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Saturday, January 3, 1970

1957 International Fantasy Award Nominees

By 1957, the International Fantasy Award was in its death throes. The last International Fantasy Award was awarded that year to The Lord of the Rings as Best Fiction Book. The Best Non-Fiction Book award had last been given in 1953 and the award for Best Fiction Book was not even handed out in 1956. In 1957 the only work nominated was The Lord of the Rings. By 1958, the International Fantasy Award was defunct. Oddly, no Hugo Award for Best Novel was awarded in 1957 - in fact, no Hugo Awards of any kind for fiction were bestowed that year.

The 1957 International Fantasy Award for Best Fiction Book was technically given to The Lord of the Rings as a whole, which is appropriate given that Tolkien always regarded it as a single book. However, for publishing reasons the book was divided into three volumes, and as a result I have listed each volume separately here.

Best Fiction Book

Winner:
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

Other Nominees:
None

What Are the International Fantasy Awards?

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1955 International Fantasy Award Nominees

The 1955 International Fantasy Award field of nominees for Best Fiction Book was also strong, and either book would have been a fine winner. This is one year in which the International Fantasy Award clearly got the better of the Hugo Awards, which selected the decidedly mediocre book They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley as its 1955 Best Novel winner.

The existence of the International Fantasy Award for this year coupled with the fact that there was something of a slate of candidates for this award gives us a valuable eye on the history of the Hugo Award. Even though the Hugo Awards did not maintain records of nominees from years before 1959, this slate of ballots allows us to see what books might have been nominated along with They'd Rather Be Right for the 1955 Hugo Award for Best Novel. And looking at these two novels we can shake our heads at the 1955 voters and wonder: what the Hell were they thinking?

Best Fiction Book

Winner:
A Mirror for Observers by Edgar Pangborn

Other Nominees:
Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement

What Are the International Fantasy Awards?

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1954 International Fantasy Award Nominees

Despite the fact that the 1954 field for Best Fiction Book for the International Fantasy Award consisted of only two books, it was one of the strongest fields the award ever had. Both More Than Human and The Demolished Man are excellent books, and either would have been a creditable winner.

One interesting note is that both of the books nominated for the award focus upon telepathic powers, but both approach the issue from opposite ends. While The Demolished Man focuses on a world in which telepaths are an established reality and have been mostly integrated into society, and indeed almost dominate some segments of society, More Than Human focuses on the emergence of these abilities, which in the book is taking place on the very fringes of human civilization, in the shadows and corners of the world, among the discarded refuse of humanity.

Best Fiction Book

Winner:
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon

Other Nominees:

What Are the International Fantasy Awards?

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1953 International Fantasy Award Nominees

The nominee field for the 1953 International Fantasy Award Best Fiction Book was pretty strong, but the winning nominee, Clifford D. Simak's City, was clearly the best of the bunch.

This is also the last year in which the award for Best Non-Fiction Book was awarded. Why the selection committee decided to discontinue giving the Non-Fiction Book Award is, like so many other things about the International Fantasy Award, a complete mystery. Given that the award seems to have sputtered to a slow death over the next couple years, perhaps the enthusiasm for this award in general was waning and the Non-Fiction Book category was just the canary that fell off its perch first. Looking back though the hazy mists of time, we simply have no way to know.

Best Fiction Book

Winner:
City by Clifford D. Simak

Other Nominees:
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Takeoff by Cyril M. Kornbluth

Best Non-Fiction Book

Winner:
Lands Beyond by Willy Ley and L. Sprague de Camp

Other Nominees:
None

What Are the International Fantasy Awards?

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1952 International Fantasy Award Nominees

The International Fantasy Award best fiction book winner for 1952, Fancies and Goodnights, was a somewhat unusual selection in that it was not a novel, but rather a collection of short stories. Of the two other books up for the award, The Illustrated Man was also a collection of short fiction, a testament to the central place short fiction had in the science fiction genre at the time.

Of the three books, both The Day of the Triffids and The Illustrated Man have had more lasting impact than the winning entry. Although Fancies and Goodnights is a good book, and the fact that it took home the prize in 1952 is not particularly shocking, in retrospect, it just isn't of the same quality as its competition.

