The Hugo Awards, formerly known as the Science Fiction Achievement Awards, were started in 1953 at the 11th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Philadelphia. You can read about the start of the awards in the Philcon Program Book which is available on-line. After being skipped in 1954, the Hugo Awards became an annual tradition selecting the best material of the previous year in the SF field. The awards are voted on by the members of the Worldcon.
In 1994, at the instigation of Bruce Pelz, a motion was passed to create the Retro-Hugo Awards. The Retro-Hugo is an option that a Worldcon can choose to retroactively make awards for years when the Worldcon took place but during which no Hugo Awards were given. Awards are allowed only for specific years: 50, 75, or 100 years before the current Worldcon.
The Introduction to the Retro Hugos, edited by Andrew I. Porter with Joe Siclari and Edie Stern, is a comprehensive introduction to, and history of, the Retro Hugos. Please note that this a PDF file that requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing. If you don't already have the Reader you can download a free copy from Adobe by clicking here
As is normal for the Hugo Awards, the Retro-Hugo Awards are selected from the best of the previous year for which they would have been awarded. Therefore, the Retro Hugos for Worldcon 76 in San Jose, CA, USA will be awarded for work done in 1942, and the Retro Hugos for Dublin 2019 in Dublin, Ireland will be awarded for work done in 1943.
The Fan History Project is an effort to preserve and distribute our fannish history. It is run by FANAC, Inc., the original sponsor for the MagiCon, the 50th Worldcon, back in 1992. FANAC is pleased to assist the 2018 and 2019 Worldcons and their members to be better and more knowledgeable nominators and voters for the Retro Hugo Awards by placing as many issues of 1942 and 1943 fanzines online as we possibly can for you to read and enjoy. We hope that this will allow you to make a better qualified judgment of the fan categories for the awards. We will try to put up material from as many potential nominees as possible. From the list below, you will see that we already have many of the zines online. We are putting all kinds of zines online from small personal fanzines (perzines) to larger general fanzines (genzines) to One-Shots which are not eligible for Best Fanzine category but, along with the rest, can provide you with a better opportunity to judge in the Fan Writer and Fan Artist categories.
-- Joe Siclari, Coordinator |
-- Edie Stern, Webmaster |
Updated January 10, 2018. If you have a comment or question about these Web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.
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