The winners of the 2024 Hugo Awards—one of science fiction and fantasy’s most prestigious awards, decided by the popular vote of WorldCon members—were presented this weekend at the 82nd WorldCon in Glasgow, Scotland. A hearty congratulations to all of the winners as well as all of the finalists and nominated works—it’s a great dang time to be a reader of sci-fi and fantasy, and this year’s slate was robust!
Here are the winners in the literary categories:
Best Novel: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom)
Best Novella: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books)
Best Novelette: “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023)
Best Short Story: “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, May 2023)
Best Series: Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (Orbit Books)
Best Graphic Story or Comic: Saga, Vol. 11 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
Best Related Work: A City on Mars by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith (Penguin Press)
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)
Astounding Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines): Xiran Jay Zhao
You can read the full list of winners and finalists here.
I’d like to make two particular recommendations from the winner’s list: one is that “The Year Without Sunshine” is one of the most hope-inducing stories I’ve read in a long time, at a moment when such things are desperately needed… and two, speaking of desperation, Some Desperate Glory is a perfect read for this time in the world—give a listen to last year’s episode of Voyage Into Genre featuring Emily Tesh to see why.
Also of note, following last year’s chaos and obfuscation around balloting at the Chengdu WorldCon, the organizers of this year’s WorldCon have already made the full balloting statistics available as well as a robust administrator’s report on how the Hugos were run this year. That is, to put it mildly, the way things ought to be done and we’re gratified (as, no doubt, are members of the SFF community at large) to see such commitment to transparency and honesty returning to the forefront of this celebration.