The Best Non-Fiction Book was the excellent Exploration of Space by Arthur C. Clarke.Writing at a time before the first artificial satellite had been launched into space, Clarke presciently opined upon the future development of space travel leading to a mission to the Moon. The only thing Clarke did not predict was that the Moon race would become a football of Cold War politics, and thus imagined that we would proceed into space in a much more sensible manner than we actually did.

Best Fiction Book

Winner:
Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier

Other Nominees:
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

Best Non-Fiction Book

Winner:
The Exploration of Space by Arthur C. Clarke

Other Nominees:
Dragons in Amber by Willy Ley
Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles, and Space Ships by Jack Coggins and Fletcher Pratt

What Are the International Fantasy Awards?

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1951 International Fantasy Award Nominees

Like many other things about the 1951 International Fantasy Awards, the ballot is a mystery. The only thing that is known for certain is that Earth Abides by George R. Stewart and The Conquest of Space by Willy Ley and Chesley Bonestell won the awards in the two categories that year, but who the other nominees were, or even if there were other nominees, is unknown.

 Given that the awards handed out this year were the first science fiction or fantasy awards bestowed, it seems critical in retrospect that they be handed to deserving works, and on that score the International Fantasy Award voters seem to have done a good job. Both Earth Abides and The Conquest of Space were good selections, and seem to have weathered the tests of time fairly well.

Best Fiction Book

Winner:
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

Other Nominees:
None

Best Non-Fiction Book

Winner:
The Conquest of Space by Willy Ley and Chesley Bonestell

Other Nominees:
None

What Are the International Fantasy Awards?

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Friday, January 2, 1970

1969 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: I was born in 1969, and I'm pleased to say that in this the fourth year of the Nebula Awards, women began seriously making their mark in the world of science fiction. After being nominated in 1968, both Anne McCaffrey and Kate Wilhelm followed up in 1969 by winning Nebula Awards. Not only that, Joanna Russ secured a nomination for her novel Picnic on Paradise. Sadly, despite this strong performance, these were the only three Nebula nominations garnered by women in 1969. As with the Hugo Awards, it seemed that a woman had to be truly outstanding just to get nominated, leading to the odd distribution that resulted in a reasonable number of female Nebula winners, but relatively few Nebula nominees.

In a kind of quirky development that is probably only of interest to fans of obscure trivia like me, the science fiction writer H.H. Hollis was nominated for two Nebula nominations in 1969. He didn't win for either of his nominated stories, but the interesting thing is that these were the only two nominations he received in his entire writing career for any kind of writing award.

Best Novel

Winner:
Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin

Other Nominees:
Black Easter by James Blish
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
The Masks of Time by Robert Silverberg
Past Master by R.A. Lafferty
Picnic on Paradise by Joanna Russ
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

Best Novella

Winner:
Dragonrider by Anne McCaffrey

Other Nominees:
The Day Before Forever by Keith Laumer
Hawk Among the Sparrows by Dean McLaughlin
Lines of Power by Samuel R. Delany

Best Novelette

Winner:
Mother to the World by Richard Wilson

Other Nominees:
Final War by K.M. O'Donnell
The Guerrilla Trees by H.H. Hollis
The Listeners by James E. Gunn
Once There Was a Giant by Keith Laumer
The Sharing of Flesh by Poul Anderson (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)
Total Environment by Brian W. Aldiss

Best Short Story

Winner:
The Planners by Kate Wilhelm

Other Nominees:
The Dance of the Changer and the Three by Terry Carr
Idiot's Mate by Robert Taylor
Kyrie by Poul Anderson
Masks by Damon Knight
Sword Game by H.H. Hollis

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1968 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments:  Unlike the Hugo Awards, which were a sausage fest for almost two decades, the Nebula Awards began recognizing female authors fairly quickly, nominating both Anne McCaffrey and Kate Wilhelm in the Award's third year of existence. The comparison is perhaps a bit unfair - after all, the Nebula Awards were created later, and in an environment in which cultural attitudes had shifted considerably - but it is an indication that then Nebula Awards established themselves as being more female friendly quite early, and in many ways they still are.

