LAcon V, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention, received 2,492 valid ballots (two paper), up from 1,962 at Seattle Worldcon 2025. There were 1,488 nominating ballots received (six paper), up from 1,338 last year.
The procedure for counting nominations remains the E Pluribus Hugo, or EPH, system, instituted in 2017 to help reduce the effect of bloc voting. The rather complicated system gives a single point to each voter’s ballot, dividing that point among the nominees. The points are counted, the two nominees with the fewest points are compared, and (points notwithstanding) the one with the fewest nominations (votes) is dropped. The process repeats until down to six finalists; the last position on the ballot is determined strictly by votes unless there’s a tie. This system complicates discussing how close a runner-up was to making the ballot, as some nominees might have eliminated others earlier on if they’d had just a few more points. We used to try to determine ourselves how far back the closest runner-up to the ballot was, but for the last several years the official nomination statistics have included their own determination of the margin by which the last place on the final ballot was decided, and we’re using those summations.
Once again, it’s time to explain the Australian ballot preference system (also called ranked voting or ‘‘Instant Runoff Voting’’) used for the Hugo Awards. First-place votes (including those for No Award) are counted in column one. If no entry has the majority of the vote then the entry with the fewest votes is dropped (e). The dropped entry’s second-place votes now become first-place votes (column two) and the process is repeated until a nominee has a majority of the votes (usually six drops, with six finalists), deciding first place. Second place is determined by dropping the winner, counting their second-place votes as if they were first, etc. Therefore, the item that originally placed second doesn’t necessarily win second place. Likewise, third place is decided by dropping both first- and second-place winners, promoting the next eligible entry, and counting all over again. The system ensures that the winner is liked by a majority of voters, even though it may not have received a majority of first-place votes.
BEST NOVEL
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow won easily, starting with the most first-place votes and holding the lead through all six rounds of voting to take first place. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, which had the most nominations, then took second place in similar fashion. Third place was more of a contest, with The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson leading in the first two rounds, only to see A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett take the lead in the last two rounds. The Raven Scholar then took fourth place in three rounds without challenge. Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor took fifth in a single round, and Shroud followed in sixth. The closest runner-up to the ballot was Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, which needed three more nominations to make the ballot. This was Harrow’s seventh Hugo nomination and second win.
BEST NOVELLA
Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots came in with the most nominations, the most first-place votes, and led through all six rounds to win. The rest of the places also went without significant challenge, with Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle in second place, Freya Marske’s Cinder House in third, Naomi Novik’s The Summer House in fourth, T. Kingfisher’s What Stalks the Deep in fifth, and Olivia Waite’s Murder by Memory in sixth. The closest runner-up to the ballot was A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo, which needed 11 additional nominations to make the list. This is El-Mohtar’s third Hugo nomination and third win.
BEST NOVELETTE
‘‘Never Eaten Vegetables’’ by H.H. Pak led all the way to take the Hugo in six rounds. Second place saw a bit of a scuffle, with ‘‘Kaiju Agonistes’’ by Scott Lynch leading in the first two rounds, only to have ‘‘When He Calls Your Name’’ by Catherynne M. Valente pick up enough votes to move into the lead when ‘‘The Millay Illusion’’ by Sarah Pinsker dropped, and hold on to take second place in the fifth round. ‘‘Kaiju Agonistes’’ then led all the way in voting for third place. Fourth place saw a tie between ‘‘Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy’’ by Martha Wells (which had the most nominations and led the first round of voting) and ‘‘The Girl My Mother Is Leaving Me For’’ by Cameron Reed, which pulled up to tie in the third round. The Pinsker then ended up in sixth place. John Scalzi’s ‘‘3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years’’ was the closest runner-up, needing one nomination worth more than half a point to make the list. This is Pak’s first Hugo nomination and win.
BEST SHORT STORY
‘‘In My Country’’ by Thomas Ha led the voting all the way, taking the award in six rounds. Second place was more of a contest, with ‘‘Wire Mother’’ by Isabel J. Kim leading the first two rounds of voting, only to have ‘‘10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days’’ by Samantha Mills move into the lead in the third and fourth rounds; then the Kim surged ahead in the fifth round to snag second place. ‘‘Missing Helen’’ by Tia Tashiro then led all the way in voting for third; the Mills took fourth without a challenge. ‘‘Six People to Revise You’’ by J.R. Dawson, which had the most nominations, ended up in fifth place, and Effie Seiberg’s ‘‘Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything’’ followed in sixth. ‘‘Barbershops of the Floating City’’ by Angela Liu needed just one more nomination to make the ballot. This is Ha’s second Hugo nomination and his first win.
