Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Finalists

Finalists for the Hugo Awards, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book have been announced by Chengdu Worldcon, the 81st World Science Fiction Convention. There were 1,847 valid nominating ballots (1,843 electronic and 4 paper) received and counted from members of the 2022 and 2023 World Science Fiction Conventions for the 2023 Hugo Awards. Voting on the final ballot will open on July 10th.

For more details see the Worldcon site.

Best Novel

Best Novella

Best Novelette

  • “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, John Chu (Uncanny 7-8/22)
  • “Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness”, S.L. Huang (Clarkesworld 12/22)
  • “A Dream of Electric Mothers”, Wole Talabi (Africa Risen)
  • “The Difference Between Love and Time”, Catherynne M. Valente (Someone in Time)
  • “We Built This City”, Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld 6/22)
  • “The Space-Time Painter”, Hai Ya (Galaxy’s Edge 4/22)

Best Short Story

  • “The White Cliff”, Lu Ban (Science Fiction World 5/22)
  • “On the Razor’s Edge”, Jiang Bo (Science Fiction World 1/22)
  • “Rabbit Test”, Samantha Mills (Uncanny 11-12/22)
  • “Resurrection”, Ren Qing (Future Fiction/Science Fiction World 12/22)
  • “Zhurong on Mars”, Regina Kanyu Wang (Frontiers 9/22)
  • “D.I.Y.”, John Wiswell (Tor.com 8/24/22)

Best Series

  • Rivers of London Series, Ben Aaronovitch (DAW; Gollancz)
  • The Founders Trilogy, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
  • October Daye, Seanan McGuire (DAW)
  • The Locked Tomb Series, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
  • The Scholomance Series, Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK)
  • Children of Time Series, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US)

Best Graphic Story or Comic

  • Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams
  • DUNE: The Official Movie Graphic Novel
  • Monstress, Volume 7: Devourer
  • Once & Future, Volume 4: Monarchies in the UK
  • Saga, Volume 10
  • Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

Best Related Work

  • Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, Kyle Buchanan (William Morrow)
  • Chinese Science Fiction: An Oral History, Volume 1, Yang Feng (Chengdu Times Press)
  • “The Ghost of Workshops Past”, S.L. Huang (Tor.com 8/17/22)
  • Buffalito World Outreach Project, Lawrence M. Schoen (Paper Golem)
  • Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir, Wil Wheaton (William Morrow)
  • Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes, Rob Wilkins (Doubleday)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

  • Avatar: The Way of Water
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once
  • Nope
  • Severance, Season One
  • Turning Red

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

  • Andor: “One Way Out”
  • Andor: “Rix Road”
  • The Expanse: “Babylon’s Ashes”
  • For All Mankind: “Stranger in a Strange Land”
  • She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: “Whose Show is This?”
  • Stranger Things: “Chapter Four: Dear Billy”

Best Editor, Short Form

  • Scott H. Andrews
  • Neil Clarke
  • Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
  • Sheree Renée Thomas
  • Xu Wang
  • Feng Yang

Best Editor, Long Form

  • Ruoxi Chen
  • Lindsey Hall
  • Lee Harris
  • Sarah Peed
  • Huan Yan
  • Haijun Yao

Best Professional Artist

  • Sija Hong
  • Kuri Huang
  • Paul Lewin
  • Alyssa Winans
  • Jian Zhang
  • Enzhe Zhao

Best Semiprozine

  • Escape Pod
  • FIYAH
  • khōréō
  • PodCastle
  • Strange Horizons
  • Uncanny

Best Fanzine

  • Chinese Academic SF Express
  • Galactic Journey
  • Journey Planet
  • Nerds of a Feather
  • Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog
  • Zero Gravity Newspaper

Best Fancast

  • Coode Street Podcast
  • Hugo, Girl!
  • Hugos There
  • Kalanadi
  • Octothorpe
  • Worldbuilding for Masochists

Best Fan Writer

  • Chris M. Barkley
  • Bitter Karella
  • Arthur Liu
  • RiverFlow
  • Jason Sanford
  • Örjan Westin

Best Fan Artist

  • Iain J. Clark
  • Richard Man
  • Laya Rose
  • Alison Scott
  • España Sheriff
  • Orion Smith

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book [Not a Hugo Award]

  • Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen; Titan UK)
  • Bloodmarked, Tracy Deonn (McElderry)
  • In the Serpent’s Wake, Rachel Hartman (Random House)
  • Akata Woman, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)
  • The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK)
  • Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods, Catherynne M. Valente (McElderry)

Astounding Award for Best New Writer [Not a Hugo Award]

  • Travis Baldree
  • Naseem Jamnia
  • Isabel J. Kim*
  • Maijia Liu
  • Everina Maxwell*
  • Weimu Xin*

*Finalist in their 2nd year of eligibility.


Only Chengdu Worldcon members will be able to vote on the final ballot and choose the winners for the 2023 Hugo Awards. If you are not already a member, you can register as a World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) member in order to participate in the Hugo Awards at https://en.chengduworldcon.com/. The 2023 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award, and the Astounding Award will be presented on Saturday evening, October 21, 2023, at a formal ceremony at Chengdu Worldcon.

Questions about the Hugo Awards process should be directed to hugoteam@chengduworldcon.com.

The 81st World Science Fiction Convention, Chengdu Worldcon, will take place in Chengdu, China from October 18-22, 2023. For more information about the convention, including current membership rates, visit https://en.chengduworldcon.com/.


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