An interesting point about the 1968 Nebula nominees is just how many authors garnered multiple nominations. Samuel R. Delany was nominated three times (and pulled off the impressive feat of securing two wins), and Roger Zelazny was also nominated three times, while Robert Silverberg and Fritz Leiber both secured two nominations. It seems that while attempting to make the awards more "literary" in tone, those making nominations for the Nebulas more or less implicitly stated that the literary talent in the science fiction field was concerntrated in a handful of authors. On another note, it is interesting to observe that there was a substantial amount of overlap between the nominees for the Nebula Awards and the contemporaneous Hugo Award nominations, which seems to be somewhat counter to the Nebula Award's claim to being more literary than the Hugo.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany

Other Nominees:
Chthon by Piers Anthony
The Eskimo Invasion by Hayden Howard
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Thorns by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella

Winner:
Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock

Other Nominees:
Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg
If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? by Theodore Sturgeon
Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Best Novelette

Winner:
Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Leiber (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Other Nominees:
Flatlander by Larry Niven
The Keys to December by Roger Zelazny
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes by Harlan Ellison
This Mortal Mountain by Roger Zelazny

Best Short Story

Winner:
Aye, and Gomorrah. . . by Samuel R. Delany

Other Nominees:
Answering Service by Fritz Leiber
Baby, You Were Great by Kate Wilhelm
The Doctor by Ted Thomas
Driftglass by Samuel R. Delany
Earthwoman by Reginald Bretnor

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1967 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: After the incredibly long and unwieldy nominating lists of the 1966 Nebula awards, in 1967 the SFWA tightened up the process so that the ballot was a more manageable size. But with the ballot cut down, it becomes glaringly apparent that in 1967 the field of science fiction was very much an all-boys club. Out of fourteen nominated works, not one of them was written by a woman. Despite putatively being aimed at honoring a more "literary" group of works than the Hugo Awards, insofar as rampant sexism is concerned, the Nebulas started out more or less on equal footing with the Hugos.

On the plus side, however, the Nebulas did what the Hugo Awards seem to have had trouble doing: bestowing an award on another writer when Heinlein has been nominated as well. In fact, the Nebula jury awarded two other authors over Heinlein in the Best Novel category this year, honoring both Samuel R. Delany's Babel-17 and Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon with a tied first place result.

Best Novel

Winner:
(tie) Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
(tie) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Other Nominees:
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Best Novella

Winner:
The Last Castle by Jack Vance

Other Nominees:
The Alchemist by Charles L. Harness
Clash of Star-Kings by Avram Davidson

Best Novelette

Winner:
Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson

Other Nominees:
Apology to Inky by Robert M. Green, Jr.
The Eskimo Invasion by Hayden Howard
An Ornament to His Profession by Charles L. Harness
This Moment of the Storm by Roger Zelazny

Best Short Story

Winner:
The Secret Place by Richard McKenna

Other Nominees:
Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw
Man in His Time by Brian W. Aldiss

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1966 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Overseas Press Club, New York, New York and McHenry's Tail O' the Cock, Beverly Hills, California.

Comments: In 1966 the SFWA launched a new science fiction award to complement the already extant Hugo Awards. Unlike the fan-voted Hugo Awards, the newly created Nebula Awards are decided by a jury of peers selected from the ranks of the SFWA, with the intent of making them a more "literary" award. Whether this intent has been fulfilled is unclear - there is significant overlap between the winners of the Nebula Award and the winners of the Hugo Award - but the categories are clearly more literary oriented, with no accolades provided for editors or artists, and only the occasional recognition handed out for superior accomplishment in dramatic presentation.

Although the Nebula Awards were much better organized at their outset than the Hugo Awards had been when they were first established, there were still some kinks to work out. Because there was no established rule for creating a nominee list, in this nominating cycle, anyone who received even one nominations was placed on the ballot, resulting an an unusually long list of nominees for this year.

