Hugo Award for Best Novelette


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, 1958, 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.
During the 63 nomination years, 197 authors have had works nominated; 48 of these have won, including coauthors and Retro Hugos. 1 translator has been noted along with the author whose work she translated. 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 number of nominations without winning.

Selection

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.

Winners and nominees

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 blue background have won the award; those with a white 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 book title is included after the publisher's name.
* Winners and joint winners
YearAuthorNovelettePublisher or publicationRef.
1955*Astounding Science-Fiction
1956*"Exploration Team"Astounding Science-Fiction
1956Galaxy Science Fiction
1956"Brightside Crossing"Galaxy Science Fiction
1956"Home There's No Returning"No Boundaries
1956"Home There's No Returning"No Boundaries
1956"Legwork"Astounding Science-Fiction
1956Fantastic Universe
1956Astounding Science-Fiction
1956"Who?"Galaxy Science Fiction
1958*Galaxy Science Fiction
1959*Astounding Science-Fiction
1959"Unwillingly to School"Astounding Science-Fiction
1959"Captivity"'
1959"Reap the Dark Tide" Vanguard
1959'
1959"Second Game"Astounding Science-Fiction
1959"Rat in the Skull"If
1959Astounding Science-Fiction
1967*Galaxy Science Fiction
1967"Call Him Lord"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1967"Apology to Inky"'
1967Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1967Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1967Galaxy Science Fiction
1967'
1967"For a Breath I Tarry"Fantastic
1967"This Moment of the Storm"'
1968*"Gonna Roll the Bones"Dangerous Visions
1968"Wizard's World"If
1968"Faith of Our Fathers"Dangerous Visions
1968"Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"Knight
1969*Galaxy Science Fiction
1969"Total Environment"Galaxy Science Fiction
1969"Getting Through University"If
1969"Mother to the World"'
1973*"Goat Song"'
1973"Patron of the Arts"'
1973"Basilisk"'
1973'
1973"Painwise"'
1974*'
1974"Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1974"Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death"'
1974'
1974"He Fell into a Dark Hole"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1975*"Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W"'
1975'
1975"Midnight by the Morphy Watch"If
1975"After the Dreamtime"New Dimensions #4
1975"Extreme Prejudice"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1975"Nix Olympica"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1975'
1976*Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1976'
1976"And Seven Times Never Kill Man"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1976"San Diego Lightfoot Sue"'
1976"Tinker"Galaxy Science Fiction
1977*Stellar #2
1977Future Power
1977"Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance"Galaxy Science Fiction
1977Galaxy Science Fiction
1978*"Eyes of Amber"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1978"Ender's Game"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1978Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1978"Prismatica"'
1978'
1979*"Hunter's Moon"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1979"Mikal's Songbird"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1979'
1979"Devil You Don't Know"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1979Asimov's Science Fiction
1980*"Sandkings"Omni
1980"Homecoming"Asimov's Science Fiction
1980Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1980"Fireflood"'
1980"Options"'
1980"Palely Loitering"'
1981*Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1981"Savage Planet"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1981"Beatnik Bayou"New Voices #3: The Campbell Award Nominees
1981'
1981'
1981'
1982*"Unicorn Variation"Asimov's Science Fiction
1982"Guardians"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1982'
1982'
1982'
1983*"Fire Watch"Asimov's Science Fiction
1983"Nightlife"'
1983"Pawn's Gambit"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1983"Aquila"Asimov's Science Fiction
1983"Swarm"'
1984*"Blood Music"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1984'
1984Asimov's Science Fiction
1984"Slow Birds"'
1984"Black Air"'
1985*"Bloodchild"Asimov's Science Fiction
1985'
1985"Return to the Fold"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1985"Blued Moon"Asimov's Science Fiction
1985"Silicon Muse"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1985Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1985' -
1986*"Paladin of the Lost Hour"'
1986"Portraits of His Children"Asimov's Science Fiction
1986'
1986Asimov's Science Fiction
1986"Dogfight"Omni
1986"Dogfight"Omni
1987*"Permafrost"Omni
1987"Thor Meets Captain America"'
1987Stardate
1987"Hatrack River"Asimov's Science Fiction
1987Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1988*"Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1988"Rachel in Love"Asimov's Science Fiction
1988"Dinosaurs"Asimov's Science Fiction
1988"Flowers of Edo"Asimov's Science Fiction
1988"Dream Baby"Asimov's Science Fiction
1989*"Schrödinger's Kitten"Omni
1989"Peaches for Mad Molly"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1989"Do Ya, Do Ya, Wanna Dance?"Asimov's Science Fiction
1989Midnight Graffiti
1989"Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus"Asimov's Science Fiction
1990*""Asimov's Science Fiction
1990"For I Have Touched the Sky"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1990"Everything But Honor"Asimov's Science Fiction
1990"At the Rialto"Omni
1990Asimov's Science Fiction
1990"Dogwalker"Asimov's Science Fiction
1991*Asimov's Science Fiction
1991Asimov's Science Fiction
1991"Tower of Babylon"Omni
1991Asimov's Science Fiction
1991"Over the Long Haul"Amazing Stories
1992*"Gold"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1992"Dispatches from the Revolution"Asimov's Science Fiction
1992"Miracle"Asimov's Science Fiction
1992"Fin de Cyclé"Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories
1992"Understand"Asimov's Science Fiction
1993*Asimov's Science Fiction
1993"Danny Goes to Mars"Asimov's Science Fiction
