| Hugo Award for Best Novelette | |
| Awarded For: | The best science fiction or fantasy story of between 7,500 and 17,500 words published in the prior calendar year |
| Presenter: | World Science Fiction Society |
| Year: | 1955 |
| Holder: | Naomi Kritzer ("The Year Without Sunshine") |
| Holder Label: | Most recent winner |
| Website: | thehugoawards.org |
The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of between 7,500 and 17,500 words; awards are also given out in the short story, novella and novel categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".
The Hugo Award for Best Novelette was first awarded in 1955, and was subsequently awarded in 1956 and 1959, lapsing in 1960. The category was reinstated for 1967 through 1969, before lapsing again in 1970; after returning in 1973, it has remained to date. In addition to the regular Hugo awards, beginning in 1996 Retrospective Hugo Awards, or "Retro Hugos", have been available to be awarded for 50, 75, or 100 years prior. Retro Hugos may only be awarded for years after 1939 in which no awards were originally given. To date, Retro Hugo awards have been given for novelettes for 1939, 1941, 1943–1946, 1951, and 1954.
Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, and the award presentation 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 novelettes on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of stories that can be nominated. 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.
During the 66 nomination years, 211 authors have had works nominated; 52 of these have won, including coauthors and Retro Hugos. Three translators have been noted along with the author of a novelette written in a language other than English: Lia Belt for a translation from Dutch in 2015, Ken Liu for a translation from Chinese in 2016, and Emily Jen for a translation from Chinese in 2024. Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, and Harlan Ellison both have received the most Hugos for Best Novelette at three, with Ellison having been nominated a total of six times, while seven other authors have won twice. Mike Resnick has had the most nominations at eight, and Ursula K. Le Guin and Greg Egan have been nominated seven times each. Fifteen other authors have been nominated at least four times, while Egan has the most nominations without winning.
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novelette 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 nominees on the short-list. If the novelette was originally published in a book with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the publisher's name is included after the book title.
* Winners and joint winners| Year | Author(s) | Novelette | Publisher or publication | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Astounding Science-Fiction | |||
| 1956 | "Exploration Team" | Astounding Science-Fiction | ||
| Galaxy Science Fiction | ||||
| "Brightside Crossing" | Galaxy Science Fiction | |||
| "Home There's No Returning" | No Boundaries (Ballantine Books) | |||
| "Legwork" | Astounding Science-Fiction | |||
| Fantastic Universe | ||||
| Astounding Science-Fiction | ||||
| "Who?" | Galaxy Science Fiction | |||
| 1959 | Astounding Science-Fiction | |||
| "Unwillingly to School" | Astounding Science-Fiction | |||
| "Captivity" | ||||
| "Reap the Dark Tide" (aka: "Shark Ship") | Vanguard | |||
| "Second Game" | Astounding Science-Fiction | |||
| "Rat in the Skull" | If | |||
| Astounding Science-Fiction | ||||
| 1967 | Galaxy Science Fiction | |||
| "Call Him Lord" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Apology to Inky" | ||||
| Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||||
| Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||||
| Galaxy Science Fiction | ||||
| "For a Breath I Tarry" | Fantastic | |||
| "This Moment of the Storm" | ||||
| 1968 | "Gonna Roll the Bones" | Dangerous Visions (Doubleday) | ||
| "Wizard's World" | If | |||
| "Faith of Our Fathers" | Dangerous Visions (Doubleday) | |||
| "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes" | Knight | |||
| 1969 | Galaxy Science Fiction | |||
| "Total Environment" | Galaxy Science Fiction | |||
| "Getting Through University" | If | |||
| "Mother to the World" | (G. P. Putnam's Sons) | |||
| 1973 | "Goat Song" | |||
| "Patron of the Arts" | (Bantam Spectra) | |||
| "Basilisk" | ||||
| (G. P. Putnam's Sons) | ||||
| "Painwise" | ||||
| 1974 | ||||
| "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death" | (Ballantine Books) | |||
| "He Fell into a Dark Hole" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| 1975 | ||||
| "Midnight by the Morphy Watch" | If | |||
| "After the Dreamtime" | New Dimensions #4 (Doubleday) | |||
| "Extreme Prejudice" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Nix Olympica" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| (G. P. Putnam's Sons) | ||||
| 1976 | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| (Warner Books) | ||||
| "And Seven Times Never Kill Man" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "San Diego Lightfoot Sue" | ||||
| "Tinker" | Galaxy Science Fiction | |||
| 1977 | Stellar #2 (Ballantine Books) | |||
| Future Power (Random House) | ||||
| "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance" | Galaxy Science Fiction | |||
| Galaxy Science Fiction | ||||
| 1978 | "Eyes of Amber" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||
| "Ender's Game" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||||
| "Prismatica" | ||||
| (Bantam Spectra) | ||||
| 1979 | "Hunter's Moon" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||
| "Mikal's Songbird" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Devil You Don't Know" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| 1980 | "Sandkings" | Omni | ||
| "Homecoming" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||||
| "Fireflood" | ||||
| "Options" | (Bantam Spectra) | |||
| "Palely Loitering" | ||||
| 1981 | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Savage Planet" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Beatnik Bayou" | New Voices #3: The Campbell Award Nominees (Berkley Books) | |||