Best Novel

Winner:
Dune by Frank Herbert

Other Nominees:
All Flesh Is Grass by Clifford D. Simak
The Clone by Ted Thomas and Kate Wilhelm
Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick
The Escape Orbit by James White
The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch
Nova Express by William S. Burroughs
A Plague of Demons by Keith Laumer
Rogue Dragon by Avram Davidson
The Ship That Sailed the Time Stream by G.C. Edmondson
The Star Fox by Poul Anderson
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

Best Novella

Winner:
(tie) He Who Shapes by Roger Zelazny
(tie) The Saliva Tree by Brian W. Aldiss

Other Nominees:
The Ballad of Beta-2 by Samuel R. Delany
The Mercurymen by C.C. MacApp
On the Storm Planet by Cordwainer Smith
Research Alpha by A.E. van Vogt and James H. Schmitz
Rogue Dragon by Avram Davidson
Under Two Moons by Frederik Pohl

Best Novelette

Winner:
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth by Roger Zelazny

Other Nominees:
102 H-Bombs by Thomas M. Disch
The Adventure of the Extraterrestrial by Mack Reynolds
At the Institute by Norman Kagan
The Decision Makers by Joseph Green
The Earth Merchants by Norman Kagan
Four Ghosts In Hamlet by Fritz Leiber
Goblin Night by James H. Schmitz
Half a Loaf by R.C. Fitzpatrick
Laugh Along with Franz by Norman Kagan
The Life of Your Time by Poul Anderson (writing as Michael Karageorge)
Maiden Voyage by J.W. Schutz
The Masculinist Revolt by William Tenn
Masque of the Red Shift by Fred Saberhagen
Planet of Forgetting by James H. Schmitz
Shall We Have a Little Talk? by Robert Sheckley
The Shipwrecked Hotel James Blish and Norman L. Knight
Small One by E. Clayton McCarty
Vanishing Point by Jonathan Brand

Best Short Story

Winner:
"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:
Balanced Ecology by James H. Schmitz
Becalmed in Hell by Larry Niven
A Better Mousehole by Edgar Pangborn
Better Than Ever by Alex Kirs
Calling Dr. Clockwork by Ron Goulart
Come to Venus Melancholy by Thomas M. Disch
Computers Don't Argue by Gordon R. Dickson
Cyclops by Fritz Leiber
Devil Car by Roger Zelazny
The Eight Billion by Richard Wilson
Eyes Do More Than See by Isaac Asimov (reviewed in Robot Dreams)
A Few Kindred Spirits by John Christopher
Founding Father by Isaac Asimov
Game by Donald Barthelme
The Good New Days by Fritz Leiber
The House the Blakeneys Built by Avram Davidson
In Our Block by R.A. Lafferty
Inside Man by H.L. Gold
Keep Them Happy by Robert Rohrer
A Leader for Yesteryear by Mack Reynolds
Lord Moon by Jane Beauclerk
The Mischief Maker by Richard Olin
Of One Mind by James A. Durham
Over the River and Through the Woods by Clifford D. Simak
The Peacock King by Larry McCombs and Ted White
Slow Tuesday Night by R.A. Lafferty
Souvenir by J.G. Ballard
Though a Sparrow Fall by Scott Nichols
Uncollected Works by Lin Carter
Wrong-Way Street by Larry Niven

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Thursday, January 1, 1970

1969 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: St. Louiscon in St. Louis, Missouri.

Comments: In 1969, we see how far Star Trek had fallen by the time its third season rolled around. In 1968, the show completely dominated the Best Dramatic Presentation category, monopolizing every nomination slot. In 1969, not only did no episode of Star Trek win the Hugo, no episode was even nominated for the Hugo. On the one hand, it would have been difficult for any episode of Star Trek to win against 2001: A Space Odyssey, but on the other hand, to not even be nominated when your competition includes fluff like The Yellow Submarine is truly embarrassing.

This was generally a good year for the Hugo Awards. Every winning piece of fiction was good, and some of them are truly stellar. Several of the losing stories are brilliant as well, including Samuel R. Delany's Nova, and Larry Niven's All the Myriad Ways.

