Ion Newcombe

For the first time ever, the awards were presented in a virtual ceremony as part of CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).

Arkady Martine’s debut novel, A Memory Called Empire, which explores the links between language, culture and interplanetary politics, has won the Hugo Award for the Best Novel.

This Is How You Lose the Time War, a time travelling spy love story, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone won in the Best Novella category, and Emergency Skin, set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, by N.K. Jemisin for the Best Novelette.

S.L. Huang’s As the Last I May Know won the Hugo for the Best Short Story and the Expanse, by James S. A. Corey won the Best Series category.

Jeannette Ng’s 2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech, which led to the award’s name being changed, received a Hugo for Best Related Work.

The Astounding Award for Best New Writer was awarded to R.F. Kuang.

LaGuardia, written by Nnedi Okorafor and illustrated by Tana Ford and James Devlin won the Hugo Award for best Best Graphic Story or Comic.

Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Douglas Mackinnon; and The Good Place, written by Daniel Schofield and directed by Valeria Migliassi; picked up a Hugo each for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form and Short Form respectively.

The Hugo Awards are the most prestigious accolades in the science fiction and fantasy genre. They have been presented at Worldcons since 1953. The physical award is in the shape of a rocket ship mounted on a base designed specifically for that year’s awards.

This year’s bases were designed by New Zealand artist John Flower and feature a paua shell koru swirl and the Matariki star cluster.

All winners are listed below:

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The 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards have been presented at CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).

The Awards recognise excellence and achievement by New Zealanders, both amateur and professional, in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. They are usually presented at New Zealand’s National Science Fiction Convention which this year, is hosted as part of CoNZealand.

Voting was open to members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand (SFFANZ) and members of CoNZealand.

A closed, in-person ceremony was held in Wellington on July 26, and streamed as part of CoNZealand’s programme.

SFFANZ president John Toon said, “It’s always a pleasure and an honour to showcase some of the best contemporary New Zealand science fiction and fantasy, and especially so this year, with the eyes of international fandom on us. On behalf of SFFANZ, hearty congratulations to all this year’s Sir Julius Vogel Award winners and nominees.”

SFFANZ congratulate all the winners and nominees and look forward to honouring more of New Zealand’s talent in 2021. A full list of winners is below.

For further information, please contact <press@sffanz.org.nz>.

2020 Sir Julius Vogel Award winners below:

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Brackett, Bradbury, Lovecraft honoured with 1945 Retro Hugos

“Shadow Over Mars” (The Nemesis from Terra) by Leigh Brackett has been honoured with a Retrospective Hugo Award for Best Novel during a virtual ceremony at CoNZealand today.

“I, Rocket”, by Ray Bradbury was chosen as the Best Short Story, and The Cthulhu Mythos, by H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, and others dominated the Best Series category.

For the first time, the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category resulted in a tie. The award is shared by the The Canterville Ghost, screenplay by Edwin Harvey Blum from a story by Oscar Wilde, directed by Jules Dassin (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)) and The Curse of the Cat People, written by DeWitt Bodeen, directed by Gunther V. Fritsch and Robert Wise (RKO Radio Pictures).

The Hugo Awards are the most prestigious accolades for science fiction and fantasy literature, media and fan activities and have been presented at World Science Fiction Conventions (Worldcons).

Worldcon was established in 1939, but Hugo awards weren’t presented until 1953. In 1996, Worldcon committees were given the option of presenting Retrospective Hugo Awards to honour works published in the earlier years of the Worldcon when no Hugos were awarded.

The 1945 Retro Hugos recognise works created or published in 1944.

The base for the 1945 Retro Hugo Award has been designed by New Zealand artist James Brown.

A full list of winners is below.

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The Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild and Conflux have jointly announced the opening of their 2020 short story competition, still to go ahead without this year’s annual convention.

Get writing now! Stories should be 4000 words or less, in any speculative fiction genre, on the theme “Apocalypse”.

The competition is open to all Australian residents and members of either The Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild or Conflux 16.

Entry is $5, unless you are a member of CSFG or Conflux 16 — or you area aged 16 or under, in which case it’s free.

The winning stories will be published online as a part of the Conflux October 2020 activities.

First prize is $200 and 2021 Conflux 16 membership.

Second prize is $50 and a discounted Conflux 16 membership.

Third prize is $25 and a discounted Conflux 16 membership.

Stories should be written in English, be suitable for a general audience (ie no gratuitous violence or erotica), and, of course, be your own original and unpublished work.

Please submit your stories in the following format: RTF, courier font, double-spaced, with the story title in the top-right header.

Make the first page of your submission a cover sheet that includes your name, contact details and story title. This page will be removed before the stories are forwarded to the judges. Your name must not appear on any of the other pages of your story.

Get it through to Conflux via this address: <chair@conflux.org.au> before midnight August 31 2020.

Entry fees may be paid by direct deposit (Account Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, BSB: 805-022, Acct: 03421621 or via Paypal to <canberra.specfic@gmail.com>

Conflux, Canberra’s annual speculative fiction convention has announced that “Visions of Time” is now to be held in 2021, on Saturday October 2 2021 till Monday October 4 2021 at the Rex Hotel Canberra.

Special guests are, John Birmingham, Helen Marshall, and Artist in Residence Shauna O’Meara.

More information can be found at <www.conflux.org.au>.

The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) has announced the 2019 winners for what is “the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year”.

