Hugo Award

Hugo Award, any of several annual awards presented by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). The awards are granted for notable achievement in science fiction or science fantasy. Established in 1953, the Hugo Awards were named in honor of Hugo Gernsback, founder of Amazing Stories, the first magazine exclusively for science fiction.

The categories have varied throughout the awards’ history. Among the notable Hugo Awards presented annually are:

• Best novel (works of 40,000 words or more)
• Best novella (works between 17,500 and 39,999 words)
• Best novelette (works between 7,500 and 17,499 words)
• Best short story (works of fewer than 7,500 words)
• Best series (multi-installment works appearing in an least three installments with a total of at least 240,000 words)
• Best graphic story or comic (includes graphic novels, comic books, and Web comics)
• Best dramatic presentation (includes films, television shows, radio programs, theater, computer games, and music; awarded in both long-form and short-form categories to works of 90 minutes or longer and fewer than 90 minutes, respectively)
• Best fancast (includes any nonprofessional audio- or video-casting that produced four or more episodes, at least one of which was released in the previous calendar year)
• Best fanzine (includes works that are neither professional nor semiprofessional, that do not qualify as a fancast, and that produced a minimum of four issues, at least one of which appeared in the year of eligibility)
• Best professional artist (includes artists and illustrators)
• Best fan writer (includes writers who have published in fanzines, semiprozines, mailing lists, and blogs but excludes work published in professional publications)
• Best fan artist (includes artists who have published in fanzines and semiprozines or exhibited in public displays, such as art shows at conventions, but excludes work published in professional publications)

The awards are presented at the World Science Fiction Convention (commonly called Worldcon), which is held in a different city each year. The basic design of the Hugo Award trophy is of a chrome rocket with fins standing upright on a base. Each Worldcon designs a different version of the base, making each year’s trophies distinctive to the year that they were presented and the Worldcon that produced them. Award finalists are given a pin that also features a different design each year.

Other awards that are not official Hugo Awards but that are sometimes presented at Worldcon include the Lodestar Award, which is given to the best young-adult science-fiction or fantasy book, and the Astounding Award (formerly called the John W. Campbell Award), which is given to the best new writer.

The table below shows Hugo Award winners in the categories of novel, novella, novelette, and short story.