BEST SERIES
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series started with a solid lead in first-place votes and held on to win the award in the sixth round. Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series led the first four rounds of voting for second place, but when Elizabeth Bear’s White Space dropped, enough of its votes went to Katherine Addison’s The Chronicles of Osreth (which had the most nominations) to push it into the lead, taking second place in the fifth round. The October Daye series then waltzed off with third place without a contest, Bear’s White Space took fourth in a bit of a squeaker with Max Gladstone’s The Craft Wars, which then took fifth in one round; Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde came in fifth. Two series got enough nominations to make the list, but were declared ineligible: Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut due to having fewer than 240,000 new words since its last appearance on the ballot in 2019, and Nghi Vo’s The Singing Hills Cycle due to having fewer than 240,000 words total. Because of the two dropped series, it’s difficult to determine the closest runner-up; T. Kingfisher’s Sworn Soldier needed two more nominations to make the ballot, but might not have enough words to be eligible; Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Dogs of War needed nine more nominations to make the ballot. This is Scalzi’s 14th Hugo nomination and fourth win (previous wins are for fan writer, related book, and novel).
BEST GRAPHIC STORY
A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel, based on Le Guin’s novel and adapted and illustrated by Fred Fordham, led for all six rounds to take the Hugo. Things got a little more interesting in the voting for second place: The Space Cat, written by Nnedi Okorafor and illustrated by Tana Ford, led in the first two rounds, only to see Absolute Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Last Amazon, written by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman. pull ahead in the third and fourth round; then The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio dropped, and enough of its next votes went to The Space Cat for it to take second place. The Invisible Parade led the first two rounds of voting for third place, only to have Absolute Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Last Amazon take the lead and keep it to take third in four rounds. The Invisible Parade, which had the most nominations, then led all the way in the voting for fourth place. The Power Fantasy Vol. 1: The Superpowers took fifth place in one round, and webcomic A Girl and Her Fed written by K.B. Spangler and illustrated by Ale Presser took sixth. The closest runner up is Who Killed Nessie? written by Paul Cornell and illustrated by Rachael Smith, which needed two more nominations to make the ballot. This is Fred Fordham’s first nomination and win, as well as Ursula K. Le Guin’s 27th nomination and ninth win.
BEST RELATED WORK
Ada Palmer’s Inventing the Renaissance led from the first round and held on to win. Second place was mostly a contest between two titles: The Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom, maintained by Renay, which led in the first two rounds, then tied in the third round with Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia Butler by Susana M. Morris, which pulled ahead in the fourth and took second in the fifth round. The Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom (which had the most nominations) took third place without a challenge, and Colourfields: Writing About Writing Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid took fourth. Essay ‘‘The Cuddled Little Vice (Sandman)’’ by Elizabeth Sandifer took fifth in one round, followed by ‘‘Ragnarök vs the Long Night’’ by Ashaya & Aziz in sixth. We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories About Political Protest, Resistance, and Hope edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older needed eight more nominations to make the ballot. This was Palmer’s third Hugo nomination and first win.
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION – LONG FORM
Sinners started with the most nominations, the most first-place votes, and went unchallenged through six rounds of voting to take the Hugo. Second place went to Andor (Season 2) without a contest. KPop Demon Hunters trounced the opposition for third place, taking it in just three rounds. Superman led the first two rounds of voting for fourth place, only to lose to Frankenstein in the third and final round. Superman then snagged fifth, and Mickey 17 took sixth. The closest runner up was Pluribus, which needed either one more nomination, or for the series Andor to have been eliminated in favor of the Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form entries; enough nominations were made for Andor to make the ballot in either category, but more voters nominated the longer form than nominated individual episodes, so the Short Form nominees were eliminated. Under the same rules, Murderbot could have made the ballot here, but was eliminated in favor of the episodes in Short Form.
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION – SHORT FORM
Murderbot: ‘‘All Systems Red’’ won with a dramatic display of dominance, coming in with the most nominations, a big lead in first-place votes, and building that lead to take the prize in only five rounds. Murderbot: ‘‘The Perimeter’’ similarly took second place in just four rounds. Pluribus: ‘‘We Is Us’’ led all the way in the voting for third place; Severance: ‘‘Cold Harbor’’ tooks fourth without challenge. Doctor Who: ‘‘The Story & the Engine’’ only needed one round to take fifth place, followed by The Wheel of Time: ‘‘The Road to the Spear’’ in sixth. A number of items that could have made the ballot were dropped; as mentioned in the previous category, three Andor episodes were dropped here in favor of having the series on the Long Form ballot. Due to the limit on the number of episodes of the same show on the final ballot, Murderbot: ‘‘Free Commerce’’ was dropped at the showrunners’ request. This many changes make it effectively impossible to determine the next runner up, or how far back it was, but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: ‘‘A Space Adventure Hour’’ was next on the list by number of nominations, at least nine nominations back of the ballot.
