Hugo Award for Best Fanzine explained

Hugo Award for Best Fanzine
Awarded For:The best non-professional magazine devoted primarily to science fiction or fantasy
Presenter:World Science Fiction Society
Year:1955
Holder:Nerds of a feather, flock together (Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer, Joe Sherry, Adri Joy, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla)
Holder Label:Most recent winner
Website:thehugoawards.org

The Hugo Award for Best Fanzine is given each year for non professionally edited magazines, or "fanzines", related to science fiction or fantasy which has published four or more issues with at least one issue appearing in the previous calendar year. Awards were also once given out for professional magazines in the professional magazine category, and since 1984 have been awarded for semi-professional magazines in the semiprozine category; several magazines that were nominated for or won the fanzine category have gone on to be nominated for or win the semiprozine category since it was established. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".

The award was first presented in 1955, and has been given annually since except for in 1958. A "fanzine" is defined for the award as a magazine that does not meet the Hugo award's criteria for a professional or semi-professional magazine. Specifically, it must meet less than two of the five Hugo criteria for consideration as a semiprozine: that the magazine had an average press run of at least one thousand copies per issue, paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication, provided at least half the income of any one person, had at least fifteen percent of its total space occupied by advertising, and announced itself to be a semiprozine. This is the oldest long-running Hugo award for fan activity; in 1967 Hugo Awards were added specifically for fan writing and fan art. In addition to the regular Hugo awards, beginning in 1996 Retrospective Hugo Awards, or "Retro Hugos", have been available to be awarded for years 50, 75, or 100 years prior in which no awards were given. To date, Retro Hugo awards have been awarded for 1939, 1941, 1943—1946, 1951, and 1954, and the fanzine category has been included each year.

During the 77 nomination years, including Retro Hugo years, 141 magazines run by hundreds of editors have been nominated. Of these, 44 magazines have won, including ties. File 770 and Locus have each won 8 times, the most wins of any magazine. File 770 also holds the record for most nominations at 31; Locus has been nominated 13 times. Mimosa has won 6 of 14 nominations, Ansible has won 5 out of 11, and Science Fiction Review has won 4 of 12; they are the only other magazines to win more than twice. Challenger has the most nominations without winning at 12; the next highest is FOSFAX with 7. As editor of Locus Charles N. Brown has won 8 of 13 nominations, though he shared 8 of those awards with Dena Brown. Richard E. Geis has won 6 of 15 nominations for his work on Science Fiction Review, Psychotic, and The Alien Critic; Mike Glyer has won 8 of 31 for editing File 770; David Langford has won 5 of 12 for work on Ansible and Twil-Ddu; and Richard Lynch and Nicki Lynch have both won 6 of 14 nominations for Mimosa; Christopher J Garcia has been nominated 18 times for both The Drink Tank and Journey Planet, winning once for each, with James Bacon appearing on 15 of those nominations. Guy H. Lillian III has the most nominations without winning at 12 for Challenger.

Selection

Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution as instant-runoff voting with six nominees, except in the case of a tie. The works on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of works that can be nominated. The 1955 and 1956 awards did not include any recognition of runner-up magazines, but since 1957 all of the candidates were recorded. Initial nominations are made by members in January through March, while voting on the ballot of six nominations is performed roughly in April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held. Prior to 2017, the final ballot was five works; it was changed that year to six, with each initial nominator limited to five nominations. Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and are held in a different city around the world each year.

Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the work was first published. Each date links to the "year in literature" article corresponding with when the work was eligible. Entries with a yellow background won the award for that year; those with a gray background are the other nominees on the short-list.

Note that six magazines are listed under multiple names: Psychotic was later renamed to Science Fiction Review, Zenith was renamed to Zenith Speculation and later to Speculation, Algol was renamed to Starship, Tangent was renamed to Tangent Online when it switched from a print magazine to an online one, and Cry of the Nameless, a club bulletin for "The Nameless Ones", was renamed to Cry when it began publishing more general material. No other magazines have been nominated under multiple names. Those magazines are sorted under the first name they were nominated as.

