2020 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: CoNZealand, Wellington, New Zealand

Comments: As has been so often the case in the last couple of years, the Hugo finalists are dominated by female and minority authors. I don't think this is a mistake and I think it is a development that is well past due.

I have noted elsewhere that historically the Hugos have been biased against women (a statement to which I will add that they seem to have been even more biased against minority authors), but that on those relatively infrequent occasions when women were elevated to a finalist slot, they had a remarkably good winning percentage. In short, it seems to have been very difficult for a woman to get on the final ballot, but once there, a work by a woman seems to have had a better than average chance of winning.

There reason, I believe, is because the women and minority authors who did get nominated had produced work that was of such superior quality that they simply could not be ignored, while white male authors were benefiting from the general institutionalized racism and sexism of society and were able to get nominated with merely good pieces of work. What this means is that women and minorities have been continually upping their game over the years while many white male authors seem to have become complacent. Their work was good enough to get nominated. Why should they strive for better?

And now that the gates have been opened, there is a tidal wave of great work by women and minority authors flooding through, which makes the award better, to our benefit. It was always there, but now the doors to the Hugos have been opened, at least more than they were before.

Best Novel

Winner:
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Finalists:
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Best Novella

Winner:

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Finalists:
Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom by Ted Chiang

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Best Novelette

Winner:

Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin

Finalists:
The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim
Away With the Wolves by Sarah Gailey
The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye by Sarah Pinsker
For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll
Omphalos by Ted Chiang

Best Short Story

Winner:

As the Last I May Know by S.L. Huang

Finalists:
And Now His Lordship Is Laughing by Shiv Ramdas
Blood Is Another Word for Hunger by Rivers Solomon
A Catalog of Storms by Fran Wilde
Do Not Look Back, My Lion by Alix E. Harrow

Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island by Nibedita Sen

Best Related Work

Winner:

2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech by Jeannette Ng

Finalists:

Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski

Joanna Russ by Gwyneth Jones

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara

The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein by Farah Mendlesohn

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin

Best Graphic Story

Winner:

LaGuardia written by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford, colors by James Devlin

Finalists:

Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles

Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda
Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker, letters by Joamette Gil

Paper Girls, Volume 6 written by Brian K. Vaughan, drawn by Cliff Chiang, colors by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher

The Wicked + The Divine, Volume 9: Okay by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, colors by Matt Wilson, letters by Clayton Cowles

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form

Winner:
Good Omens

Finalists:
Avengers: Endgame
Captain Marvel
Russian Doll (Season One)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Us

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form

Winner:

The Good Place: The Answer

Finalists:
Doctor Who: Resolution
The Expanse: Cibola Burn
The Mandalorian: Redemption
Watchmen: A God Walks into a Bar
Watchmen: This Extraordinary Being
Best Professional Editor: Short Form

Winner:
Ellen Datlow

Finalists:
Neil Clarke
C.C. Finlay
Jonathan Strahan
Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
Sheila Williams

Best Professional Editor: Long Form

Winner:
Navah Wolfe

Finalists:
Sheila E. Gilbert
Brit Hvide
Diana M. Pho
Devi Pillai
Miriam Weinberg

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
John Picacio

Finalists:
Tommy Arnold
Rovina Cai
Galen Dara
Yuko Shimizu
Alyssa Winans

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:

Uncanny Magazine editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, nonfiction/managing editor Michi Trota, managing editor Chimedum Ohaegbu, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky

Finalists:

Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews

Escape Pod edited by Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, audio producers Adam Pracht and Summer Brooks, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart

Fireside Magazine editor Julia Rios, managing editor Elsa Sjunneson, copyeditor Chelle Parker, social coordinator Meg Frank, publisher and art director Pablo Defendini, founding editor Brian White

FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction executive editor Troy L. Wiggins, edited by Eboni Dunbar, Brent Lambert, L.D. Lewis, Danny Lore, Brandon O’Brien and Kaleb Russell

Strange Horizons edited by Vanessa Rose Phin, Catherine Krahe, AJ Odasso, Dan Hartland, Joyce Chng, Dante Luiz and the Strange Horizons staff

Best Fanzine

Winner:

The Book Smugglers edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James

Finalists:

Galactic Journey founded by Gideon Marcus, edited by Janice Marcus, senior writers Rosemary Benton, Lorelei Marcus, and Victoria Silverwolf

Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Alissa McKersie, Ann Gry, Chuck Serface, John Coxon, and Steven H Silver

nerds of a feather, flock together edited by Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, and The G

Quick Sip Reviews edited by Charles Payseur
The Rec Center edited by Elizabeth Minkel and Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Bogi Takács

Finalists:
Cora Buhlert
James Davis Nicoll
Alasdair Stuart
Paul Weimer
Adam Whitehead

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
Elise Matthesen

Finalists:

Iain Clark

Sara Felix
Grace P. Fong
Meg Frank
Ariela Housman

Best Fancast

Winner:

Our Opinions Are Correct presented by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders

Finalists:
Be The Serpent presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace
Claire Rousseau’s YouTube Channel, produced and presented by Claire Rousseau
The Coode Street Podcast presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe

Galactic Suburbia presented by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts, producer Andrew Finch

The Skiffy and Fanty Show presented by Jen Zink and Shaun Duke

Best Series

Winner:

The Expanse by James S.A. Corey

Finalists:
InCryptid by Seanan McGuire
Luna by Ian McDonald
Planetfall series by Emma Newman
Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden
The Wormwood Trilogy by Tade Thompson

Astounding Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
R.F. Kuang

Finalists:
Sam Hawke
Jenn Lyons
Nibedita Sen
Tasha Suri
Emily Tesh

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

Winner:
Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

Finalists:
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher
Riverland by Fran Wilde
The Wicked King by Holly Black

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 2019
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2021

2020 Hugo Award Longlist     Book Award Reviews     Home