Best Novel

Winner:
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

Other Finalists:
The Goblin Reservation by Clifford D. Simak
Nova by Samuel R. Delany
Past Master by R.A. Lafferty
Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin

Best Novella

Winner:

Other Finalists:
Dragonrider by Anne McCaffrey
Hawk Among the Sparrows by Dean McLaughlin
Lines of Power by Samuel R. Delany

Best Novelette

Winner:
The Sharing of Flesh by Poul Anderson (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Other Finalists:
Getting Through University by Piers Anthony
Mother to the World by Richard Wilson
Total Environment by Brian W. Aldiss

Best Short Story

Winner:
The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World by Harlan Ellison (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Other Finalists:
All the Myriad Ways by Larry Niven
The Dance of the Changer and the Three by Terry Carr
Masks by Damon Knight
The Steiger Effect by Betsy Curtis

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
2001: A Space Odyssey

Other Finalists:
Charly
The Prisoner: Fall Out
Rosemary's Baby
The Yellow Submarine

Best Professional Magazine

Winner:
Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Joseph W. Ferman

Other Finalists:
Galaxy edited by Frederik Pohl
If edited by Frederik Pohl
New Worlds edited by Michael Moorcock

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Jack Gaughan

Other Finalists:
Vaughn Bodé
Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
Frank Kelly Freas

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis

Other Finalists:
Riverside Quarterly edited by Leland Sapiro
Shangri L'Affaires edited by Ken Rudolph
Trumpet edited by Tom Reamy
Warhoon edited by Richard Bergeron

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Harry Warner, Jr.

Other Finalists:
Richard Delap
Banks Mebane
Ted White [nomination withdrawn]
Walt Willis

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
Vaughn Bodé

Other Finalists:
George Barr
Tim Kirk
Doug Lovenstein
Bill Rotsler

What Are the Hugo Awards?

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1968 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: Baycon in Oakland, California.

Comments: In 1968, Anne McCaffrey won a Hugo Award for her Novella Weyr Search, breaking up the science fiction boys club and becoming the first woman to win the award, tying Philip José Farmer for the honor. Elsewhere, the Hugo Awards proceeded mostly in their normal fashion. Roger Zelazny, Fritz Lieber, and Harlan Ellison took home another statuette each. Most of the nominations were dominated by the usual suspects.

This year is somewhat notable for two reasons other than Anne McCaffrey's historic first. In the Best Dramatic Presentation category, Star Trek absolutely dominated the award, as all five of the nominees were Star Trek episodes, and the winning entry was the Harlan Ellison written City on the Edge of Forever. This year was also the first year in which there were nominations withdrawn from consideration, as Jack Gaughan withdrew his name from consideration for Best Fan Artist, and both Harlan Ellison and Alexei Panshin with drew their names from consideration as Best Fan Writer. These three nominations are all bizarre. Gaughan had won the award for Best Professional Artist in 1967, and took home that award again this year. How he got nominated for Best Fan Artist at the same time is a complete mystery. Panshin won a Nebula Award for his novel Rite of Passage in 1968, so his nomination seems somewhat strange, but it is at least defensible on the ground that he didn't publish much professionally prior to this year. Ellison's nomination for Best Fan Writer, on the other hand, is simply bizarre. Ellison had already won a Hugo Award before, and took home two in this year as well. The only explanation I can come up with is some of those doing the nominating thought the award was for Best Fan Favorite, and not Best Fan Writer.

Best Novel

Winner:
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

Other Nominees:
The Butterfly Kid by Chester Anderson
Chthon by Piers Anthony
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
Thorns by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella

Winner:
(tie) Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Other Nominees:
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg
The Star Pit by Samuel R. Delany

Best Novelette

Winner:
Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Leiber (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Other Nominees:
Faith of Our Fathers by Philip K. Dick
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes by Harlan Ellison
Wizard's World by Andre Norton

Best Short Story

Winner:
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Other Nominees:
Aye, and Gomorrah... by Samuel R. Delany
The Jigsaw Man by Larry Niven

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever

Other Nominees:
Star Trek: Amok Time
Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine
Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror
Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles

Best Professional Magazine

Winner:
If edited by Frederik Pohl

Other Nominees:
Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Joseph W. Ferman
Galaxy edited by Frederik Pohl
New Worlds edited by Michael Moorcock

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Jack Gaughan

Other Nominees:
Chesley Bonestell
Frank Frazetta
Frank Kelly Freas
Gray Morrow
John Schoenherr

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Amra edited by George Scithers

Other Nominees:
Australian SF Review edited by John Bangsund
Lighthouse edited by Terry Carr
Odd edited by Raymond D. Fisher
Psychotic edited by Richard E. Geis
Yandro edited by Robert Coulson and Juanita Coulson

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Ted White

Other Nominees:
Ruth Berman
Harlan Ellison [nomination withdrawn]
Alexei Panshin [nomination withdrawn]
Harry Warner, Jr.

