The winners of the 2011 Hugo Awards were announced last night at Renovation, the World Science Fiction Convention, in Reno, Nevada. There were no huge surprises among the winners, so far as I can tell — though I don’t keep up on such things as diligently as I used to, so all I can really say is that I wasn’t surprised by any of them.
I’m very glad to see Shaun Tan won Best Professional Artist — his Lost & Found was just brilliant. I have mixed feelings to see that Girl Genius won Best Graphic Story — it’s certainly worthy of the award, but this is the third year the award has been given out and the third year Girl Genius has won it, so it would be nice to see another deserving comic win at some point. I’m also very glad to see Connie Willis — one of the very few authors whose books I’ll buy in hardcover, without waiting for a review — won her eleventh Hugo overall, and third for Best Novel.
I’m completely unsurprised to see that Inception won Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, which it would be hard to argue it didn’t deserve. I’m glad to see that the Doctor Who episode “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang” won for Short Form — mostly because it means that “F‐‐‐ Me, Ray Bradbury,” which had no business being nominated in the first place, lost.
Anyway, here’s the complete list of winners (from the official website):
BEST NOVEL
Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)
BEST NOVELLA
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
BEST NOVELETTE
“The Emperor of Mars” by Allen M. Steele (Asimov’s, June 2010)
BEST SHORT STORY
“For Want of a Nail” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s, September 2010)
BEST RELATED WORK
Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (Mad Norwegian)
BEST GRAPHIC STORY
Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse,
written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colors by
Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM
Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner)
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM
Doctor Who: “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang,” written by Steven
Moffat; directed by Toby Haynes (BBC Wales)
BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM
Sheila Williams
BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM
Lou Anders
BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
Shaun Tan
BEST SEMIPROZINE
Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, Sean Wallace;
podcast directed by Kate BakerBEST FANZINE
The Drink Tank, edited by Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon
BEST FAN WRITER
Claire Brialey
BEST FAN ARTIST
Brad W. Foster
JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER
Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer
of 2009 or 2010, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).Lev Grossman
What are your thoughts — anything leap out and surprise you?
