for winners, but I didn’t make any nominations. I just hadn’t read enough from the previous year to really make nominating worthwhile. Despite that, I don’t regret buying the Supporting Membership. When the nominations were announced, I read all the novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories on the ballot. Due to the influence of a group of angry right-wing trolls, I read a few sub-par or just plain bad stories. But I also read some pretty amazing stories. I would never have read The Fifth Season if I hadn’t felt compelled to for the awards. I wouldn’t have been introduced to the world of Penric and Desdemona, or met Binti. Seveneves would still be on the ‘to read one day’ list, I would still have no idea who Chuck Tingle is. Hmm… maybe I would be better off without that last one.

Voting for the Hugo Awards gave me a reason to venture out of my comfort zone with my reading. It also inspired me to read more new releases last year, so I could nominate this year. Normally I read a lot of older science fiction, so reading more modern stories was a nice change. Especially now that I’m reading more fantasy. In 2016, I read seven novels that were published in that year. I have my five nominees mostly decided, but I still have time to read a few more novels before nominations close. Maybe I can read Too Like the Lightning? Or finish the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series. Death’s End is eligible this year, and I am halfway through The Three-Body Problem and loving it. I’d be interested in hearing any other suggestions.

Of course, novels aren’t going to be my main focus for now. Whilst I read a lot of new novels, I haven’t really read much more shorter fiction than normal. I’ve found some good stories in Analog Science Fiction and Fact that I’ll be nominating, and have read some of Tor’s novellas, but I feel I’m missing out on the best short fiction to come out this year. To remedy this situation, I have found this amazing site called Rocket Stack Rank which aims to help casual SF fans find and discuss short fiction. They have a page full of recommendations for this year’s nominations, as well as instructions on how to find the stories. I plan to go through that and read anything I find interesting. If you’re looking to nominate for the Hugos this year, or if you just want to read more short fiction, I highly recommend this site.

If you are interested in joining Worldcon and voting for the Hugo Awards, then hurry up! You need to register before January 31 to be eligible to vote. Hmmm… maybe I shouldn’t have procrastinated so much on this post. Nominations close 8/3/17, at 06:59 UTC. The final ballot will be announced in April, and voting for the winners will be open until July. The winners will be announced in August. Worldcon members can nominate and vote for the following categories;

• Best Novel
• Best Novella
• Best Novelette
• Best Short Story
• Best Graphic Story
• Best Related Work
• Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
• Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
• Best Editor – Long Form
• Best Editor – Short Form
• Best Professional Artist
• Best Semiprozine
• Best Fanzine
• Best Fancast
• Best Fan Writer
• Best Fan Artist

In addition to these categories, Worldcon75 will also include a special Hugo for “Best Series”. And as usual, The John W. Campbell Award for best new writer will also be given out with the Hugos. If you want to learn more about these awards, then visit the official website of the Hugo Awards, or check out the Wikipedia entry for more background information.

In the meantime, I have a lot of reading to do. And a lot of reflection on what I read last year to undergo. There may be a lull in reviews for a while as I focus on shorter fiction, but don’t worry; I’m not going anywhere. Happy reading everyone.

~ Lauren