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
George Barr

Other Nominees:
Johnny Chambers
Jack Gaughan [nomination withdrawn]
Steve Stiles
Arthur Thomson
Betty Jo "Bjo" Trimble

What Are the Hugo Awards?

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1967 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: Nycon III in New York, New York.

Comments: In 1967 Robert A. Heinlein won his fourth Best Novel Hugo Award for the The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, a work of libertarian science fiction that was markedly different from his previous three Best Novel wins. In fact, the most consistent thing about the four novels that gave Heinlein his Hugo wins is that they are all so very different from one another. Also notable is that the field of Best Novel nominees included Daniel Keyes' expanded treatment of his Hugo winning story Flowers for Algernon. Another interesting quirk of the balloting for 1967 is that despite not winning any Hugos in this year, Roger Zelazny had three different stories nominated, a fairly impressive achievement.

1967 also saw the return of the Best Dramatic Presentation Award, and the first appearance of Star Trek on the Hugo ballots, with the series taking home the Hugo for The Menagerie two part story cobbled together out of bits and pieces of the rejected pilot episode The Cage. The only drawback to this win by Star Trek is that to claim the trophy it had to beat out the excellent movie adaptation of the Ray Bradbury classic Fahrenheit 451. This year also saw the introduction of two new categories: Best Fan Writer, won by soon-to-be-professional writer Alexei Panshin, and Best Fan Artist, won by Jack Gaughan, who pulled off the unusual feat of also winning the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Other Finalists:
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
Day of the Minotaur by Thomas Burnett Swann
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett
The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz

Best Novelette

Winner:
The Last Castle by Jack Vance

Other Finalists:
The Alchemist by Charles L. Harness
Apology to Inky by Robert M. Green, Jr.
Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson
The Eskimo Invasion by Hayden Howard
For a Breath I Tarry by Roger Zelazny
The Manor of Roses by Thomas Burnett Swann
An Ornament to His Profession by Charles L. Harness
This Moment of the Storm by Roger Zelazny

Best Short Story

Winner:
Neutron Star by Larry Niven

Other Finalists:
Comes Now the Power by Roger Zelazny
Delusions for a Dragon Slayer by Harlan Ellison
Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw
Man In His Time by Brian W. Aldiss
Mr. Jester by Fred Saberhagen
Rat Race by Raymond F. Jones
The Secret Place by Richard McKenna

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Star Trek: The Menagerie

Other Finalists:
Fahrenheit 451
Fantastic Voyage
Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver
Star Trek: The Naked Time

Best Professional Magazine

Winner:
If edited by Frederik Pohl

Other Finalists:
Galaxy edited by Frederik Pohl
New Worlds edited by Michael Moorcock

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Jack Gaughan

Other Finalists:
Frank Kelly Freas
Gray Morrow
John Schoenherr

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Niekas edited by Edmund R. Meskys and Felice Rolfe

Other Finalists:
Australian SF Review edited by John Bangsund
Habakkuk edited by Bill Donaho
Lighthouse edited by Terry Carr
Riverside Quarterly edited by Leland Sapiro
Trumpet edited by Tom Reamy
Yandro edited by Robert Coulson and Juanita Coulson

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Alexei Panshin

Other Finalists:
Norm Clarke
Bill Donaho
Harry Warner, Jr.
Paul J. Willis

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
Jack Gaughan

Other Finalists:
George Barr
Jeff Jones
Steve Stiles
Arthur Thomson

What Are the Hugo Awards?

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1966 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: Tricon in Cleveland, Ohio.