| (Bantam Spectra) | ||||
| 1982 | "Unicorn Variation" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Guardians" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| (Bantam Spectra) | ||||
| 1983 | "Fire Watch" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Nightlife" | ||||
| "Pawn's Gambit" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Aquila" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Swarm" | ||||
| 1984 | "Blood Music" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Slow Birds" | ||||
| "Black Air" | ||||
| 1985 | "Bloodchild" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Return to the Fold" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Blued Moon" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Silicon Muse" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||||
| (Bantam Spectra) | ||||
| 1986 | "Paladin of the Lost Hour" | (Bantam Spectra) | ||
| "Portraits of His Children" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Dogfight" | Omni | |||
| 1987 | "Permafrost" | Omni | ||
| "Thor Meets Captain America" | ||||
| Stardate | ||||
| "Hatrack River" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||||
| 1988 | "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| "Rachel in Love" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Dinosaurs" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Flowers of Edo" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Dream Baby" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 1989 | "Schrödinger's Kitten" | Omni | ||
| "Peaches for Mad Molly" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | |||
| "Do Ya, Do Ya, Wanna Dance?" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Midnight Graffiti | ||||
| "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 1990 | "" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "For I Have Touched the Sky" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Everything But Honor" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "At the Rialto" | Omni | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Dogwalker" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 1991 | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Tower of Babylon" | Omni | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Over the Long Haul" | Amazing Stories | |||
| 1992 | "Gold" | Analog Science Fact & Fiction | ||
| "Dispatches from the Revolution" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Miracle" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Fin de Cyclé" | Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories (Mark V. Ziesing) | |||
| "Understand" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 1993 | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Danny Goes to Mars" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "True Faces" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Suppose They Gave a Peace..." | Alternate Presidents (Tor Books) | |||
| "In the Stone House" | Alternate Kennedys (Tor Books) | |||
| 1994 | "Georgia on My Mind" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||
| "Dancing on Air" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Deep Eddy" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| 1995 | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Cocoon" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Solitude" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||||
| Crank | ||||
| 1996 | "Think Like a Dinosaur" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "When the Old Gods Die" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||||
| "Must and Shall" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Luminous" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "TAP" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 1997 | "Bicycle Repairman" | Intersections (Tor Books) | ||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Mountain Ways" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Beauty and the Opéra or The Phantom Beast" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Age of Aquarius" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 1998 | "We Will Drink a Fish Together..." | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Moon Six" | SF Age | |||
| "Broken Symmetry" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| 1999 | "Taklamakan" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Echea" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Zwarte Piet's Tale" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | |||
| "Steamship Soldier on the Information Front" | Future Histories (Horizon House) | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Time Gypsy" | Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction ( | |||
| "Divided by Infinity" | Starlight #2 (Tor Books) | |||
| 2000 | "1016 to 1" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Stellar Harvest" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Border Guards" | Interzone | |||
| Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||||
| "Fossil Games" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| 2001 | "Millennium Babies" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "On the Orion Line" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Agape Among the Robots" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | |||
| "Generation Gap" | Artemis | |||
| "Redchapel" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 2002 | "Hell Is the Absence of God" | Starlight #3 (Tor Books) | ||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Undone" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Lobsters" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||||
| 2003 | "Slow Life" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Halo" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Presence" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Madonna of the Maquiladora" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 2004 | "Legions in Time" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| Scifi.com | ||||
| "Nightfall" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Into the Gardens of Sweet Night" | Writers of the Future #19 (Galaxy Press) | |||
