What happened at the Hugos?

sci-fi

In the last couple of weeks there was turnmoil around the Hugo awards about the way they were run in 2023 at the Chengdu WorldCon. The published voting statistics have raised a lot of question, notably around the entries that were disqualified without any justification while gathering a high number of votes.

Adam Morgan for Esquire writes Inside the Censorship Scandal That Rocked Sci-Fi and Fantasy’s Biggest Awards. This long article explain what happened, why it’s important and even give some context. It’s so far the most comprehensive article on that topic.

“When I was young, science fiction and fantasy books literally saved my life,” he says. “I looked for books that were Hugo finalists or winners, and they showed me a way forward. They showed me there are other people out there who think like me.”

[…] No one should have the power to erase books from the reading lists of future Jason Sanfords.

People are very passionate, sometime because Science-Fiction and Fantasy are a very important part of their life, as a reader and fan.

The Hugo awards have a voting process that always tried to be transparent, much more than many other awards, be it in books or other media. And 2023 seems to have been an outlier, one that tarnishes the reputation of the award. While the reasons are still unclear, this year, the people in charge in Glasgow are taking steps to increase transparency.

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