2011 Hugos - some (not much) analysis
Full stats are here.
Best Novel: Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (beating Feed, which got the most first preferences, by 24 votes on last count; The Dervish House came fifth, though the honours were fairly evenly divided, third place going to Cryoburn by a six-vote margin over The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms)
Best Novella: The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (a pretty clear result: the others, in order, ranked 2) "Troika", 3) "The Lady...", 4) "The Sultan...", 5) "The Maiden Flight...")
Best Novelette: “The Emperor of Mars”, Allen M. Steele (again a clear result with clear rankings for the others: 2) "Eight Miles", 3) "Plus or Minus", 4) "That Leviathan...", 5) "The Jaguar House...")
Best Short Story: “For Want of a Nail”, Mary Robinette Kowal (a clear result, with fans of Kowal's story also liking "Amaryllis" which came second; "The Things" third and "Ponies" fourth.)
Best Related Work: Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (followed by Heinlein biography, then The Business of Science Fiction gets third place by three votes from Writing Excuses and Bearings - the only nominee not available electronically - a lon way behind.)
Best Professional Artist: Shaun Tan (by 14 votes from Dos Santos; Martiniere is second, Dos Santos and Picacio joint third - the only tie of the night - Eggleton fifth.)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Inception (by a massive margin; the others ranked How To Train Your Dragon, Harry Potter 7.1, Toy Story 3, Scott Pilgrim.)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who: “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang” (followed by Vincent and the Doctor and A Christmas Carol; Fuck Me Ray Bradbury actually got the most first preferences but was overtaken by Whovian transfers, and eventually takes fourth place by ten votes from The Lost Thing.)
Best Editor, Long Form: Lou Anders (by 23 votes from Buchanan; others rank Meacham, Gorisky, Feder, Mamatas, Ulman.)
Best Editor, Short Form: Sheila Williams (Schmidt top on first prefs but loses by a wide margin on transfers; Adams takes third place by six votes from van Gelder, who ends behind Strahan in fifth.)
Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse (followed by Fables: Witches, Schlock Mercenary, Grandville Mon Amour and The Unwritten in that order; I find this incomprehensible.)
Best Semiprozine: Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, Sean Wallace; podcast directed by Kate Baker (Locus top in first preferences but must settle for second place; Interzone takes third from Lightspeed by five votes; Lightspeed nine ahead of Weird Tales for fourth place.)
Best Fanzine: The Drink Tank, edited by Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (followed by File 770 and then StarShipSofa which was top in first preferences, Challenger beats Banana Wings for fourth place by seven votes.)
Best Fan Writer: Claire Brialey (by six votes, over Steven H Silver who has to settle for third place behind Chris Garcia; James Bacon also six votes ahead of James Nicoll for fourth place.)
Best Fan Artist: Brad W. Foster (by one vote over Randall Munroe who was way ahead on first preferences; others rank 3) Starkey, 4) Stile, 5) Wayne)
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Lev Grossman (by fifteen votes over Lauren Beukes; 3) Saladin Ahmed, 4) Dan Wells, 5) Larry Correia.)
Congratulations to all winners! Eleventh Hugo (and fifth Hugo/Nebula double) for Connie Willis (born 1945); fourth for Ted Chiang (born 1967); third for Allen Steele (born 1958); first for Mary Robinette Kowal (born 1969).
Well, I guess I can't complain too much; I voted for the winners in Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Related Work, and Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form, and I'm not too disappointed by the winners of Best Novelette, Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form and the John W. Campbell Award. Still shaking my head over the appeal of Blackout/All Clear and Girl Genius though.
Nominees that weren't:
"Elegy for a Young Elk" by Hannu Rajaniemi missed the Best Short Story list by 0.75 of a vote, if I have my maths right.
Ellen Datlow missed Best Editor, Short Form, by a single vote. Notes from Coode Street was one vote away from the Best Fanzine list.
"A Jar of Goodwill" by Tobias Buckell and "The Naturalist" by Maureen McHugh both missed the Best Novelette list by two votes. Guy Lillian III missed the Best Fan Writer list by two votes. Spring Schoenhuth missed the Best Fan Artist list by two votes.
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor missed the Best Novel shortlist by four votes (China Mieville's Kraken missed it by six). I see last year's winner still got ten nominators for Best Graphic Story, where Hereville by Barry Deutsch missed the list by four votes.
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach missed Best Related Work by five votes.
Both David Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden decliend nomination for Best Editor, Long Form, resulting in the multiple tie for fifth place which gave us seven nominees. (Toni Weisskopf was two votes adrift.)