Comments: 1966 was the first of three times that the Best Novel voting resulted in a tie, with the award being shared by Frank Herbert's classic Dune and Roger Zelazny's lesser known but equally as good . . . And Call Me Conrad. In a quirk of the voting rules, Heinlein's novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress was nominated for this year, and then was allowed to be nominated in the next year as well (it won the Best Novel award in 1967). Harlan Ellison won the first of his many Hugos for the short story "Repent Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman. 1966 was also the year that the Hugo Awards got some serious competition, as the Nebula Awards were born this year, and both Dune and Repent Harlequin! took home Nebulas as well as their Hugos.

This year is also notable for the appearance of one category, and the absence of another. In this voting cycle the Best All-Time Series award was handed out, with the award going to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. After this one year, the All-Time Series award was retired and has never been awarded again. The absent category was the somewhat inconsistently bestowed Best Dramatic Presentation Award, although the potential field of nominees appears to have been somewhat thin - the best candidates seem to have been films like The Doctor and the Daleks, The City Under the Sea, or Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, which is an uninspiring bunch to be sure.

Best Novel

Winner:
(tie) . . . And Call Me Conrad (aka This Immortal) by Roger Zelazny
(tie) Dune by Frank Herbert

Other Nominees:
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Skylark DuQuesne by E.E. "Doc" Smith
The Squares of the City by John Brunner

Best Short Story

Winner:
"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:
Day of the Great Shout by Philip José Farmer
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth by Roger Zelazny
Marque and Reprisal by Poul Anderson
Stardock by Fritz Leiber

Best All-Time Series

Winner:
Foundation series by Isaac Asimov (first novel in series: Foundation)

Other Nominees:
Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs (first novel in series: A Princess of Mars)
Future History series by Robert A. Heinlein
Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith (first novel in series: Triplanetary)
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (first novel in series: The Fellowship of the Ring)

Best Professional Magazine

Winner:
If edited by Frederik Pohl

Other Nominees:
Amazing Stories edited by Cele Goldsmith
Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Joseph W. Ferman
Galaxy edited by Frederik Pohl

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Frank Frazetta

Other Nominees:
Frank Kelly Freas
Jack Gaughan
Gray Morrow
John Schoenherr

Best Amateur Magazine

Winner:
ERB-Dom edited by Camille Cazedessus, Jr.

Other Nominees:
Double: Bill edited by Bill Mallardi
Niekas edited by Edmund R. Meskys and Felice Rolfe
Yandro edited by Robert Coulson and Juanita Coulson
Zenith Speculation edited by Peter R. Weston

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1965
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1967

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1965 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: Loncon II in London, England.

Comments: 1965 was not so much an unusual year for the Hugo Awards as it was an unaccountably bland one. Following a year in which the best novel nominees included Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Clifford D. Simak, Robert A. Heinlein, Andre Norton, and Frank Herbert, this year's nominees were somewhat less notable, and all of the books nominated were not even the best work by that particular author. In effect, the Best Novel field this year was sort of like the B team showing up and bringing their own B efforts to the table.

On a more positive note, the Best Dramatic Presentation Award (technically the Best Special Drama Award) returned after a year's hiatus and was won by Dr. Strangelove. Best Publisher returned for the second (and last) time, and was won by Ballantine, possibly on the strength of having published two of the nominees in the Best Novel category.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber

Other Nominees:
Davy by Edgar Pangborn
The Planet Buyer by Cordwainer Smith
The Whole Man by John Brunner

Best Short Story

Winner:
Soldier, Ask Not by Gordon R. Dickson

Other Nominees:
Little Dog Gone by Robert F. Young
Once a Cop by Rick Raphael

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Dr. Strangelove

Other Nominees:
Seven Faces of Dr. Lao

Best Science Fiction Publisher

Winner:
Ballantine

Other Nominees:
Ace
Gollancz
Pyramid

Best Professional Magazine

Winner:

Other Nominees:
Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Avram Davidson
Galaxy edited by Frederik Pohl
If edited by Frederik Pohl

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
John Schoenherr

Other Nominees:
Ed Emshwiller
Frank Frazetta
Jack Gaughan

Best Amateur Magazine

Winner:
Yandro edited by Robert Coulson and Juanita Coulson

Other Nominees:
Double: Bill edited by Bill Bowers and Bill Mallardi
Zenith edited by Peter R. Weston

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1964
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1966

Book Award Reviews     Home

1964 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: Pacificon II in Oakland, California.

