Hugo Award for Best Short Story


The Hugo Award for Best Short Story 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 short story award is available for works of fiction of fewer than 7,500 words; awards are also given out for pieces of longer lengths in the novelette, 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 Short Story has been awarded annually since 1955, except in 1957. The award was titled "Best Short Fiction" rather than "Best Short Story" in 1960-1966. During this time no Novelette category was awarded and the Novella category had not yet been established; the award was defined only as a work "of less than novel length" that was not published as a stand-alone book. 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 short stories for 1939, 1941, 1943—1946, 1951, and 1954.
During the 73 nomination years, 204 authors have had works nominated; 55 of these have won, including co-authors and Retro Hugos. Harlan Ellison has received the most Hugos for Best Short Story at four, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Mike Resnick, Michael Swanwick, and Connie Willis have each won three times, and Poul Anderson, Joe Haldeman, and Ken Liu have won twice, the only other authors to win more than once. Resnick has received the most nominations at 18, while Swanwick has received 14; no other author has gotten more than 7. Michael A. Burstein, with 7, has the highest 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 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 short stories on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of stories that can be nominated. The 1955 and 1958 awards did not include any recognition of runner-up stories, but since 1959 all six candidates have been 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 Labor Day, and are held in a different city around the world each year. Members are permitted to vote "no award", if they feel that none of the nominees is deserving of the award that year, and in the case that "no award" takes the majority the Hugo is not given in that category. This happened in the Best Short Story category in 2015.

Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the short story was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a blue background have won the award; those with a white background are the nominees on the short-list. If the short story 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
+ No winner selected
YearAuthorShort storyPublisher or publicationRef.
1955*"Allamagoosa"Astounding Science-Fiction
1956*Infinity Science Fiction
1956"End as a World"Galaxy Science Fiction
1956"King of the Hill"Infinity Science Fiction
1956"Nobody Bothers Gus"Astounding Science-Fiction
1956Galaxy Science Fiction
1956Esquire
1956"Spy Story"Playboy
1956"Twink"Galaxy Science Fiction
1958*"Or All the Seas with Oysters"Galaxy Science Fiction
1959*"That Hell-Bound Train"
1959"They've Been Working On..."Astounding Science-Fiction
1959
1959"Triggerman"Astounding Science-Fiction
1959Venture Science Fiction
1959Star Science Fiction Stories #4
1959"Theory of Rocketry"
1959"Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-Tah-Tee"
1959"Space to Swing a Cat"Astounding Science-Fiction
1959"Nine Yards of Other Cloth"
1960*"Flowers for Algernon"
1960
1960
1960
1960"Cat and Mouse"Astounding Science-Fiction
1961*Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1961Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1961"Open to Me, My Sister"
1961"Need"Beyond Fantasy Fiction
1962*"Hothouse"
1962"Monument"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1962"Scylla's Daughter"Fantastic
1962"Status Quo"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1962"Lion Loose"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1963*Galaxy Science Fiction
1963"Myrrha"
1963Fantastic
1963"When You Care, When You Love"
1963"Where Is the Bird of Fire?"Science Fantasy
1964*"No Truce with Kings"
1964""Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1964
1964"Savage Pellucidar"Amazing Stories
1965*"Soldier, Ask Not"Galaxy Science Fiction
1965"Once a Cop"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1965"Little Dog Gone"Worlds of Tomorrow
1966*Galaxy Science Fiction
1966"Marque and Reprisal"
1966"Day of the Great Shout"Worlds of Tomorrow
1966"Stardock"Fantastic
1966
1967*"Neutron Star"If
1967"Man In His Time"Who Can Replace a Man?