BEST GAME OR INTERACTIVE WORK
A clear favorite with voters, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had the most nominations, a big lead in first-place votes, and held on to win in six rounds. Second place had Blue Prince leading through the first three rounds of voting, but Hades II managed to pick up a 20-vote lead in the fourth round, holding on to take second in the fifth round. Blue Prince then took third place without challenge, Hollow Knight: Silksong similarly took fourth, Dispatch took fifth in one round, leaving Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector in sixth. Split Fiction was the closest runner-up, needing 11 more nominations to make the ballot.
BEST EDITOR – SHORT FORM
Neil Clarke won easily, starting with the most nominations and a solid lead in first-place votes that only grew through six rounds of voting. Sheila Williams took second place with similar ease. Third place ended in a tie; Jennifer Brozek had a slim lead over Michael Damien Thomas in the first two rounds, but Thomas pulled ahead by two points in the third, only to have Brozek pull up to tie in the fourth round. Lee Harris then took fifth place in one round, and Scott H. Andrews ended up sixth. John Joseph Adams needed six more nominations to make the ballot. Clarke now has 18 Hugo nominations and eight wins overall; this is his 14th nomination and fifth win in this category.
BEST EDITOR – LONG FORM
Diana M. Pho started with a slim lead in the first few rounds of voting, but held on and grew that lead to win in six rounds. Lee Harris, who had the most nominations coming in, then took second place without serious challenge. Third place was more of a contest; Carl Engle-Laird led the first two rounds of voting, but then Jaymee Goh pulled ahead in the third round and took third in the fourth round. Engle-Laird then led through three rounds of voting to snag fourth place, Jenni Hill followed in fifth, and Joe Monti in sixth. Lindsey Hall declined nomination in this category; the closest runner-up was Navah Wolfe, three nominations back of the ballot. This was Diana M. Pho’s fifth Hugo nomination and third win.
BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
Another category with a clear winner from the start: John Picacio came in with the most nominations, a big lead in first-place votes, and won without serious challenge in six rounds. Second place saw a scuffle between three contenders: Tran Nguyen led the first four rounds of voting, with Tom Roberts running second for the first two rounds, then Kelly Chong moved up into second place for the third and fourth rounds and then took the lead in the fifth and final round. Tran Nguyen led all the way to take third place in four rounds. Tom Roberts claimed fourth place in a single round, Dave Kellett snagged fifth place in one round, and Lulu Chen followed in sixth place. Maurizio Manzieri needed just one more nomination to make the ballot. Picacio now has four wins out of 19 Hugo nominations (16 in this category). Next year, the name of this category will change to Best Artist in Professional Illustration.
BEST SEMIPROZINE
Uncanny won without a fight, leading through all six rounds of voting. None of the places in this category saw any real contest: Strange Horizons, which had the most nominations, placed second, followed by Escape Pod in third, and Khōréō in fourth. On Spec took fifth place in a single round, leaving The Deadlands to take sixth. Beneath Ceaseless Skies declined nomination. The Sunday Morning Transport was the first runner-up, needing four more nominations to make the ballot. This is the 11th nomination for Uncanny and the ninth win.
BEST FANZINE
The voting started with An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog having the most nominations and the lead in first-place votes, a lead it kept through four rounds, but when Journey Planet dropped out nerds of a feather flock together picked up enough votes to move into the lead and win in the sixth round. The rest of the places went without challenge: An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog coasted into second place in the usual five rounds, Ancillary Review of Books took third, Journey Planet fourth, Intergalactic Mixtape took fifth, and Galactic Journey sixth. The closest runner-up was The Rec Center, 11 nominations away from the ballot. This was the eighth nomination and third win for nerds of a feather flock together.
BEST FANCAST
Worldbuilding for Masochists led through the first five rounds of voting, only to have Hugo, Girl! pull off a last minute surge and win in the sixth round with a nine-point lead. Worldbuilding for Masochists had to settle for taking second place without challenge, followed by Eating the Fantastic taking third in similar fashion. Octothorpe, which had the most nominations, came in fourth. The Coode Street Podcast took fifth place in a single round, and A Meal of Thorns ended up in sixth place. The Sword and Laser needed 13 more nominations to make the ballot. This is the fourth nomination and second win for Hugo, Girl!
