Monday, September 6, 1976

1976 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: MidAmeriCon in Kansas City, Missouri.

Comments: In 1976 Joe Haldeman's Forever War, the "response" to Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Although Haldeman asserts that he didn't intend his book to be a counter to Heinlein's seminal novel, many fans regarded it as such. Many of those same fans expected some sort of fracas between the two authors. They were to be sadly disappointed. According to Spider Robinson, Heinlein said The Forever War "may be the best future war story I've ever read". So much for Hugo Award controversies over the 1976 Best Novel winner.

In the Best Dramatic Presentation category, however, there was a controversy, and it focused on Harlan Ellison. The film version of A Boy and His Dog won the Hugo Award in that category, and as usual, the award was presented to the director and screenwriter of the film. Ellison objected to being left out on the grounds that he had written the original short novella the movie was based upon, and raised such a fuss that the Hugo committee decided to give in and recognize him. Unfortunately, they didn't have any extra Hugo statues, but they did have an extra base, so they handed Ellison the base, which he now jokingly refers to as his "half-Hugo".

Best Novel

Winner:
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Other Finalists:
The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester
Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny
Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Stochastic Man by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella

Winner:
Home Is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny

Other Finalists:
ARM by Larry Niven
The Custodians by Richard Cowper
The Silent Eyes of Time by Algis Budrys
The Storms of Windhaven by Lisa Tuttle and George R.R. Martin

Best Novelette

Winner:
The Borderland of Sol by Larry Niven

Other Finalists:
And Seven Times Never Kill Man by George R.R. Martin
The New Atlantis by Ursula K. Le Guin
San Diego Lightfoot Sue by Tom Reamy
Tinker by Jerry Pournelle

Best Short Story

Winner:
Catch That Zeppelin! by Fritz Leiber

Other Finalists:
Child of All Ages by P.J. Plauger
Croatoan by Harlan Ellison
Doing Lennon by Gregory Benford
Rogue Tomato by Michael Bishop
Sail the Tide of Mourning by Richard Lupoff

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
A Boy and His Dog

Other Finalists:
The Capture (slide show by Phil Foglio, written and narrated by Robert Asprin)
Dark Star
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Rollerball

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Ben Bova

Other Finalists:
Jim Baen
Edward L. Ferman
Robert Silverberg
Ted White

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Frank Kelly Freas

Other Finalists:
George Barr
Vincent Di Fate
Steve Fabian
Rick Sternbach

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Locus edited by Charles Brown and Dena Brown

Other Finalists:
Algol edited by Andrew Porter
Don-O-Saur edited by Don C. Thompson
Outworlds edited by Bill Bowers
Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Richard E. Geis

Other Finalists:
Charles Brown
Don D'Ammassa
Don C. Thompson
Susan Wood

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
Tim Kirk

Other Finalists:
Grant Canfield
Phil Foglio
Bill Rotsler
Jim Shull

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Tom Reamy

Other Finalists:
Arsen Darnay
M.A. Foster
John Varley
Joan D. Vinge

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1975
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1977

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