Best Novel

WINNER: Shepherd, Catherine Jinks (Text)
The Flower and the Serpent, Madeleine D’Este (self-published)
Fusion, Kate Richards (Hamish Hamilton Australia)

Best Short Fiction

WINNER: “Steadfast Shadowsong”, Matthew R. Davis (Dig Two Graves)
“Vivienne & Agnes”, Chris Mason (Beside the Seaside: Tales from the Daytripper)
“The Ocean Hushed the Stones”, Alan Baxter (Served Cold)
“Ava Rune”, J.S. Breukelaar (Collision: Stories)

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The  SFWA announced the winners of the 2019 Nebula Awards at the 55th Annual Nebula Banquet on Saturday, May 30, 2020 at a virtual ceremony.

Novel

WINNER: A Song for a New Day, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley)
Marque of Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)
A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (Tor)
Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)

Novella

WINNER: This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga)
“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, Ted Chiang (Exhalation)
The Haunting of Tram Car 015, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water, Vylar Kaftan (Tor.com Publishing)
The Deep, Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga)
Catfish Lullaby, A.C. Wise (Broken Eye)

Novelette

WINNER: Carpe Glitter, Cat Rambo (Meerkat)
“A Strange Uncertain Light”, G.V. Anderson (F&SF 7-8/19)
“For He Can Creep”, Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com 7/10/19)
“His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light”, Mimi Mondal (Tor.com 1/23/19)
“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 7-8/19)
“The Archronology of Love”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 4/19)

Short Story

WINNER: “Give the Family My Love”, A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld 2/19)
“The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power”, Karen Osborne (Uncanny 3-4/19)
“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons 9/9/19)
“Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, Nibedita Sen (Nightmare 5/19)
“A Catalog of Storms”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 1-2/19)
“How the Trick Is Done”, A.C. Wise (Uncanny 7-8/19)

Game Writing

WINNER: The Outer Worlds, Leonard Boyarsky, Megan Starks, Kate Dollarhyde & Chris L’Etoile (Obsidian Entertainment)
Outer Wilds, Kelsey Beachum (Mobius Digital)
The Magician’s Workshop, Kate Heartfield (Choice of Games)
Disco Elysium, Robert Kurvitz (ZA/UM)
Fate Accessibility Toolkit, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry (Evil Hat Productions)

Ray Bradbury Award

WINNER: Good Omens: “Hard Times”
Avengers: Endgame
Captain Marvel
The Mandalorian: “The Child”
Russian Doll: “The Way Out”
Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”

Andre Norton Award

WINNER: Riverland, Fran Wilde (Amulet)
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, Carlos Hernandez (Disney Hyperion)
Catfishing on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
Dragon Pearl, Yoon Ha Lee (Disney Hyperion)
Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions, Henry Lien (Holt)
Cog, Greg van Eekhout (Harper)

Source: Locus Magazine

CoNZealand have announced that this year’s GUFF delegate is Alison Scott of London, UK. 

Alison has been active in fandom since the mid 80s. An enthusiastic congoer and conrunner, she’s chaired the Eastercon (UK national convention) twice, and run many smaller cons.

As part of the Plokta Cabal she’s won the Best Fanzine Hugo twice, and won the Rotsler and Nova awards for her fan art. However, she’s perhaps best known in her local fandom for staying up too late and partying too hard, and is spending lockdown actively working on finding ways to make that happen virtually.

She’s promised to make a trip to Australia and New Zealand when circumstances allow, but in the meanwhile she’s going to both attend CoNZealand and tour the continent virtually. She’ll be not flying to Western Australia in mid-July, switch to Australian time, and will then work her virtual way across Australia, reaching New Zealand a few days before the Worldcon starts. She’s hoping to meet as many local fans as possible, along with spending time in every available time zone and fitting in as many virtual tourist attractions as possible. So if you’re planning any virtual events during the period 11 – 29th July, why not get in touch with Alison (alison.scott@gmail.com) and invite her along?

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It was announced on Friday, April 10, 2020 at Norwescon 43, in (virtual) SeaTac, Washington, that the winner for the distinguished original science fiction paperback published for the first time during 2019 in the U.S.A. is:

SOONER OR LATER EVERYTHING FALLS INTO THE SEA: STORIES by Sarah Pinsker (Small Beer Press)

Special citation was given to:

THE LITTLE ANIMALS by Sarah Tolmie (Aqueduct Press)

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. The 2019 award was given to THEORY OF BASTARDS by Audrey Schulman (Europa Editions) with a special citation to 84K by Claire North (Orbit).

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CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention, has announced the finalists for the 2020 Hugo Awards, Lodestar and Astounding Awards and the 1945 Retro Hugo Awards.

First presented in 1953, the Hugo Awards are the longest-running fan-voted awards in science fiction and fantasy. They recognise both professionals and fans, honouring written fiction and dramatic presentations, artists, editors and others.

The video announcing the finalists is available for viewing on the CoNZealand YouTube channel.

“Congratulations to all those announced today. Being a finalist for a Hugo Award signifies the high esteem in which the fan community holds your work. Getting to this stage is a huge achievement,” said CoNZealand Co-Chairs Norman Cates and Kelly Buehler.

Nominations for the 2020 and 1945 Hugo Awards were submitted by the members of CoNZealand, the 78th Worldcon, and Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon. 1,584 people submitted 27,033 nominations for the 2020 Hugo Awards, and 120 people submitted 1,677 nominations for the 1945 Retrospective Hugo Awards.

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