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OK, here we go with a 2020 Hugo Awards thread almost a year ahead of time. Feel free to discuss anything to do with the Hugo Awards! Remember we are all fans and readers and EVERYONE should feel free to participate.
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I'm editing this entry to add some useful resources for nominators and voters and readers. If I find more, I'll add them.
JJ (not our JJ) at File 770 has a 2019 Recommended SFF list. Members of the File 770 Commentariat add works that were published this year that they liked to that list for others to perhaps also read.
JJ has started her annual Series post. This is a list of all the SFF Series she and File 770 can think of that are eligible for a 2020 Hugo Award.
Then there's the Lady Business Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom. A very useful resource.
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I probably ought to clarify for those familiar with the Hugo Awards but not familiar with how Finalists and Winners are chosen:
Only current members of the World Science Fiction Society, or members from last year, can nominate. Only current members can vote. Members are defined as those who have purchased a supporting or attending membership to the current seated Worldcon. Right now that is in Wellington New Zealand in 2020 and is called CoNZealand. (Often Worldcons give themselves a name instead of a number.)
However, ANYONE who can afford a supporting membership can become a member.
If you were a supporting or attending member of Dublin in 2019, An Irish Worldcon, or become a supporting or attending member of CoNZealand on or before December 31, 2019, you can nominate in the 2020 Hugo Awards. Join CoNZealand here. I'm putting this in here early because the deadline to join if you wish to nominate is near all those winter holidays and folks are often short of money then. PLEASE JOIN EARLY if that might be an issue for you but you want to nominate.
If you are a supporting or attending member of CoNZealand (and only CoNZealand) at any point in time before the end of the voting period (usually 4 or so weeks before the start of the convention, so sometime probably in June next year) you may vote on the finalists.
Being a member of the current Worldcon before the end of the voting period *usually* comes with a Hugo Award Voting Packet that contains many, but rarely all, of the finalist works. This is entirely an optional thing and is dependent on the convention organizing it and the Rights Holders allowing it, so which works--and how much of each work--is in the final packet varies. (Orbit, for example, usually supplies excerpts. Tor often supplies the whole work.)
Once voting has ended, access to the Hugo Award Voting Packet also ends. This is the agreement the con makes with the Rights Holders. The convention cannot supply you with the packet if you didn't download it before voting ends.
You DO NOT need to nominate in every category. You may nominate up to five works in any given category, but you DO NOT need to fill in all five spaces. If you only read one work that knocked your socks off, nominate it. It's IMPOSSIBLE to be aware of every work in the field. Nominate what you felt was Hugo Award-worthy. Don't stress. This should be fun.
I'll put in a plug here for File 770. JJ over there (not the same person as our JJ) does a lot of informational posts around Hugo Awards Season and there's a thread over there on great 2019 works already. She also puts up a post after the Finalists are announced with links to all the free works online she can find. This comes out before the convention has time to put together the packet so can jump start your reading, especially for the shorter works.
Read stuff! Have fun!
====================================================
I'm editing this entry to add some useful resources for nominators and voters and readers. If I find more, I'll add them.
JJ (not our JJ) at File 770 has a 2019 Recommended SFF list. Members of the File 770 Commentariat add works that were published this year that they liked to that list for others to perhaps also read.
JJ has started her annual Series post. This is a list of all the SFF Series she and File 770 can think of that are eligible for a 2020 Hugo Award.
Then there's the Lady Business Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom. A very useful resource.
====================================================
I probably ought to clarify for those familiar with the Hugo Awards but not familiar with how Finalists and Winners are chosen:
Only current members of the World Science Fiction Society, or members from last year, can nominate. Only current members can vote. Members are defined as those who have purchased a supporting or attending membership to the current seated Worldcon. Right now that is in Wellington New Zealand in 2020 and is called CoNZealand. (Often Worldcons give themselves a name instead of a number.)
However, ANYONE who can afford a supporting membership can become a member.
If you were a supporting or attending member of Dublin in 2019, An Irish Worldcon, or become a supporting or attending member of CoNZealand on or before December 31, 2019, you can nominate in the 2020 Hugo Awards. Join CoNZealand here. I'm putting this in here early because the deadline to join if you wish to nominate is near all those winter holidays and folks are often short of money then. PLEASE JOIN EARLY if that might be an issue for you but you want to nominate.
If you are a supporting or attending member of CoNZealand (and only CoNZealand) at any point in time before the end of the voting period (usually 4 or so weeks before the start of the convention, so sometime probably in June next year) you may vote on the finalists.
Being a member of the current Worldcon before the end of the voting period *usually* comes with a Hugo Award Voting Packet that contains many, but rarely all, of the finalist works. This is entirely an optional thing and is dependent on the convention organizing it and the Rights Holders allowing it, so which works--and how much of each work--is in the final packet varies. (Orbit, for example, usually supplies excerpts. Tor often supplies the whole work.)
Once voting has ended, access to the Hugo Award Voting Packet also ends. This is the agreement the con makes with the Rights Holders. The convention cannot supply you with the packet if you didn't download it before voting ends.
You DO NOT need to nominate in every category. You may nominate up to five works in any given category, but you DO NOT need to fill in all five spaces. If you only read one work that knocked your socks off, nominate it. It's IMPOSSIBLE to be aware of every work in the field. Nominate what you felt was Hugo Award-worthy. Don't stress. This should be fun.
I'll put in a plug here for File 770. JJ over there (not the same person as our JJ) does a lot of informational posts around Hugo Awards Season and there's a thread over there on great 2019 works already. She also puts up a post after the Finalists are announced with links to all the free works online she can find. This comes out before the convention has time to put together the packet so can jump start your reading, especially for the shorter works.
Read stuff! Have fun!
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