1967"Delusions for a Dragon Slayer"Knight
1967"Rat Race"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1967Orbit #1
1967"Mr. Jester"If
1967"Light of Other Days"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1967"Comes Now the Power"Magazine of Horror
1968*"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"If
1968Dangerous Visions
1968"Aye, and Gomorrah"Dangerous Visions
1969*Galaxy Science Fiction
1969"All the Myriad Ways"Galaxy Science Fiction
1969
1969Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1969"Masks"Playboy
1970*"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones"New Worlds
1970"Passengers"Orbit #4
1970"Not Long Before the End"
1970"Deeper than the Darkness"
1970"Winter's King"Orbit #5
1971*"Slow Sculpture"Galaxy Science Fiction
1971"Continued on Next Rock"Orbit #7
1971"Jean Duprès"Nova #1
1971"In the Queue"Orbit #7
1971"Brillo"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1972*"Inconstant Moon"All the Myriad Ways
1972"Vaster than Empires and More Slow"New Dimensions #1
1972
1972
1972"Sky"New Dimensions #1
1972"All the Last Wars at Once"Universe #1
1973*"Eurema's Dam"New Dimensions #2
1973*rowspan="2" rowspan="2"
1973*--
1973"When We Went to See the End of the World"Universe #2
1973"And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side"
1973"When It Changed"Again, Dangerous Visions
1974*New Dimensions #3
1974"With Morning Comes Mistfall"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1974"Construction Shack"If
1974"Wings"
1975*Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1975Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1975"Cathadonian Odyssey"
1975Galaxy Science Fiction
1975"Schwartz Between the Galaxies"Stellar #1
1976*"Catch That Zeppelin!"
1976"Croatoan"
1976"Child of All Ages"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1976"Sail the Tide of Mourning"New Dimensions #5
1976"Rogue Tomato"New Dimensions #5
1976"Doing Lennon"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1977*"Tricentennial"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1977
1977"I See You"
1977"Custom Fitting"Stellar #2
1978*"Jeffty Is Five"
1978"Air Raid"Asimov's Science Fiction
1978"Dog Day Evening"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1978"Lauralyn"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1978"Time-Sharing Angel"
1979*"Cassandra"
1979"Count the Clock that Tells the Time"Omni
1979"View From a Height"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1979"Stone"
1979Anticipations
1980*Omni
1980"Unaccompanied Sonata"Omni
1980"Can These Bones Live?"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1980"giANTS"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1980"Daisy, In the Sun"Galileo
1981*"Grotto of the Dancing Deer"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1981"Our Lady of the Sauropods"Omni
1981"Spidersong"
1981"Cold Hands"Asimov's Science Fiction
1981"Guardian"Asimov's Science Fiction
1982*
1982Asimov's Science Fiction
1982"Absent Thee from Felicity Awhile"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1982
1983*"Melancholy Elephants"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1983"Sur"
1983
1983"Spider Rose"
1983"Ike at the Mike"Omni
1984*"Speech Sounds"Asimov's Science Fiction
1984"Servant of the People"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1984Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1984Asimov's Science Fiction
1984"Wong's Lost and Found Emporium"Amazing Stories
1985*Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1985
1985"Symphony for a Lost Traveler"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1985"Salvador"
1985"Ridge Running"
1985"Rory"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1986*"Fermi and Frost"Asimov's Science Fiction
1986"Flying Saucer Rock & Roll"Omni
1986"Snow"Omni
1986"Dinner in Audoghast"Asimov's Science Fiction
1986"Hong's Bluff"Omni
1987*"Tangents"Omni
1987"Robot Dreams"Robot Dreams
1987
1987"Still Life"
1987"Rat"
1988*"Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers"Asimov's Science Fiction
1988"Forever Yours, Anna"Omni
1988"Angel"Asimov's Science Fiction
1988"Night of the Cooters"Omni
1988Asimov's Science Fiction
1988"Cassandra's Photographs"Asimov's Science Fiction
1989*"Kirinyaga"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1989Interzone
1989"Ripples in the Dirac Sea"Asimov's Science Fiction
1989"Our Neural Chernobyl"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1989"Stable Strategies for Middle Management"Asimov's Science Fiction