BEST FAN WRITER
James Davis Nicoll led the first three rounds of voting, only to see Jason Sanford vault into the lead in the fourth round and build that lead to win in the sixth round. Nicoll then led the first four rounds of voting for second place, only to have Roseanna Pendlebury grab the lead in the fifth and final round. Nicoll then took third place without a fight. Örjan Westin followed in fourth place, Alex Brown in fifth, and Jay Brantner (AKA ‘‘Tar Vol’’) in sixth. There was some confusion about Brantner’s name; this was his first time on the ballot and most of his nominations were variations on TarVolon or Tar Vol, only five including any part of ‘‘Jay Brantner’’, who said he preferred to have his real name on the ballot; initially the Hugo Administration team tried to avoid confusion for fans who didn’t know the author’s real name by using ‘‘Jay Brantner (for ‘Tar Vol On’)’’, but on further discussion settled on the version with (AKA ‘‘Tar Vol’’) to make it clear Tar Vol is a pseudonym. The closest runner-up is Cora Buhlert, two nominations away from the ballot. This is Jason Sanford’s seventh Hugo nomination and first win.
BEST FAN ARTIST
Yuumei came in with the most nominations, a big lead in first-place votes, and held the lead to win in just five rounds. Geneva Bowers led all the way in the voting for second place, Sara Felix took third place in the same style, Richard Man then took fourth in only two rounds, España Sheriff grabbed fourth in one round, and Terri Ash followed in sixth. Brad Foster needed two more nominations to make the ballot. This was Yuumei’s first nomination and win.
BEST POEM
‘‘Hex Supply Customer Support Log’’ by Elis Montgomery led all the way through six rounds of voting to win. All of the places in this category went without challenge: ‘‘How to Become a Sea Witch’’ by Theodora Goss took second, ‘‘Care for Lightning’’ by Mari Ness (which had the most nominations) was third, ‘‘The World to Come’’ by Jennifer Hudak was fourth, ‘‘The Mourning Robot’’ by Angela Liu took fifth in a single round, and ‘‘Landing: Seattle’’ followed in sixth. The closest runner-up was ‘‘the jacarandas are unimpressed by your show of force’’ by Gwynne Garfinkle, two nominations away from the ballot. This is Elis Montgomery’s first nomination and win. The Best Poem category was a special Hugo Award for both Seattle Worldcon 2025 and LAcon V; a special amendment to make the category permanent got its first passage in 2025 and was ratified in 2026, becoming effective in 2027; it will need to be re-ratified in 2029.
LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK (NOT A HUGO)
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins had the most nominations, started the voting with a solid lead in first-place votes, and held onto the lead for five rounds, only to lose to Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee, which had the fewest nominations and was only fourth in first-place votes, but picked up enough votes when other titles dropped, particularly They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran, to pull ahead in the final round. This is one of the interesting effects of the Australian voting system – even big bestsellers with lots of first-place votes can have trouble winning if they don’t have support lower down on the ballot. Sunrise on the Reaping then started in the lead in the voting for second place, but Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman pulled ahead in the fifth round (again, after the Tran dropped) to take second place. The Collins again led the first three rounds of voting for third place, but it was Tran’s turn to pull ahead in the last round. The Collins then ended up taking fourth place, just two votes ahead of Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen, which then took fifth, leaving Oathbound by Tracy Deonn in sixth. Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee needed just one more nomination, or 0.18 points, to make the ballot. This was C.B. Lee’s first Lodestar nomination and win.
ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (NOT A HUGO)
Antonia Hodgson started out with the most nominations, a big lead in first-place votes, and led throughout the voting to win. H.H. Pak took second place without challenge, Jared Pechaček took third in similar fashion, Sophie Burnham took fourth, Kamilah Cole landed fifth in a single round, and Molly O’Neill followed in fifth. Hodgson and O’Neill were the only two nominees not in their second year of eligibility. Hodgson herself questioned her elegibility in this category, as she has a number of previous novels, but since none of her earlier works had genre elements she was deemed eligible for her first work of SF/F, The Raven Scholar. Two other authors with enough nominations to make the ballot were ruled ineligible due to qualifying publication(s) before 2024: Barbara Truelove and Silvia Park. The closest runner-up was Carolyn Zhao, two nominations away from making the ballot.
–Carolyn F. Cushman
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