  *   Winners and joint winners
YearWorkEditor(s)Ref.
1955Fantasy-Times* and Ray Van Houten
1956Inside
Science Fiction Advertiser
A Bas
Fantasy-Times and Ray Van Houten
Grue Dean Grennell
Hyphen and Chuck Harris
Oblique
Peon
Psychotic
Sky Hook
1957Science-Fiction Times, Ray Van Houten and Frank R. Prieto, Jr.
Hyphen and Chuck Harris
Inside
1959Fanac and Ron Ellik
Cry of the Nameless , Elinor Busby, Burnett Toskey and Wally Weber
Hyphen and Chuck Harris
JD-Argassy
Science-Fiction Times , Ray Van Houten and Frank R. Prieto, Jr.
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1960Cry of the Nameless, Elinor Busby, Burnett Toskey and Wally Weber
Fanac and Ron Ellik
JD-Argassy
Science-Fiction Times , Ray Van Houten and Frank R. Prieto, Jr.
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1961Who Killed Science Fiction?
Discord
Fanac and Ron Ellik
Habakkuk
Shangri L'Affaires and John Trimble
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1962Warhoon
Amra
Axe and Noreen Shaw
Cry , Elinor Busby, and Wally Weber
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1963Xero and Pat Lupoff
Mirage
Shangri L'Affaires , Albert Lewis, Bjo Trimble, and John Trimble
Warhoon
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1964Amra
ERB-dom
Starspinkle
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1965Yandro and Juanita Coulson
Double: Bill and Bill Mallardi
Zenith
1966ERB-dom
Double: Bill and Bill Mallardi
Niekas and Felice Rolfe
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1967Niekas and Felice Rolfe
Australian SF Review
Lighthouse
Habakkuk
Riverside Quarterly
Trumpet
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1968Amra
Australian SF Review
Lighthouse
ODD
Psychotic
Yandro and Juanita Coulson
1969
Riverside Quarterly
Shangri L'Affaires
Trumpet
Warhoon
1970
BeABohema
Locus
Riverside Quarterly
1971Locus and Dena Brown
Energumen and Susan Wood Glicksohn
Outworlds and Joan Bowers
Speculation
1972Locus and Dena Brown
Energumen and Susan Wood Glicksohn
Granfalloon and Linda Bushyager
SF Commentary
1973Energumen and Susan Wood Glicksohn
Algol
Granfalloon and Linda Bushyager
Locus and Dena Brown
SF Commentary
1974
Algol
Locus and Dena Brown
Outworlds and Joan Bowers
1975
Algol
Locus and Dena Brown
Outworlds and Joan Bowers
SF Commentary
Starling and Lesleigh Luttrell
1976Locus and Dena Brown
Algol
Don-O-Saur
Outworlds
1977
Locus and Dena Brown
Mythologies
Outworlds
and Jerry Kaufman
1978Locus and Dena Brown
Don-O-Saur
Janus and Jeanne Gomoll
Maya
1979
Janus and Jeanne Gomoll
Maya
Mota
Twll-Ddu
1980Locus
File 770
Janus and Jeanne Gomoll
Thrust
1981Locus
File 770
Science Fiction Chronicle
1982Locus
File 770
Science Fiction Chronicle
1983Locus
Fantasy Newsletter
File 770
Science Fiction Chronicle
1984File 770
Ansible
Holier Than Thou and Robbie Cantor
Izzard and Teresa Nielsen Hayden
The Philk Fee-Nom-Ee-Non
1985File 770
Ansible
Holier Than Thou and Robbie Cantor
Mythologies
Rataplan
1986Lan's Lantern
Anvil
Greater Columbia Fantasy Costumers Guild Newsletter
Holier Than Thou and Robbie Cantor
Universal Translator
1987Ansible
File 770
Lan's Lantern
Texas SF Inquirer
Trap Door
1988Texas SF Inquirer
File 770
FOSFAX
Lan's Lantern
1989File 770
FOSFAX
Lan's Lantern
Niekas
OtherRealms
1990
File 770
FOSFAX
Lan's Lantern
Pirate Jenny
1991Lan's Lantern
File 770
FOSFAX and Janice Moore
Mainstream and Suzanne Tompkins
Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
1992Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
File 770
FOSFAX and Janice Moore
Lan's Lantern
Trap Door
1993Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
File 770
FOSFAX and Janice Moore
Lan's Lantern
STET and Dick Smith
1994Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Ansible
File 770
Lan's Lantern
STET and Dick Smith
1995Ansible
File 770
Habakkuk
Lan's Lantern
Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
1996Ansible
Apparatchik and Victor Gonzalez
Attitude , John Dallman, and Pam Wells
FOSFAX and Elizabeth Garrott
Lan's Lantern
Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
1997Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Ansible
File 770
Nova Express
Tangent
1998Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Ansible
Attitude , John Dallman, and Pam Wells
File 770
Tangent
1999Ansible
File 770
Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Plokta , Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
Tangent
Thyme
2000File 770
Ansible
Challenger
Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Plokta , Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
2001File 770
Challenger
Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Plokta , Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
STET and Dick Smith
2002Ansible
Challenger
File 770
Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Plokta , Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
2003Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Challenger
Emerald City
File 770
Plokta , Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
2004Emerald City
Challenger
File 770
Mimosa and Nicki Lynch
Plokta , Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
2005Plokta, Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
Banana Wings and Mark Plummer
Challenger
Chunga , Andy Hooper, and Carl Juarez
Emerald City
2006Plokta, Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
Banana Wings and Mark Plummer
Challenger
Chunga , Andy Hooper, and Carl Juarez
File 770
2007Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, Geri Sullivan, and Randy Byers
Banana Wings and Mark Plummer
Challenger
Plokta , Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
2008File 770
Argentus
Challenger
Plokta , Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
2009Electric Velocipede
Argentus
Banana Wings and Mark Plummer
Challenger
File 770
2010StarShipSofa
Argentus
Banana Wings and Mark Plummer
Challenger
and James Bacon
File 770
2011 and James Bacon
Banana Wings and Mark Plummer
Challenger
File 770
StarShipSofa
2012SF Signal
Banana Wings and Mark Plummer
and James Bacon
File 770
Journey Planet and Christopher Garcia
2013SF Signal, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester
Banana Wings and Mark Plummer
and James Bacon
Elitist Book Reviews
Journey Planet , Christopher Garcia, Emma J. King, Helen J. Montgomery, and Pete Young
2014
and Thea James
Elitist Book Reviews
Journey Planet , Christopher Garcia, Lynda E. Rucker, Pete Young, Colin Harris, and Helen J. Montgomery
Pornokitsch and Jared Shurin
2015Journey Planet, Christopher J Garcia, Colin Harris, Alissa McKersie, and Helen J. Montgomery
Black Gate
Elitist Book Reviews
The Revenge of Hump Day
Tangent Online
2016File 770
Castalia House Blog
Lady Business Clare, Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan
Superversive SF
Tangent Online
2017Lady Business* Clare, Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan
Castalia House Blog
Journey Planet , Christopher J Garcia, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Helena Nash, Errick Nunnally, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Chuck Serface, and Erin Underwood
Nerds of a feather, flock together The G, Vance Kotrla, and Joe Sherry
Rocket Stack Rank and Eric Wong
SF Bluestocking
2018File 770
Galactic Journey
Journey Planet Team Journey Planet
Nerds of a feather, flock together The G, Vance Kotrla, and Joe Sherry
Rocket Stack Rank and Eric Wong
SF Bluestocking
2019Lady Business* Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan
Galactic Journey and Janice Marcus
Journey Planet Team Journey Planet
Nerds of a feather, flock together , Vance Kotrla, and The G
Quick Sip Reviews
Rocket Stack Rank and Eric Wong
2020 and Thea James
Galactic Journey , Janice Marcus, Rosemary Benton, Lorelei Marcus, Victoria Silverwolf
Journey Planet , Christopher J. Garcia, Alissa McKersie, Ann Gry, Chuck Serface, John Coxon, Steven H Silver
Nerds of a feather, flock together , Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, The G
Quick Sip Reviews
, Gavia Baker-Whitelaw
2021Nerds of a feather, flock together* , Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, The G
The Full Lid , Marguerite Kenner
Journey Planet et al.
Lady Business Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan
Quick Sip Reviews
Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog , Olav Rokne
2022Small Gods* , Seanan McGuire
The Full Lid , Marguerite Kenner
Galactic Journey Janice L. Newman, Gwyn Conaway, Jason Sacks, John Boston
Journey Planet et al.
Quick Sip Reviews
Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog , Olav Rokne
2023Zero Gravity Newspaper* RiverFlow, Ling Shizhen
Chinese Academic SF Express Latssep, Tianluo_Qi
Galactic Journey , Janice Marcus, Tammi Bozich, Erica Frank, Arel Lucas, Mark Yon
Journey Planet , Yen Ooi, Arthur Liu, Jean Martin, Erin Underwood, Steven H Silver, Pádraig Ó Méalóid et al.
Nerds of a feather, flock together , Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer, Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, G. Brown
Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog , Amanda Wakaruk
2024Nerds of a feather, flock together* , Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer, Joe Sherry, Adri Joy, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla
Black Nerd Problems , William Evans
The Full Lid , Marguerite Kenner
Idea
Journey Planet , Vincent Docherty, Sara Felix, Ann Gry, Sarah Gulde, Allison Hartman Adams, Arthur Liu et al.
Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog , Amanda Wakaruk

