My Hugo Numbers - a bit tidier
Firstly, my original methodology was a bit wonky, I was working off the published nominations that got more than about 3% of the votes cast. Unfortunately, not very many years have published details on the number of Unique Works nominated compared to the Ballots. I have 3 relatively easy to look at ones though. 2009, 2013 and 2014.
Tables don't seem to be easy here, so I'll do what I can:
Total Ballots cast Best Novel | Novelette | Novella | Short Story
2009 - 629 | 373 | 337 | 448
2013 - 1113 |616 | 587 | 662
2014 - 1595 | 728 | 847 | 865
Unique Works Nominated Best Novel | Novelette | Novella | Short Story
2009 - 335 | 233 | 122 | 470
2013 - 475 | 252 | 135 | 569
2014 - 648 | 290 | 206 | 578
I've already covered the works garnering about 3% of the total votes and what happened to them.
Most interesting for me: the ratio of unique works nominated to the number of ballots cast for Best Novel has stayed REALLY very consistent over this whole time.
The actual ratio of people who vote for Best Novel and then vote for a short category is also relatively consistent. What is not consistent is effect on the works being nominated - relatively speaking fewer and fewer short stories are being nominated over time.
What is unclear to me is how many unique works are actually published in each category and how much of this is simply diminishing returns in a field that already was fairly widely read.
Either way, given these results and how often in recent years some of the short categories have struggled to get enough stories which hit 5% it's indicative of just how effective a strong 'slate' is and how little evidence there really is of much of one historically.
Tables don't seem to be easy here, so I'll do what I can:
Total Ballots cast Best Novel | Novelette | Novella | Short Story
2009 - 629 | 373 | 337 | 448
2013 - 1113 |616 | 587 | 662
2014 - 1595 | 728 | 847 | 865
Unique Works Nominated Best Novel | Novelette | Novella | Short Story
2009 - 335 | 233 | 122 | 470
2013 - 475 | 252 | 135 | 569
2014 - 648 | 290 | 206 | 578
I've already covered the works garnering about 3% of the total votes and what happened to them.
Most interesting for me: the ratio of unique works nominated to the number of ballots cast for Best Novel has stayed REALLY very consistent over this whole time.
The actual ratio of people who vote for Best Novel and then vote for a short category is also relatively consistent. What is not consistent is effect on the works being nominated - relatively speaking fewer and fewer short stories are being nominated over time.
What is unclear to me is how many unique works are actually published in each category and how much of this is simply diminishing returns in a field that already was fairly widely read.
Either way, given these results and how often in recent years some of the short categories have struggled to get enough stories which hit 5% it's indicative of just how effective a strong 'slate' is and how little evidence there really is of much of one historically.