Semiprozine
| Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | The best semi-professional magazine devoted primarily to science fiction or fantasy |
| Presented by | World Science Fiction Society |
| First awarded | 1984 |
| Most recent winner | Uncanny Magazine (edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, Erika Ensign, and Steven Schapansky) |
| Official website | thehugoawards.org |
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially known as the Science Fiction Achievement Award. The award has been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing". The Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine was given each year for semi-professionally-edited magazines related to science fiction or fantasy, published in English and which had published four or more issues, with at least one issue appearing in the previous calendar year. Awards were once also given out for professional magazines in the professional magazine category, and are still awarded for fan magazines in the fanzine category.
The award was first presented in 1984, and has been given annually since. A "semiprozine" is defined for the award as a magazine in the field that is not professional but that (unlike a fanzine) either pays its contributors in something other than copies, or is (generally) available only for payment. In addition to the regular Hugo awards, beginning in 1996 Retrospective Hugo Awards, or "Retro Hugos", have been available to be awarded for years 50, 75, or 100 years prior in which no awards were given. To date, Retro Hugo awards have been awarded for 1939, 1941, 1946, 1951, and 1954, but the category failed to receive enough to form a ballot each time.
Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution as instant-runoff voting with five nominees, except in the case of a tie. These five works on the ballot are the most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of works that can be nominated. The 1953 through 1956 and 1958 awards did not include any recognition of runner-up magazines, but since 1959 all five candidates were recorded. Initial nominations are made by members in January through March, while voting on the ballot of five nominations is performed roughly in April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held. Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and are held in a different city around the world each year. At the 2008 business meeting, an amendment to the World Science Fiction Society's Constitution was passed which would remove this category. The vote to ratify this amendment was held the following year; the ratification failed and the category remained. Instead, a committee was formed to recommend improvements to the category and related categories.
...
Wikipedia