Thursday, January 1, 1970

1955 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: Clevention in Cleveland, Ohio.

Comments: 1955 was a down year for the Hugo Awards, and the reason why can be summed up with four words: They'd Rather Be Right. Simply put, this selection was so weak that it casts a pallor over the entire year's worth of awards. This is kind of shame, because The Darfsteller is an excellent novella, and Allamagoosa is a fun, albeit not particularly substantial, short story. Still, the extraordinary awfulness of handing the Hugo to They'd Rather Be Right looms over this round of awards like a nightmarish shadow darkening everything beneath it.

Sadly, the lists of finalists for the Hugo Award were not preserved until 1959, so we have no idea what novels lost out to this book, but eligible works included Poul Anderson's Brain Wave, Isaac Asimov's Caves of Steel, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, and Edgar Pangborn's A Mirror for Observers, any of which would have been a far superior choice to Clifton and Riley's decidedly mediocre offering.

Best Novel

Winner:
They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley

Other Finalists:
None

Best Novelette

Winner:
The Darfsteller by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 1)

Other Finalists:
None

Best Short Story

Winner:
Allamagoosa by Eric Frank Russell (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 1)

Other Finalists:
None

Best Magazine

Winner:
Astounding edited by John W. Campbell, Jr.

Other Finalists:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Frank Kelly Freas

Other Finalists:
None

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Fantasy Times edited by James V. Taurasi, Sr. and Ray Von Houten

Other Finalists:
None

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's finalists: 1954 (awarded in 2004)
Go to subsequent year's finalists: 1956

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