TheHugo Award for Best Novel is one of theHugo Awards given each year by theWorld Science Fiction Society forscience fiction orfantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. Thenovel award is available for works of fiction of 40,000 words or more; awards are also given out in theshort story,novelette, andnovella categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase forspeculative fiction", and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".[1][2]
The Hugo Award for Best Novel has been awarded annually by the World Science Fiction Society since 1953, except in 1954 and 1957. In addition, beginning in 1996, Retrospective Hugo Awards or "Retro-Hugos" have been available for works published 50, 75, or 100 years prior. Retro-Hugos may only be awarded for years after 1939 in which no awards were originally given.[3] Retro-Hugo awards have been given for novels for 1939, 1941, 1943–1946, 1951, and 1954.[4]
Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annualWorld Science Fiction Convention, orWorldcon, and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The final selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution asinstant-runoff voting with six finalists, except in the case of a tie. The novels on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of stories that can be nominated. The 1953, 1955, and 1958 awards did not include a recognition of runner-up novels, but since 1959 all final candidates have been recorded.[3] Initial nominations are made by members from January through March, while voting on the ballot of six finalists is performed roughly from April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held.[5] Prior to 2017, the final ballot was five works; it was changed that year to six, with each initial nominator limited to five nominations.[6] Worldcons are generally held in August or early September, and are held in a different city around the world each year.[7][8]
During the 79 nomination years, 180 authors have had works as finalists and 55 have won (including co-authors, ties, and Retro-Hugos). Two translators have been noted along with the author of a novel written in a language other than English:Ken Liu, in 2015 and 2017, for translations of two works from Chinese; andRita Barisse, in 2019, who was retroactively noted as the translator of a 1963 French novel.Robert A. Heinlein has won the most Hugos for Best Novel, and also appeared on the most final ballots; he has six wins (four Hugos and two Retro-Hugos) out of twelve finalists.Lois McMaster Bujold has received four Hugos out of ten finalists. Five authors have won three times:Isaac Asimov andFritz Leiber (with two Hugos and one Retro-Hugo each),N. K. Jemisin,Connie Willis, andVernor Vinge. Ten other authors have won the award twice. The next-most finalists by a winning author are held byRobert J. Sawyer andLarry Niven, who have been finalists nine and eight times, respectively, and have each only won once. With nine finalist appearance,Robert Silverberg has the greatest number of finalists without winning any. Three authors have won the award in consecutive years:Orson Scott Card (1986 and 1987), Lois McMaster Bujold (1991 and 1992), and N. K. Jemisin (2016, 2017, and 2018).
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novel was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a yellow background have won the award; those with a grey background are the finalists on the short-list.
Beginning with the1996 Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Society created the concept of "Retro-Hugos", in which the Hugo award could be retroactively awarded for 50, 75, or 100 years prior. Retro-Hugos may only be awarded for years after 1939 (the year of the firstWorldcon) in which no Hugos were originally awarded.[3] Retro-Hugos have been awarded eight times, for 1939, 1941, 1943–46, 1951, and 1954.
^The 1958 award was officially for "Best Novel or Novelette".[12] It was won by a novel.
^abSylva was the first translated work to appear on the Hugo ballot. The translator was not officially recognized until 2019.
^Dune World was the title of the 1964 serialized novel; when "Dune World" and its sequel, "The Prophet of Dune", were incorporated into the 1965 edition ofDune, the book edition was allowed to be nominated in 1966.[19]
^The entireThe Wheel of Time series of novels was nominated as a whole under an interpretation of the rules, confirmed by the World Science Fiction Society, which permit multi-part works to be nominated as long as no individual part (or book) had ever been on the shortlist.
^Lines of Departure byMarko Kloos was initially nominated for Best Novel in 2015, but was withdrawn by the author after the nominees were announced in protest for being promoted by theSad Puppies and Rabid Puppies nomination slates, the first time a nominee was withdrawn after announcement. It was replaced on the ballot byThe Three-Body Problem byCixin Liu, the eventual winner.[70]
^abcdCixin Liu's 2015 winnerThe Three-Body Problem and 2017 nomineeDeath's End are the only novels for which both the author and the translator (Ken Liu) were officially recognized during the awards process
^Voting statistics for the 2023 Hugo Awards from the81st World Science Fiction Convention, which was held inChengdu, China, later came into question due to the multiple works and people declared ineligible without explanation.[79][80]