Retro Hugos

Beginning with the 1996 Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Society created the concept of "Retro Hugos", in which the Hugo award could be retroactively awarded for years 50, 75, or 100 years before the current year, if no awards were originally given that year. Retro Hugos have been awarded eight times, for 1939, 1941, 1943—1946, 1951, and 1954.

YearYear awardedWorkEditor(s)Ref.
19392014Imagination!* , Morojo, and T. Bruce Yerke
Fantascience Digest
Fantasy News
Novae Terrae
Tomorrow
19412016Futuria Fantasia
Le Zombie
Novacious , Morojo
Spaceways
Voice of the Imagi-Nation , Myrtle R. Douglas
19432018Le Zombie*
Futurian War Digest
Inspiration
Spaceways
Voice of the Imagi-Nation , Myrtle R. Douglas
19442019Le Zombie*
Futurian War Digest
Guteto
Voice of the Imagi-Nation , Myrtle R. Douglas
YHOS
19452020Voice of the Imagi-Nation* , Myrtle R. Douglas
, Samuel D. Russell
Diablerie
Futurian War Digest
Shangri L'Affaires
Le Zombie , E. E. Evans
19461996Voice of the Imagi-Nation*
Chanticleer
Fantasy Commentator
Shangri L'Affaires and Gerald Hewitt
19512001Science Fiction Newsletter*
Quandry
Sky Hook
Slant and James White
Spacewarp
19542004Slant and James White
Hyphen and Chuck Harris
Quandry
Science Fiction Newsletter
Sky Hook

External links