The Hugo Award® is the leading award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The Hugo Awards were first presented in 1953 and have been awarded every year since 1955 by the members of the World Science Fiction Society (Worldcon members) at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon). The complete list of Hugo Award winners can be found at the official Hugo Award website. The current rules for the Hugo Awards are contained in Article 3 of the WSFS Constitution.
The Hugo Awards are awarded each year by WSFS at that year’s Worldcon. Voting for the Hugo Awards takes place in two stages.
Nominations, the first stage for the Hugo Awards, will open in early 2025. In order for a WSFS member to nominate works, a person must purchase a WSFS membership before January 31, 2025, or be a member of the Glasgow Worldcon in 2024. After nominations have closed, the final ballot will be announced, and all members of Seattle Worldcon 2025.
The second stage of voting is the final ballot. This stage will be open only to Seattle Worldcon 2025 members (including those who joined after January 31, 2025). In the final ballot, members choose between the finalists in each category. More information will be available closer to the voting stage.
If you have any questions about the Hugo Awards process, please contact Hugo Help.
Retro Hugos
Seattle Worldcon 2025’s vision of “Building Yesterday’s Future—For Everyone” involves looking back at the great themes of classic science fiction and fantasy to bring the best ideas forward, in an inclusive fashion that marries yesterday’s optimism with 21st century ideals. While we are developing a program track to explore genre history in depth, Seattle Worldcon 2025 will not include Retro Hugo Awards.
The Retro Hugo Awards were conceived in the 1990s to retroactively select Hugo Award winners for the years between 1939-1954 in which no Hugos were awarded. To award Retro Hugos, a Worldcon must be held 50, 75, or 100 years after the year in which the works would have theoretically been eligible. Retro Hugos have been awarded on eight occasions, most recently in 2020, although as noted by the Internet Science Fiction Database, the practice has become controversial, with the four most recent Worldcons declining to award them. An amendment was adopted at the Glasgow Worldcon to eliminate the practice going forward and passed on to Seattle for ratification.
While Seattle Worldcon is also declining to award Retro Hugos, we find looking back at the works that have brought us here incredibly valuable. We look forward to discussion of the legacy of past science fiction and fantasy by our fantastic panelists, and hope you will join in the conversation. New engagement casts these worlds and their creators in new lights, and allows us to reflect on how science fiction and fantasy can be — and has always been — used as an agent for change.
2025 Special Hugo Award
Each Worldcon may create a special Hugo Award category which is not binding on future Worldcons. The nomination and voting process for a special Hugo Award is the same as for the permanent categories.
Seattle Worldcon 2025 will be awarding a special Hugo Award for best poem in 2025. Poems must be published in the year 2024, be within the speculative, science fiction, or fantasy genres, and have a minimum of three lines.
Hugo Subcommittee
The Seattle Worldcon 2025 Committee has completely and irrevocably delegated its authority to administer the 2025 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards to a Hugo Subcommittee consisting of Hugo Administrator Nicholas Whyte, Deputy Hugo Administrator Esther MacCallum-Stewart, WSFS Division Head Cassidy, and WSFS Deputy Division Heads Kathryn Duval and Rosemary Parks. Per section 3.13 of the WSFS Constitution, the members of the Hugo Subcommittee will therefore be ineligible for the 2025 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards, and remain ineligible regardless of continuing membership in the subcommittee. The Hugo administrator may add to or modify the Hugo Subcommittee at his discretion without having to return to the Seattle Worldcon 2025 Committee for approval.
