The National Book Foundation has expanded the eligibility for the National Book Awards. Previously, authors had to hold US citizenship to be considered, but now authors who maintain primary, long-term residency in the US, US territories, or Tribal lands will also be eligible for the prizes. Additionally, the foundation will sunset its petition process, which offered eligibility to authors actively pursuing, or unable to pursue, US citizenship, but which they say was a “procedural hurdle” for authors. The new criteria go into effect on March 13. Ruth Dickey, executive director of the NBF, said in a release, “The Foundation is […]
Awards
Hugo Awards Were Influenced By Political Concerns, Report Finds
The 2023 Hugo Awards were influenced by Chinese “political concerns,” as decided by Western awards administrators, according to a report published on Genre Grapevine and File 770. In January, nominating statistics were released, noting that some works and authors were inexplicably “not eligible” for awards. The news spurred a firestorm of criticism, including from R.F. Kuang and Neil Gaiman, both of whom were marked as ineligible for their respective awards. The top Hugos administrator Dave McCarty, who took responsibility for the eligibility decisions but did not explain them, was subsequently censured by the awards governing body, and resigned. The Hugo […]
Hugos Administrator Censured, Resigned After Awards Controversy
Hugo Awards administrator Dave McCarty was censured by the awards governing body and resigned from his post after public outcry over a document that showed certain nominated works were “not eligible” for the awards. On Sunday, McCarty posted an apology to his personal Facebook page, where he had been posting updates about the awards and responding to queries–often rudely–about the awards statistics. “Most of my responses there were inappropriate, unprofessional, condescending, and a number were clearly insulting,” he wrote. “I made things worse.” Still, he declined to give further explanation on the awards. “The statement that the administration team has previously […]
Nero Book Awards
The Nero Book Awards announced winners across four categories, with the book of the year to be named on March 14.
National Book Critics Circle Awards Finalists
Hugo Awards Statistics Raise Questions About ‘Ineligible’ Works
This weekend, a comprehensive document of voting statistics for the 2023 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards was released—standard practice for the sci-fi awards that are given annually at the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon). But as those in the sci-fi community looked into the details, they seem anything but standard. In June, many readers were surprised to see that R.F. Kuang’s BABEL—which won the Nebula and Locus awards—was not among the finalists for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. The newly-released document notes that BABEL, despite getting the third most nominating votes, was found ineligible for the award. It is unclear […]