1989Full Spectrum
1990*"Boobs"Asimov's Science Fiction
1990"Lost Boys"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1990"Computer Friendly"Asimov's Science Fiction
1990What Might Have Been? Vol. 1: Alternate Empires
1990Asimov's Science Fiction
1990"Dori Bangs"Asimov's Science Fiction
1991*"Bears Discover Fire"Asimov's Science Fiction
1991"Cibola"Asimov's Science Fiction
1991"Godspeed"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1991Asimov's Science Fiction
1991"VRM-547"Analog Science Fact & Fiction
1992*Asimov's Science Fiction
1992"One Perfect Morning, With Jackals"Asimov's Science Fiction
1992"In the Late Cretaceous"Asimov's Science Fiction
1992"Winter Solstice"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1992"Press Ann"Asimov's Science Fiction
1992"Buffalo"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1992"Dog's Life"Amazing Stories
1993*"Even the Queen"Asimov's Science Fiction
1993Asimov's Science Fiction
1993Asimov's Science Fiction
1993Asimov's Science Fiction
1993Alternate Kennedys
1994*"Death on the Nile"Asimov's Science Fiction
1994"Mwalimu in the Squared Circle"Asimov's Science Fiction
1994Full Spectrum 4
1994Fantasy & Science Fiction
1994"England Underway"Omni
1995*"None So Blind"Asimov's Science Fiction
1995"I Know What You're Thinking"Asimov's Science Fiction
1995"Barnaby in Exile"Asimov's Science Fiction
1995"Dead Man's Curve"Asimov's Science Fiction
1995"Understanding Entropy"SF Age
1995"Mrs. Lincoln's China"Asimov's Science Fiction
1996*Fantasy & Science Fiction
1996Fantasy & Science Fiction
1996"TeleAbsence"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
1996"Life on the Moon"Asimov's Science Fiction
1996"Walking Out"Asimov's Science Fiction
1997*Asimov's Science Fiction
1997"Un-Birthday Boy"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
1997Starlight #1
1997"Decency"Asimov's Science Fiction
1997"Gone"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1998*Asimov's Science Fiction
1998"Itsy Bitsy Spider"Asimov's Science Fiction
1998"No Planets Strike"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1998Free Space
1998"Standing Room Only"Asimov's Science Fiction
1998"Beluthahatchie"Asimov's Science Fiction
1999*Asimov's Science Fiction
1999"Maneki Neko"Fantasy & Science Fiction
1999"Radiant Doors"Asimov's Science Fiction
1999"Wild Minds"Asimov's Science Fiction
1999"Cosmic Corkscrew"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
1999"Whiptail"Asimov's Science Fiction
2000*"Scherzo with Tyrannosaur"Asimov's Science Fiction
2000"Ancient Engines"Asimov's Science Fiction
2000"Hothouse Flowers"Asimov's Science Fiction
2000"macs"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2000"Sarajevo"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2001*"Different Kinds of Darkness"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2001"Kaddish for the Last Survivor"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2001"Moon Dogs"Asimov's Science Fiction
2001Asimov's Science Fiction
2001Asimov's Science Fiction
2002*Asimov's Science Fiction
2002Tales from Earthsea
2002"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"Asimov's Science Fiction
2002Asimov's Science Fiction
2002"Spaceships"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2003*"Falling Onto Mars"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2003Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2003Asimov's Science Fiction
2003"Creation"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2003"Lambing Season"Asimov's Science Fiction
2004*Shadows Over Baker Street
2004"Paying It Forward"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2004"Robots Don't Cry"Asimov's Science Fiction
2004"Four Short Novels"Fantasy & Science Fiction
2004Fantasy & Science Fiction
2005*"Travels with My Cats"Asimov's Science Fiction
2005Scifi.com
2005Asimov's Science Fiction
2005"Shed Skin"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2005"Decisions"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2006*"Tk'tk'tk"Asimov's Science Fiction
2006"Seventy-Five Years"Analog Science Fiction and Fact
2006Interzone
2006"Singing My Sister Down"Black Juice
2006"Down Memory Lane"Asimov's Science Fiction
2007*"Impossible Dreams"Asimov's Science Fiction
2007"How to Talk to Girls at Parties"Fragile Things
2007"Eight Episodes"Asimov's Science Fiction
2007"Kin"Asimov's Science Fiction
2007Strange Horizons
2008*"Tideline"Asimov's Science Fiction
2008Asimov's Science Fiction
2008"Last Contact"
2008"Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?"