1993"True Faces"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1993"Suppose They Gave a Peace..."Alternate Presidents
1993"In the Stone House"Alternate Kennedys
1994*"Georgia on My Mind"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
1994"Dancing on Air"Asimov's Science Fiction
1994Asimov's Science Fiction
1994"Deep Eddy"Asimov's Science Fiction
1994Asimov's Science Fiction
1995*Fantasy & Science Fiction
1995"Cocoon"Asimov's Science Fiction
1995Asimov's Science Fiction
1995"Solitude"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1995Analog Science Fiction and Fact
1995Crank
1996*"Think Like a Dinosaur"Asimov's Science Fiction
1996"When the Old Gods Die"Asimov's Science Fiction
1996Analog Science Fiction and Fact
1996"Must and Shall"Asimov's Science Fiction
1996"Luminous"Asimov's Science Fiction
1996"TAP"Asimov's Science Fiction
1997*"Bicycle Repairman"Intersections
1997Asimov's Science Fiction
1997"Mountain Ways"Asimov's Science Fiction
1997"Beauty and the Opéra or The Phantom Beast"Asimov's Science Fiction
1997"Age of Aquarius"Asimov's Science Fiction
1998*"We Will Drink a Fish Together..."Asimov's Science Fiction
1998"Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream"Asimov's Science Fiction
1998"Moon Six"SF Age
1998"Broken Symmetry"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
1998Asimov's Science Fiction
1999*"Taklamakan"Asimov's Science Fiction
1999"Echea"Asimov's Science Fiction
1999"Zwarte Piet's Tale"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
1999"Steamship Soldier on the Information Front"Future Histories
1999Asimov's Science Fiction
1999"Time Gypsy"'
2000*"1016 to 1"Asimov's Science Fiction
2000"Stellar Harvest"Asimov's Science Fiction
2000"Border Guards"Interzone
2000Fantasy & Science Fiction
2000"Fossil Games"Asimov's Science Fiction
2000Asimov's Science Fiction
2001*"Millennium Babies"Asimov's Science Fiction
2001"On the Orion Line"Asimov's Science Fiction
2001"Agape Among the Robots"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2001"Generation Gap"Artemis
2001"Redchapel"Asimov's Science Fiction
2002*"Hell Is the Absence of God"Starlight #3
2002Asimov's Science Fiction
2002"Undone"Asimov's Science Fiction
2002"Lobsters"Asimov's Science Fiction
2002Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2003*"Slow Life"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2003Asimov's Science Fiction
2003"Halo"Asimov's Science Fiction
2003"Presence"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2003"Madonna of the Maquiladora"Asimov's Science Fiction
2004*"Legions in Time"Asimov's Science Fiction
2004Scifi.com
2004"Nightfall"Asimov's Science Fiction
2004"Into the Gardens of Sweet Night"Writers of the Future #19
2004"Bernardo's House"Asimov's Science Fiction
2004"Hexagons"Asimov's Science Fiction
2005*'
2005Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2005Fantasy & Science Fiction
2005"Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Airplanes', by Benjamin Rosenbaum"All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories
2005Scifi.com
2006*"Two Hearts"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2006Fantasy & Science Fiction
2006"TelePresence"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2006"I, Robot"'
2006Scifi.com
2007*Asimov's Science Fiction
2007"Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2007"Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth"Asimov's Science Fiction
2007"All the Things You Are"Jim Baen's Universe
2007"Yellow Card Man"Asimov's Science Fiction
2008*Fantasy & Science Fiction
2008Logorrhea
2008"Dark Integers"Asimov's Science Fiction
2008"Glory"'
2008"Finisterra"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2009*"Shoggoths in Bloom"Asimov's Science Fiction
2009"Pride and Prometheus"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2009Asimov's Science Fiction
2009Fast Forward 2
2009"Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders"Asimov's Science Fiction
2010*'
2010"Eros, Philia, Agape"Tor.com
2010"It Takes Two"Eclipse #3
2010"One of Our Bastards is Missing"'
2010"Overtime"Tor.com
2010"Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast"Interzone
2011*Asimov's Science Fiction
2011"Eight Miles"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2011Asimov's Science Fiction
2011Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2011"Plus or Minus"Asimov's Science Fiction
2012*"Six Months, Three Days"Tor.com
2012Asimov's Science Fiction
2012"Fields of Gold"Eclipse #4
2012"Ray of Light"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2012"What We Found"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2013*Edge of Infinity
2013Postscripts: Unfit For Eden
2013"Fade To White"Clarkesworld Magazine
2013"In Sea-Salt Tears"Self-published
2013"Rat-Catcher"'
2014*Tor.com
2014"Opera Vita Aeterna"'
2014Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2014Subterranean Magazine
2014'
2015*Lightspeed
2015 *Lightspeed
2015Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2015"Championship B’tok"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2015"Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium"Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show
2015Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2016*"Folding Beijing"Uncanny Magazine
2016"And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead"Lightspeed
2016"Flashpoint: Titan"There Will Be War Volume X
2016"Obits"'
2016"What Price Humanity?"There Will Be War Volume X
2017*Apex Magazine
2017'Self-published
2017Tor.com
2017Tor.com
2017"Touring with the Alien"Clarkesworld Magazine
2017"You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay"Uncanny Magazine
2018*Clarkesworld Magazine
2018"Children of Thorns, Children of Water"Uncanny Magazine
2018"Extracurricular Activities"Tor.com
2018Clarkesworld Magazine
2018"Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time"Uncanny Magazine
2018"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
2019Tor.com
2019"Nine Last Days on Planet Earth"Tor.com
2019Tor.com Publishing
2019Uncanny Magazine
2019"When We Were Starless"Clarkesworld Magazine
2020Lightspeed Magazine
2020"Away With the Wolves"Uncanny Magazine
2020Uncanny Magazine
2020Amazon.com
2020Siobhan Carroll"For He Can Creep"Tor.com
2020"Omphalos"