Comments: The list of 1964 Hugo winners has one of my favorite story titles: Poul Anderson's No Truce With Kings. Other than that, it was a fairly typical year with usual suspects like Clifford D. Simak and John W. Campbell, Jr. taking home the hardware.

The one oddity is that the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award was dropped completely, but only for this one year. Instead the Hugo voters were asked to choose the Best Science Fiction Publisher, certainly a difficult task in the best of years. The voters selected Ace, but there seems little rationale for choosing them over their competition other than the fact that they published one of the books nominated for Best Novel (Andre Norton's Witch World). The Best Publisher category was thankfully short-lived, and disappeared in a few years never to return.

Best Novel

Winner:
Here Gather the Stars (aka Way Station) by Clifford D. Simak

Other Nominees:
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Dune World by Frank Herbert
Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein
Witch World by Andre Norton

Best Short Story

Winner:
No Truce With Kings by Poul Anderson

Other Nominees:
Code Three by Rick Raphael
A Rose for Ecclesiastes by Roger Zelazny (reviewed in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume I, 1929-1964)
Savage Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Best Science Fiction Publisher

Winner:
Ace

Other Nominees:
Ballantine
Doubleday
Pyramid

Best Professional Magazine

Winner:

Other Nominees:
Amazing Stories edited by Cele Goldsmith
Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Avram Davidson
Galaxy edited by Frederik Pohl
Science Fantasy edited by John Carnell

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Ed Emshwiller

Other Nominees:
Virgil Finlay
Frank Frazetta
Roy Krenkel
John Schoenherr

Best Amateur Magazine

Winner:
Amra edited by George Scithers

Other Nominees:
ERB-dom edited by Camille Cazedessus, Jr.
Starspinkle edited by Ron Ellik
Yandro edited by Robert Coulson and Juanita Coulson

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1963
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1965

Book Award Reviews     Home

1963 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: Discon I in Washington, D.C.

Comments: Novels in which the Nazis win World War II are fairly common in the science fiction subgenre of alternate history, so it was somewhat inevitable that one would win the Hugo Award at some point. To prevent this from being a dull selection, the voters picked Philip K. Dick's somewhat surreal version of the story The Man in the High Castle as the Best Novel winner this year, beating out a decent but unspectacular field.

The only real surprise of the year was the fact that the Best Dramatic Presentation votes once again produced a "No Winner" result, the second time in the short history of the award that this had happened. Granted, the field was not particularly strong, but The Day the Earth Caught Fire was probably the most deserving winner among the nominees. This "No Winner" result marked the end of The Twilight Zone's three year winning streak, and given the indifferent quality of the fourth season, it was probably not an undeserved loss.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Other Nominees:
A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke
Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper
The Sword of Aldones by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Sylva by Vercors

Best Short Story

Winner:
The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance

Other Nominees:
Myrrha by Gary Jennings
The Unholy Grail by Fritz Leiber
When You Care, When You Love by Theodore Sturgeon
Where Is the Bird of Fire? by Thomas Burnett Swann

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
No Winner

Other Nominees:
Burn, Witch, Burn
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Last Year at Marienbad
The Twilight Zone (season four)

Best Professional Magazine

Winner:
Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Robert P. Mills and Avram Davidson

Other Nominees:
Fantastic edited by Cele Goldsmith
Galaxy edited by Frederik Pohl
Science Fantasy edited by John Carnell

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Roy Krenkel

Other Nominees:
Ed Emshwiller
Virgil Finlay
Jack Gaughan
John Schoenherr

Best Amateur Magazine

Winner:
Xero edited by Pat Lupoff and Richard A. Lupoff

Other Nominees:
Mirage edited by Jack L. Chalker
Shangri L'Affaires edited by Fred Patten, Albert Lewis, Betty Jo "Bjo" Trimble, and John Trimble
Warhoon edited by Richard Bergeron
Yandro edited by Robert Coulson and Juanita Coulson

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1962
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1964

Book Award Reviews     Home