This year’s Hugo Awards voter packet is now available for download by Supporting, Attending, Youth and First Worldcon members of Worldcon 75, the 75th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) taking place at the Messukeskus convention center in Helsinki, Finland from 9-13 August 2017. The packet is an electronic collection that helps voters choose between the finalists. Works included are made available by finalists and their publishers.
The Hugos are the leading awards for achievement in science fiction and fantasy. Winners are selected by the Worldcon membership.
This voter packet includes many of the works on the final ballot in full, preview versions of others, and work by most of the individuals who are finalists. It can be accessed by voters directly via the personalised link to their online ballot, which was sent to them earlier in the voting process.
Nicholas Whyte, Hugo administrator for Worldcon 75, said, “This year’s voter packet is the most extensive and complete collection since the packet’s inception in its present form 10 years ago. We are deeply appreciative of the publishers, authors, artists, editors, and other creators who have generously provided their works to this year’s Hugo Voter Packet, and ask that voters who feel the same way consider posting on social media to thank the publishers, editors, and creators who have participated in the packet.”
The packet consists of a number of downloads. In most ballot categories there are separate downloads for each of the three most common ebook formats (EPUB, MOBI, and PDF). In the few cases where a publisher has provided only a PDF version of a work, the PDF has been included in each of the different format packets so that members will not have to do extra downloading. The exceptions to this are the Dramatic Presentation, Artist, Graphic Story, Fancast, and Editor Long Form categories, where there is only a PDF download.
The Hugo Voter Packet will be available for download until the voting deadline at 11:59 pm Pacific Daylight Time on 15 July 2017 (2:59 am EDT, 07:59 BST, 09:59 EEST). As in previous years, Worldcon 75 asks that voters honour publishers’ and creators’ request that they reserve these copies for their personal use only, and that they do not share these works with non-members of Worldcon 75.
As the packet was being assembled, Mansik Yang, who had been previously announced as a finalist in the Best Fan Artist category, informed the Hugo administrators that in fact he had published no non-commercial work in 2016.
Nicholas Whyte, Hugo administrator for Worldcon 75, said, “Unfortunately, we have no alternative but to disqualify Mansik Yang as a finalist for Best Fan Artist. We appreciate his bringing the matter to our attention, and regret that we were not able to clarify the situation sooner.”
“The resulting vacancy on the ballot for Best Fan Artist has been taken by the next available candidate, Elizabeth Leggett. Paper Hugo ballots, which were about to be dispatched, are now being reprinted and the online Hugo ballot has been amended accordingly. Voters who have already expressed preference votes for Mansik Yang will be individually informed of the change to the final ballot.”
“This change is in addition to the replacement of Alex Garner by Steve Stiles, announced last month. The revised final ballot for Best Fan Artist is therefore Ninni Aalto, Elizabeth Leggett, Vesa Lehtimäki, Likhain (M. Sereno), Spring Schoenhuth, and Steve Stiles.”
