It's Hugo Nomination Time
Monday January 9, 2012 • Howard Tayler

It's January, and that means it's time for eligible voters to start nominating eligible works for Hugo awards. There are three things of mine eligible for awards this year:

  • Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication, which can be found in its entirety on the web, is eligible for "Best Graphic Story." It started on November 29th of 2010 and ended on November 12th of 2011.
  • "Schlock Mercenary: Deus Ex Nauseum", the bonus story at the end of Emperor Pius Dei, is also eligible for "Best Graphic Story."
  • Writing Excuses: Season 6, a joint project with Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Dan Wells which ran from June 2011 through the end of December 2011, is eligible for "Best Related Work." It's not eligible for "Best Fancast" because we get paid, but it's not eligible in either of the 'zine categories because we're not paid enough, and it's generally available for free. Weird, but them's the rules.

Speaking of eligibility, you are eligible to nominate things if you were a member at the 2011 WorldCon in Reno, or if you pre-purchase a membership for 2012 WorldCon in Chicago before January 31st. You can nominate up to five things in each of the Hugo Award categories, and (assuming you possess the requisite membership) you have until March 11th to do so. Here's the full scoop from the official site.

Also on the subject of eligibility, my compatriots over at Writing Excuses have some eligible works of their own which I believe to be worthy of your consideration.

  • Brandon Sanderson's Alloy of Law, and Dan Wells' I Don't Want to Kill You and A Night of Blacker Darkness are all eligible in the "Best Novel" category.
  • Brandon's Infinity Blade: Awakening, Dan's The Mountain of the Lord, and Mary Robinette Kowal's Kiss Me Twice are eligible in the "Best Novella" category.
  • Brandon's "The Eleventh Metal," and Mary's "Goodhouse Keeping" are eligible in the "Best Short Story" category.

There are about a zillion other things worthy of nomination, and I'll point you at a precious few of them in coming weeks. I'm lucky to count numerous authors and illustrators among my friends, and can't begin to do all of them justice with nom-nom-nomination blogs. But I'll do what I can.