2023 Hugos

The 2023 Hugo Awards, for works disseminated in 2022, were presented at Chengdu Worldcon, the 81st Worldcon, on Sunday October 21 and caused an unprecedented controversy when the voting details were released three months later.

The concom's Hugo Awards Subcommittee, also called Hugo Awards Selection Executive Department of the WSFS Division, were Dave McCarty (Administrator or Co-Head; also one of the con's 11 Vice Chairs), Ben Yalow, Chen Shi (both Co-Heads of the WSFS Division and two of the three con Co-Chairs); Ann Marie Rudolph, Diane Lacey, Jiang Zhenyu, Joe Yao, Tina Wang, Guo Dongsheng, Pang Bo.

The nominations opened on March 1 and ran until April 30. As reported by the con, 1,847 valid nominating ballots (1843 electronic and 4 paper) were received and counted from members of Chengdu and Chicon 8, the 2022 Worldcon. To sort fiction in Chinese to length categories, the conversion factor of 1.6 Chinese characters to an English word was used.

The nominees were announced on July, 7. The final voting ran from July, 10 until October, 1. There were 1,674 valid Finalist ballots cast, the lowest number in the past decade, over 500 fewer final than in 2022 Hugos.

Controversy

Both nominations and final voting were delayed from the usual timeline and the convention's earlier promises.

Chengdu's belated Progress Report 2 of July, 17 said (p. 5):

Eligible members vote according to the “one person, one vote” rule to select Hugo Award works and individuals that comply with local laws and regulations. The Chengdu organizing committee will review the nominated works and validate the votes.

The "local laws" part caused some comments at the time but was largely ignored and found significant only in the hindsight.

While it is usual to release the Finalist voting numbers immediately after the ceremony, Chengdu did so over six weeks later on December, 3.

The details of the nominating ballots and EPH tables were released only on Saturday, January 20, 2024, the last possible date per WSFS Constitution, and immediately All Fandom Was Plunged Into War since several nominees had been declared ineligible with no explanation, and there were various irregularities in the numbers.

File 770 asked Dave McCarty, “a Chengdu Worldcon vice-chair and co-head of the Hugo Awards Selection Executive Division", about the “not eligible” rulings. He replied:

After reviewing the Constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible.

Commenters speculated that “the rules we must follow” refers to Chinese governmental oversight, as most of the ineligibles had been critical of the Chinese Communist regime. McCarty denied on his Facebook page (which had previously been the only channel through which the information on the delayed statistics was release) that either he or anyone on his team acted under government orders, but refused to explain the reasons the particular candidates were deemed ineligible, repeating the one officious sentence and attacking his interlocutors. The expression became an instant catchphrase.

Aftermath

On Tuesday, January 30, 2024, Worldcon Intellectual Property issued announcement that it “censured” Chen Shi and Ben Yalow (each) "for actions of the Hugo Administration Committee of the Chengdu Worldcon that he presided over", Dave McCarty for ditto plus "his public comments that have led to harm of the goodwill and value of our marks", and “reprimanded” (this was explained as “lesser penalty” by Donald Eastlake) Kevin Standlee "for public comments that mistakenly led people to believe that we are not servicing our marks".

In the same announcement, McCarty resigned as a Director (i. e., from membership in the Board of Directors) and Standlee from the post of the Board of Directors chairman. Donald Eastlake, previous Vice-chair, was elected the new Chair of BoD. Per a follow-up announcement at File 770 only, WSFS Mark Protection Committee appointed Bruce Farr (previously non-voting Treasurer) to the seat emptied by McCarty, which was and remains up for re-election at the 2024 Business Meeting.

On Sunday February, 4 at Capricon 44, McCarty gave a 42-minute interview to Chris Barkley, 2023 Best Fan Writer Hugo winner. It was published on the same day as a recording and a day later as transcript. While providing at least some vague explanations including a "SQL error", it just poured oil into the fire.

• Nominations announcement video (7 July 2023)
• https://hugo.chengduworldcon.com
• 2023 Hugo Award winners at the WSFS Hugo website.
• “Panic! At The Hugos” by Aidan Moher, Astrolabe 36, January 20, 2024.
• “2023 Hugo Nomination Report Has Unexplained Ineligibility Rulings; Also Reveals Who Declined” by Mike Glyer, File 770, January 20, 2024.
• “The 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics Have Finally Been Released – And We Have Questions” by Cora Buhlert, January 21, 2024, with overview of responses.
• Hugo 2023 category at Camestros Felapton, with various analyses of the numbers and discrepancies
• reporting in mundane media:
  • Guardian Wed 24 Jan
  • Publishers Weekly Thu 1 Feb
  • Esquire Fri 2 Feb

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2024

2023

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