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 awardedAuthorNovelettePublisher or publicationRef.
19392014*"Rule 18"Astounding Science-Fiction
19392014"Dead Knowledge"Astounding Stories
19392014"Hollywood on the Moon"Thrilling Wonder Stories
19392014"Pigeons from Hell"Weird Tales
19392014"Werewoman"Leaves
19412016*Astounding Science Fiction
19412016"Blowups Happen"Astounding Science Fiction
19412016"Darker Than You Think"Unknown
19412016"Farewell to the Master"Astounding Science Fiction
19412016"It!"Unknown
19432018*"Foundation"Astounding Science Fiction
19432018"Bridle and Saddle"Astounding Science Fiction
19432018 "Goldfish Bowl"Astounding Science Fiction
19432018Planet Stories
19432018"There Shall Be Darkness"Astounding Science Fiction
19432018Astounding Science Fiction
19442019* "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"Astounding Science-Fiction
19442019* "Mimsy Were the Borogoves"Astounding Science-Fiction
19442019"Citadel of Lost Ships"Planet Stories
19442019Astonishing Stories
19442019 Astounding Science-Fiction
19442019"Symbiotica"Astounding Science-Fiction
19442019"Thieves' House"Unknown Worlds
19452020"Arena"Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020 Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020 Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020"City"Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020"No Woman Born"Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020 "When the Bough Breaks"Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020 "When the Bough Breaks"Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996*"First Contact"Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996"Pi in the Sky"Thrilling Wonder Stories
19461996"Into Thy Hands"Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996Astounding Science-Fiction
19512001*Astounding Science-Fiction
19512001"Scanners Live in Vain"Fantasy Book
19512001Astounding Science-Fiction
19512001"Okie"Astounding Science-Fiction
19512001"Dear Devil"Other Worlds
19542004*"Earthman, Come Home"Astounding Science-Fiction
19542004"Second Variety"Space Science Fiction
19542004Universe
19542004"Sam Hall"Astounding Science-Fiction
19542004Beyond Fantasy Fiction