2008"Distant Replay"Asimov's Science Fiction
2009*"Exhalation"Eclipse #2
2009"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss"Asimov's Science Fiction
2009"From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled"Asimov's Science Fiction
2009"Evil Robot Monkey"
2009"Article of Faith"Jim Baen's Universe
2010*"Bridesicle"Asimov's Science Fiction
2010Asimov's Science Fiction
2010Footprints
2010"Non-Zero Probabilities"Clarkesworld Magazine
2010"Spar"Clarkesworld Magazine
2011"For Want of a Nail"Asimov's Science Fiction
2011"Amaryllis"Lightspeed Magazine
2011"Ponies"Tor.com
2011Clarkesworld Magazine
2012*Fantasy & Science Fiction
2012Clarkesworld Magazine
2012Asimov's Science Fiction
2012"Movement"Asimov's Science Fiction
2012Tor.com
2013*"Mono no Aware"
2013"Immersion"Clarkesworld Magazine
2013"Mantis Wives"Clarkesworld Magazine
2014*Tor.com
2014"If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love"Apex Magazine
2014Tor.com
2014"Selkie Stories Are for Losers"Strange Horizons
2015+
2015"On a Spiritual Plain"Sci Phi Journal
2015
2015"Totaled"Galaxy's Edge
2015"Turncoat"Riding the Red Horse
2015The Book of Feasts & Seasons
2016*"Cat Pictures Please"Clarkesworld Magazine
2016"Asymmetrical Warfare"Nature
2016"If You Were an Award, My Love"voxday.blogspot.com
2016"If You Were an Award, My Love"voxday.blogspot.com
2016"Seven Kill Tiger"There Will Be War Volume X
2016Amazon Digital Services
2017*"Seasons of Glass and Iron"
2017Tor.com
2017Tor.com
2017"Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies"Uncanny Magazine
2017"That Game We Played During the War"Tor.com
2017God, Robot
2018*"Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™"Apex Magazine
2018"Carnival Nine"Beneath Ceaseless Skies
2018"Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand"Uncanny Magazine
2018"Fandom for Robots"Uncanny Magazine
2018Tor.com
2018"Sun, Moon, Dust"Uncanny Magazine
2019*Apex Magazine
2019Uncanny Magazine
2019Fireside Magazine
2019"STET"Fireside Magazine
2019 Uncanny Magazine
2019Lightspeed
2020"And Now His Lordship Is Laughing"Strange Horizons
2020"As the Last I May Know"Tor.com
2020"Blood Is Another Word for Hunger"Tor.com
2020Uncanny Magazine
2020"Do Not Look Back, My Lion"Beneath Ceaseless Skies
2020"Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island"Nightmare Magazine

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 seven times, for 1939, 1941, 1943—1946, 1951, and 1954.
YearYear awardedAuthorShort storyPublisher or publicationRef.
19392014*"How We Went to Mars"Amateur Science Stories
19392014Astounding Science-Fiction
19392014"Helen O'Loy"Astounding Science-Fiction
19392014"Hollerbochen's Dilemma"Imagination!
19392014"Hyperpilosity"Astounding Science-Fiction
19412016*"Robbie"Super Science Stories
19412016"Martian Quest"Astounding Science Fiction
19412016"Requiem"Astounding Science Fiction
19412016Planet Stories
19412016"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius"Sur
19432018*rowspan="2" Astounding Science Fiction
19432018*-Astounding Science Fiction
19432018"Etaoin Shrdlu"Unknown
19432018 "Mimic"Astonishing Stories
19432018"Proof"Astounding Science Fiction
19432018"Runaround"Astounding Science Fiction
19432018Unknown
19442019*"King of the Gray Spaces" Famous Fantastic Mysteries
19442019"Death Sentence"Astounding Science Fiction
19442019"Doorway into Time"Famous Fantastic Mysteries
19442019"Exile"Super Science Stories
19442019 "Q.U.R."Astounding Science-Fiction
19442019"Yours Truly – Jack the Ripper"Weird Tales
19452020"And the Gods Laughed""Planet Stories
19452020"Desertion"Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020"Far Centaurus"Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020"Huddling Place"Astounding Science-Fiction
19452020"I, Rocket"Amazing Stories
19452020Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996*"Uncommon Sense"Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996"What You Need"Astounding Science-Fiction
19461996"Correspondence Course"Astounding Science-Fiction
19512001*"To Serve Man"Galaxy Science Fiction
19512001"Coming Attraction"Galaxy Science Fiction
19512001"Born of Man and Woman"
19512001Astounding Science-Fiction
19512001
19542004*Star Science Fiction Stories #1
19542004"It's a Good Life"Star Science Fiction Stories #2
19542004"Star Light, Star Bright"
19542004Galaxy Science Fiction
19542004"Seventh Victim"Galaxy Science Fiction''