2021 Hugo Award Finalists Announced

Finalists for the Hugo Awards, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book were announced by DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention today in a YouTube video.

Voting on the final ballot will begin later in April and will close November 19, 2021. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at DisCon III, in December.

Nominations for the 2021 Awards opened on January 25, 2021 and closed on March 19. Anyone who was a member of the 2020 or 2021 Worldcons as of the end of 2020 was eligible to nominate up to five people or works in each category. Those nominees that received sufficient nominations and met the eligibility requirements went on to a final ballot, where members of DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon, will vote among them.

Here are the finalists:

Best Novel

• Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press)
• The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
• Harrow The Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com)
• Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
• Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
• The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)

Best Novella

• Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com)
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tor.com)
• Finna, Nino Cipri (Tor.com)
• Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
• Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor.com)
• Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)

Best Novelette

• “Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)
• “Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
• “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)
• “Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
• “The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))
• Two Truths and a Lie, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

Best Short Story

• “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse”, Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2020)
• “A Guide for Working Breeds”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris))
• Little Free Library, Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com)
• “The Mermaid Astronaut”, Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)
• “Metal Like Blood in the Dark”, T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
• “Open House on Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots – 2020, ed. David Steffen)

Best Series

• The Daevabad Trilogy, S.A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager)
• The Interdependency, John Scalzi (Tor Books)
• The Lady Astronaut Universe, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books/Audible/Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
• The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
• October Daye, Seanan McGuire (DAW)
• The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)

Best Related Work

• Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley (FSG)
• CoNZealand Fringe, Claire Rousseau, C, Cassie Hart, Adri Joy, Marguerite Kenner, Cheryl Morgan, Alasdair Stuart.
• FIYAHCON, L.D. Lewis–Director, Brent Lambert–Senior Programming Coordinator, Iori Kusano–FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, Vida Cruz–FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, and the Incredible FIYAHCON team
• “George R.R. Martin Can Fuck Off Into the Sun, Or: The 2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony (Rageblog Edition)”, Natalie Luhrs (Pretty Terrible, August 2020)
• A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, Lynell George (Angel City Press)
• The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy, Jenny Nicholson (YouTube)

Best Graphic Story or Comic

• DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
• Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, Author: Seanan McGuire, Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosie Kämpe (Marvel)
• Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything, Author: G. Willow Wilson, Artist: Christian Ward (Dark Horse Comics)
• Monstress, vol. 5: Warchild, Author: Marjorie Liu, Artist: Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
• Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios)
• Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), written by Christina Hodson, directed by Cathy Yan (Warner Bros.)
• Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, written by Will Ferrell, Andrew Steele, directed by David Dobkin (European Broadcasting Union/Netflix)
• The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix / Skydance Media)
• Palm Springs, written by Andy Siara, directed by Max Barbakow (Limelight / Sun Entertainment Culture / The Lonely Island / Culmination Productions / Neon / Hulu / Amazon Prime)
• Soul, screenplay by Pete Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers, directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers, produced by Dana Murray (Pixar Animation Studios/ Walt Disney Pictures)
• Tenet, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros./Syncopy)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

• Doctor Who: Fugitive of the Judoon, written by Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall, directed by Nida Manzoor (BBC)
• The Expanse: Gaugamela, written by Dan Nowak, directed by Nick Gomez (Alcon Entertainment / Alcon Television Group / Amazon Studios / Hivemind / Just So)
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Heart (parts 1 and 2), written by Josie Campbell and Noelle Stevenson, directed by Jen Bennett and Kiki Manrique (DreamWorks Animation Television / Netflix)
• The Mandalorian: Chapter 13: The Jedi, written and directed by Dave Filoni (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
• The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Peyton Reed (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
• The Good Place: Whenever You’re Ready, written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group)

Best Editor, Short Form

• Neil Clarke
• Ellen Datlow
• C.C. Finlay
• Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya
• Jonathan Strahan
• Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form

• Nivia Evans
• Sheila E. Gilbert
• Sarah Guan
• Brit Hvide
• Diana M. Pho
• Navah Wolfe

Best Professional Artist

• Tommy Arnold
• Rovina Cai
• Galen Dara
• Maurizio Manzieri
• John Picacio
• Alyssa Winans

