Comments: After the let down of 2001 in which Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire took home the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the universe was set right again in 2002 when Neil Gaiman won the Best Novel Hugo for his magnificent book American Gods. Not only that, Ted Chiang won for his excellent novella Hell Is the Absence of God, and a book about Chesley Bonestell's art won Best Related Book. How good a writer is Ted Chiang? At CapClave in 2011 I overheard Bud Sparhawk say that he was glad that Chiang hadn't written any stories that year, so someone else would have a chance to win something.
Oh, and a little movie made in New Zealand won the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo. It was produced and directed by a minor Kiwi director whose previous experience mostly consisted of making modestly budgeted horror movies and based upon a fifty year old novel by a South African transplant living in England who really only published four or five books in his whole writing career. Perhaps you remember it? It was called The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. On a more serious note, 2002 did mark the end of an era, as this was the last year that a single Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award would be handed out. In 2003 and beyond the award would be split into "Long Form" and "Short Form" categories, essentially differentiating between "movies" and "everything else".
2002 also saw the including of a "one time only" category for Best Website, an award that Locus promptly won with their well-managed and highly informative website. Unlike other links on this page, the links in the names of the winning and nominated websites don't take you to my review of the website, but rather directly to the website itself.
Best Novel
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Other Finalists:
The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson
Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
Passage by Connie Willis
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
Best Novella
Fast Times at Fairmont High by Vernor Vinge
Other Finalists:
The Chief Designer by Andy Duncan
The Diamond Pit by Jack Dann
May Be Some Time by Brenda W. Clough
Stealing Alabama by Allen M. Steele
Best Novelette
Hell Is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang
Other Finalists:
The Days Between by Allen M. Steele
Lobsters by Charles Stross
The Return of Spring by Shane Tourtellotte
Undone by James Patrick Kelly
Best Short Story
The Dog Said Bow-Wow by Michael Swanwick
Other Finalists:
The Bones of the Earth by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Ghost Pit by Stephen Baxter
Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Mike Resnick
Spaceships by Michael A. Burstein
Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work
The Art of Chesley Bonestell by Ron Miller and Frederick C. Durant III, with Melvin H. Schuetz
Other Finalists:
The Art of Richard Powers by Jane Frank
Being Gardner Dozois by Michael Swanwick
I Have This Nifty Idea . . . Now What Do I Do With It? by Mike Resnick
J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey
Meditations on Middle-Earth edited by Karen Haber
Best Dramatic Presentation
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Other Finalists:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, With Feeling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Monsters, Inc.
Shrek
Best Professional Editor
Ellen Datlow
Other Finalists:
Gardner Dozois
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Stanley Schmidt
Gordon van Gelder
Best Professional Artist
Michael Whelan
Other Finalists:
Jim Burns
Bob Eggleton
Frank Kelly Freas
Donato Giancola
Best Semi-Prozine
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown
Other Finalists:
Absolute Magnitude edited by Warren Lapine
Interzone edited by David Pringle
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, David G. Hartwell, and Kevin J. Maroney
Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew I. Porter
Speculations edited by Susan Fry, published by Kent Brewster
Best Fanzine
Ansible edited by Dave Langford
Other Finalists:
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian III
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
Mimosa edited by Richard Lynch and Nicki Lynch
Plokta edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
Best Fan Writer
Dave Langford
Other Finalists:
Jeff Berkwits
Bob Devney
John L. Flynn
Mike Glyer
Steven H. Silver
Best Fan Artist
Teddy Harvia
Other Finalists:
Sheryl Birkhead
Brad Foster
Sue Mason
Frank Wu
Best Web Site
Locus Online, webmaster Mark R. Kelly
Other Finalists:
SciFi.com, general manager Craig Engler
SF Site, publisher and managing editor Rodger Turner
Strange Horizons, editor-in-chief Mary Anne Mohanraj
Tangent Online, senior editor Dave Truesdale, webmaster Tobias S. Buckell
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Jo Walton
Other Finalists:
Tobias S. Buckell
Alexander C. Irvine
Wen Spencer
Ken Wharton
What Are the Hugo Awards?
Go to previous year's nominees: 2001
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2003
2002 Hugo Longlist Book Award Reviews Home