Best Novel: Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (beating Feed, which got the most first preferences, by 24 votes on last count; The Dervish House came fifth, though the honours were fairly evenly divided, third place going to Cryoburn by a six-vote margin over The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms)
Best Novella: The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (a pretty clear result: the others, in order, ranked 2) "Troika", 3) "The Lady...", 4) "The Sultan...", 5) "The Maiden Flight...")
Best Novelette: “The Emperor of Mars”, Allen M. Steele (again a clear result with clear rankings for the others: 2) "Eight Miles", 3) "Plus or Minus", 4) "That Leviathan...", 5) "The Jaguar House...")
Best Short Story: “For Want of a Nail”, Mary Robinette Kowal (a clear result, with fans of Kowal's story also liking "Amaryllis" which came second; "The Things" third and "Ponies" fourth.)
Best Related Work: Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (followed by Heinlein biography, then The Business of Science Fiction gets third place by three votes from Writing Excuses and Bearings - the only nominee not available electronically - a lon way behind.)
Best Professional Artist: Shaun Tan (by 14 votes from Dos Santos; Martiniere is second, Dos Santos and Picacio joint third - the only tie of the night - Eggleton fifth.)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Inception (by a massive margin; the others ranked How To Train Your Dragon, Harry Potter 7.1, Toy Story 3, Scott Pilgrim.)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who: “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang” (followed by Vincent and the Doctor and A Christmas Carol; Fuck Me Ray Bradbury actually got the most first preferences but was overtaken by Whovian transfers, and eventually takes fourth place by ten votes from The Lost Thing.)
Best Editor, Long Form: Lou Anders (by 23 votes from Buchanan; others rank Meacham, Gorisky, Feder, Mamatas, Ulman.)
Best Editor, Short Form: Sheila Williams (Schmidt top on first prefs but loses by a wide margin on transfers; Adams takes third place by six votes from van Gelder, who ends behind Strahan in fifth.)
Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse (followed by Fables: Witches, Schlock Mercenary, Grandville Mon Amour and The Unwritten in that order; I find this incomprehensible.)
Best Semiprozine: Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, Sean Wallace; podcast directed by Kate Baker (Locus top in first preferences but must settle for second place; Interzone takes third from Lightspeed by five votes; Lightspeed nine ahead of Weird Tales for fourth place.)
Best Fanzine: The Drink Tank, edited by Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (followed by File 770 and then StarShipSofa which was top in first preferences, Challenger beats Banana Wings for fourth place by seven votes.)
Best Fan Writer: Claire Brialey (by six votes, over Steven H Silver who has to settle for third place behind Chris Garcia; James Bacon also six votes ahead of James Nicoll for fourth place.)
Best Fan Artist: Brad W. Foster (by one vote over Randall Munroe who was way ahead on first preferences; others rank 3) Starkey, 4) Stile, 5) Wayne)
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Lev Grossman (by fifteen votes over Lauren Beukes; 3) Saladin Ahmed, 4) Dan Wells, 5) Larry Correia.)
Congratulations to all winners! Eleventh Hugo (and fifth Hugo/Nebula double) for Connie Willis (born 1945); fourth for Ted Chiang (born 1967); third for Allen Steele (born 1958); first for Mary Robinette Kowal (born 1969).
Well, I guess I can't complain too much; I voted for the winners in Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Related Work, and Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form, and I'm not too disappointed by the winners of Best Novelette, Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form and the John W. Campbell Award. Still shaking my head over the appeal of Blackout/All Clear and Girl Genius though.
Nominees that weren't:
"Elegy for a Young Elk" by Hannu Rajaniemi missed the Best Short Story list by 0.75 of a vote, if I have my maths right.
Ellen Datlow missed Best Editor, Short Form, by a single vote. Notes from Coode Street was one vote away from the Best Fanzine list.
"A Jar of Goodwill" by Tobias Buckell and "The Naturalist" by Maureen McHugh both missed the Best Novelette list by two votes. Guy Lillian III missed the Best Fan Writer list by two votes. Spring Schoenhuth missed the Best Fan Artist list by two votes.
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor missed the Best Novel shortlist by four votes (China Mieville's Kraken missed it by six). I see last year's winner still got ten nominators for Best Graphic Story, where Hereville by Barry Deutsch missed the list by four votes.
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach missed Best Related Work by five votes.
Both David Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden decliend nomination for Best Editor, Long Form, resulting in the multiple tie for fifth place which gave us seven nominees. (Toni Weisskopf was two votes adrift.)