Best Semiprozine

• Beneath Ceaseless Skies, ed. Scott H. Andrews
• Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart, audio producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht and the entire Escape Pod team
• FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher Troy L. Wiggins, executive editor DaVaun Sanders, managing editor Eboni Dunbar, poetry editor Brandon O’Brien, reviews and social media Brent Lambert, art director L. D. Lewis, and the FIYAH Team.
• PodCastle, editors, C.L. Clark and Jen R. Albert, assistant editor and host, Setsu Uzumé, producer Peter Adrian Behravesh, and the entire PodCastle team.
• Uncanny Magazine, editors in chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, managing editor: Chimedum Ohaegbu, non-fiction editor: Elsa Sjunneson, podcast producers: Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
• Strange Horizons, Vanessa Aguirre, Joseph Aitken, Rachel Ayers, M H Ayinde, Tierney Bailey, Scott Beggs, Drew Matthew Beyer, Gautam Bhatia, S. K. Campbell, Zhui Ning Chang, Rita Chen, Tania Chen, Joyce Chng, Liz Christman, Linda H. Codega, Kristian Wilson Colyard, Yelena Crane, Bruhad Dave, Sarah Davidson, Tahlia Day, Arinn Dembo, Nathaniel Eakman, Belen Edwards, George Tom Elavathingal, Rebecca Evans, Ciro Faienza, Courtney Floyd, Lila Garrott, Colette Grecco, Guananí Gómez-Van Cortright, Julia Gunnison, Dan Hartland, Sydney Hilton, Angela Hinck, Stephen Ira, Amanda Jean, Ai Jiang, Sean Joyce-Farley, Erika Kanda, Anna Krepinsky, Kat Kourbeti, Clayton Kroh, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Catherine Krahe, Natasha Leullier, A.Z. Louise, Dante Luiz, Gui Machiavelli, Cameron Mack, Samantha Manaktola, Marisa Manuel, Jean McConnell, Heather McDougal, Maria Morabe, Amelia Moriarty, Emory Noakes, Sarah Noakes, Aidan Oatway, AJ Odasso, Joel Oliver-Cormier, Kristina Palmer, Karintha Parker, Anjali Patel, Vanessa Rose Phin, Nicasio Reed, Belicia Rhea, Endria Richardson, Natalie Ritter, Abbey Schlanz, Clark Seanor, Elijah Rain Smith, Hebe Stanton, Melody Steiner, Romie Stott, Yejin Suh, Kwan-Ann Tan, Luke Tolvaj, Ben Tyrrell, Renee Van Siclen, Kathryn Weaver, Liza Wemakor, Aigner Loren Wilson, E.M. Wright, Vicki Xu, Fred G. Yost, staff members who prefer not to be named, and guest editor Libia Brenda with guest first reader Raquel González-Franco Alva for the Mexicanx special issue

Best Fanzine

• The Full Lid, written by Alasdair Stuart, edited by Marguerite Kenner
• Journey Planet, edited by Michael Carroll, John Coxon, Sara Felix, Ann Gry, Sarah Gulde, Alissa McKersie, Errick Nunnally, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Chuck Serface, Steven H Silver, Paul Trimble, Erin Underwood, James Bacon, and Chris Garcia
• Lady Business, editors. Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan
• nerds of a feather, flock together, ed. Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, The G, and Vance Kotrla
• Quick Sip Reviews, editor, Charles Payseur
• Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, ed. Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne

Best Fancast

• Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace
• Claire Rousseau’s YouTube channel, produced by Claire Rousseau
• The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan, producer
• Kalanadi, produced and presented by Rachel
• The Skiffy and Fanty show, produced by Shaun Duke and Jen Zink, presented by Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, Alex Acks, Paul Weimer, and David Annandale
• Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Rowenna Miller, Marshall Ryan Maresca and Cass Morris

Best Fan Writer

• Cora Buhlert
• Charles Payseur
• Jason Sanford
• Elsa Sjunneson
• Alasdair Stuart
• Paul Weimer

Best Fan Artist

• Iain J. Clark
• Cyan Daly
• Sara Felix
• Grace P. Fong
• Maya Hahto
• Laya Rose

Best Video Game

DisCon III used their authority under the WSFS constitution to create a one-time Special Hugo Award Category for Best Video Game. See this announcement for further details.

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Publisher and Developer: Nintendo)
• Blaseball (Publisher and Developer: The Game Band)
• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Publisher Square Enix)
• Hades (Publisher and Developer: Supergiant Games)
• The Last of Us: Part II (Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment / Developer: Naughty Dog)
• Spiritfarer (Publisher and Developer: Thunder Lotus)

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (presented by the World Science Fiction Society)

The Lodestar Award is not a Hugo Award, but is an Award established by the World Science Fiction Society and administered in the same manner and in parallel with the Hugo Awards. This means that works that are finalists for the Lodestar Award are also eligible for a Hugo Award in the appropriate category based on the length of the work.

• Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas (Swoon Reads)
• A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
• Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• Legendborn, Tracy Deonn (Margaret K. McElderry/ Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
• Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet / Hot Key)
• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

Astounding Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines)

The Astounding Award is not a Hugo Award, but is administered in a similar manner and in parallel with the Hugo Awards. The eligibility rules are specified by the sponsor of the Award. See Hugo Award Categories for additional details about how this category works.

• Lindsay Ellis (1st year of eligibility)
• Simon Jimenez (1st year of eligibility)
• Micaiah Johnson (1st year of eligibility)
• A.K. Larkwood (1st year of eligibility)
• Jenn Lyons (2nd year of eligibility)
• Emily Tesh (2nd year of eligibility)