| "Bernardo's House" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Hexagons" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 2005 | (Viking Publishers) | |||
| Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||||
| Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||||
| "Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Airplanes', by Benjamin Rosenbaum" | All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories (Wheatland Press) | |||
| Scifi.com | ||||
| 2006 | "Two Hearts" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||
| Fantasy & Science Fiction | ||||
| "TelePresence" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | |||
| "I, Robot" | ||||
| Scifi.com | ||||
| 2007 | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| "Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "All the Things You Are" | Jim Baen's Universe | |||
| "Yellow Card Man" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 2008 | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| Logorrhea (Bantam Books) | ||||
| "Dark Integers" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Glory" | (Eos) | |||
| "Finisterra" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| 2009 | "Shoggoths in Bloom" | Asimov's Science Fiction | ||
| "Pride and Prometheus" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| Fast Forward 2 (Pyr) | ||||
| "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 2010 | (Eos) | |||
| "Eros, Philia, Agape" | Tor.com | |||
| "It Takes Two" | Eclipse #3 (Night Shade Books) | |||
| "One of Our Bastards is Missing" | (Solaris Books) | |||
| "Overtime" | Tor.com | |||
| "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" | Interzone | |||
| 2011 | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| "Eight Miles" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | |||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||||
| "Plus or Minus" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 2012 | "Six Months, Three Days" | Tor.com | ||
| Asimov's Science Fiction | ||||
| "Fields of Gold" | Eclipse #4 (Night Shade Books) | |||
| "Ray of Light" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | |||
| "What We Found" | Fantasy & Science Fiction | |||
| 2013 | Edge of Infinity (Solaris Books) | |||
| Postscripts: Unfit For Eden (PS Publishing) | ||||
| "Fade To White" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| "In Sea-Salt Tears" | Self-published | |||
| "Rat-Catcher" | (Subterranean Press) | |||
| 2014 | Tor.com | |||
| "Opera Vita Aeterna" | (Marcher Lord Hinterlands) | |||
| Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||||
| Subterranean Magazine | ||||
| (Candlemark & Gleam) | ||||
| 2015 | (Dutch)* | Lightspeed | ||
| (translator)* | ||||
| Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||||
| "Championship B’tok" | Analog Science Fiction and Fact | |||
| "Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium" | Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show | |||
| Analog Science Fiction and Fact | ||||
| 2016 | "Folding Beijing"* | Uncanny Magazine | ||
| (translator)* | ||||
| "And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead" | Lightspeed | |||
| "Flashpoint: Titan" | There Will Be War Volume X (Castalia House) | |||
| "Obits" | (Charles Scribner's Sons) | |||
| "What Price Humanity?" | There Will Be War Volume X (Castalia House) | |||
| 2017 | Apex Magazine | |||
| Self-published | ||||
| Tor.com | ||||
| Tor.com | ||||
| "Touring with the Alien" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| "You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay" | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| 2018 | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| "Children of Thorns, Children of Water" | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| "Extracurricular Activities" | Tor.com | |||
| Clarkesworld Magazine | ||||
| "Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time" | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| "Wind Will Rove" | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| 2019 | "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" | B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog | ||
| Tor.com | ||||
| "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth" | Tor.com | |||
| Tor.com Publishing | ||||
| Uncanny Magazine | ||||
| "When We Were Starless" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| 2020 | Amazon.com | |||
| Lightspeed Magazine | ||||
| "Away With the Wolves" | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| Uncanny Magazine | ||||
| "For He Can Creep" | Tor.com | |||
| "Omphalos" | (Alfred A. Knopf) | |||
| 2021 | Tor.com | |||
| "Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super" | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| "Helicopter Story" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| Uncanny Magazine | ||||
| "Monster" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| Big Girl (PM Press) | ||||
| 2022 | "Bots of the Lost Ark" | Clarkesworld Magazine | ||
| "Colors of the Immortal Palette" | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| Tor.com | ||||
| "O2 Arena" | Galaxy's Edge | |||
| "That Story Isn't the Story" | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| "Unseelie Brothers, Ltd." | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| 2023 | Galaxy's Edge | |||
| Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance (Solaris Books) | ||||
| Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction (Tordotcom) | ||||
| "If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You" | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| "Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| "We Built This City" | Clarkesworld Magazine | |||
| 2024 | Uncanny Magazine | |||
| Shortwave Publishing | ||||
| (Chinese) | "Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition" | Clarkesworld Magazine | ||
| (translator) | ||||
| "Ivy, Angelica, Bay" | Tor.com | |||
| "On the Fox Roads" | Tor.com | |||
| "One Man's Treasure" | Uncanny Magazine |
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.