Hugo Award for Best Fancast

Annual award for science fiction or fantasy

Hugo Award for Best Fancast

Awarded for| The best non-professional science fiction or fantasy video or audio series published in the prior calendar year
Presented by| World Science Fiction Society
First award| 2012
Most recent winner| Octothorpe (John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty)
Website| thehugoawards.org
Peter and Emma Newman accepting the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Fancast

The Hugo Award for Best Fancast is one of the Hugo Awards, and is awarded to the best non-professional audio or video periodical devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".[1][2]

To be eligible for the award, a fancast must have released four or more episodes by the end of the previous calendar year, at least one of which appeared in that year, and it must not qualify for the dramatic presentation category. It must also not provide or be published by an entity that provides a quarter or more of the income of any one person working on the fancast.[3] The name of the award is a portmanteau of fan and podcast. The Hugo Award for Best Fancast was first proposed as a category after the 2011 awards, and then appeared as a temporary category at the 2012 awards. Temporary awards are not required to be repeated in following years. The 2013 awards, however, did repeat the category, and afterwards it was ratified as a permanent category.

During the 14 years the award has been active, 33 fancasts by 89 people have been finalists, and 9 of those fancasts have won. SF Squeecast, created by a team of five people, won the first two awards in 2012 and 2013, and Our Opinions Are Correct, by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, won three times. They are the only fancasts to win multiple times. The Coode Street Podcast, by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, won in 2021, and has received the most final ballot nominations at eleven.

## Selection

[edit]

Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, and the awards presentation constitutes its central event. Supporting members are those who do not attend the convention itself, and pay a smaller membership fee as a result. The selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution as instant-runoff voting with six finalists, except in the case of a tie. The fancasts on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of fancasts that can be nominated. Initial nominations are made by members in January through March, while voting on the ballot of six finalists is performed roughly in April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held.[4] Prior to 2017, the final ballot was five works; it was changed that year to six, with each initial nominator limited to five nominations.[5] Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and are held in a different city around the world each year.[6][7] Members are permitted to vote "no award", if they feel that none of the finalists is deserving of the award that year, and in the case that "no award" takes the majority the Hugo is not given in that category. This happened in the Best Fancast category in 2016.[8]

## Winners and finalists

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In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the story was first published. Entries with a yellow background have won the award; those with a gray background are the other finalists.

*   Winners   +   No award

Winners and finalists Year  | Fancast  | Editor(s)  | Ref.

|
|
|

2012  | SF Squeecast* | Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente | [9]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [9]
Galactic Suburbia Podcast | Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Andrew Finch  | [9]
SF Signal Podcast | John DeNardo, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester  | [9]
StarShipSofa | Tony C. Smith | [9]
2013  | SF Squeecast* | Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, Catherynne M. Valente, and David McHone-Chase  | [10]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [10]
Galactic Suburbia Podcast | Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Andrew Finch  | [10]
SF Signal Podcast | John DeNardo, JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester  | [10]
StarShipSofa | Tony C. Smith | [10]
2014  | SF Signal Podcast* | Patrick Hester | [11]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [11]
Galactic Suburbia Podcast | Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Andrew Finch  | [11]
The Skiffy and Fanty Show | Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, Julia Rios, Paul Weimer, David Annandale, Mike Underwood, and Stina Leicht  | [11]
Tea and Jeopardy | Emma Newman | [11]
Verity! | Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L. M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts  | [11]
The Writer and the Critic | Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond  | [11]
2015  | Galactic Suburbia Podcast* | Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch  | [12]
Adventures in SF Publishing | Brent Bower, Kristi Charish, Timothy C. Ward, and Moses Siregar III  | [12]
Dungeon Crawlers Radio | Daniel Swenson, Travis Alexander, Scott Tomlin, Dale Newton, and Damien Swenson  | [12]
The Sci Phi Show | Jason Rennie | [12]
Tea and Jeopardy | Emma Newman and Peter Newman  | [12]
2016  | (no award)+ |  | [8]
8-4 Play | Mark MacDonald, John Ricciardi, Hiroko Minamoto, and Justin Epperson  | [8]
Cane and Rinse | Cane, Rinse  | [8]
HelloGreedo | HelloGreedo  | [8]
The Rageaholic | RazörFist  | [8]
Tales to Terrify | Stephen Kilpatrick, Scott Silk, and Philip Oldham  | [8]
2017  | Tea and Jeopardy* | Emma Newman and Peter Newman | [13]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [13]
Ditch Diggers | Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace  | [13]
Fangirl Happy Hour | Ana Grilo and Renay Williams  | [13]
Galactic Suburbia Podcast | Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch  | [13]
The Rageaholic | RazörFist  | [13]
2018  | Ditch Diggers* | Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace  | [14]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [14]
Fangirl Happy Hour | Ana Grilo and Renay Williams  | [14]
Galactic Suburbia Podcast | Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch  | [14]
Sword and Laser | Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt | [14]
Verity! | Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L. M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts  | [14]
2019  | Our Opinions Are Correct* | Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders | [15]
Be the Serpent | Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske, and Jennifer Mace  | [15]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [15]
Fangirl Happy Hour | Ana Grilo and Renay Williams  | [15]
Galactic Suburbia Podcast | Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch  | [15]
The Skiffy and Fanty Show | Jen Zink, Shaun Duke  | [15]
2020  | Our Opinions Are Correct* | Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders | [16]
Be the Serpent | Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske, and Jennifer Mace  | [16]
Claire Rousseau's YouTube channel | Claire Rousseau | [16]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [16]
Galactic Suburbia Podcast | Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch  | [16]
The Skiffy and Fanty Show | Jen Zink, Shaun Duke  | [16]
2021  | The Coode Street Podcast* | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [17]
Be the Serpent | Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske, and Jennifer Mace  | [17]
Claire Rousseau's YouTube channel | Claire Rousseau | [17]
Kalanadi | Rachel  | [17]
The Skiffy and Fanty Show | Jen Zink, Shaun Duke, Alex Acks, Paul Weimer, and David Annandale | [17]
Worldbuilding for Masochists | Rowenna Miller, Marshall Ryan Maresca, and Cass Morris  | [17]
2022  | Our Opinions Are Correct* | Annalee Newitz, Charlie Jane Anders, and Veronica Simonetti  | [18]
Be the Serpent | Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske, and Jennifer Mace  | [18]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [18]
Hugo, Girl! | Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson  | [18]
Octothorpe | John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty  | [18]
Worldbuilding for Masochists | Cass Morris, Marshall Ryan Maresca, and Rowenna Miller  | [18]
2023  | Hugo, Girl! | Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson  | [19]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [19]
Hugos There | Seth Heasley | [19]
Kalanadi | Rachel  | [19]
Octothorpe | John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty  | [19]
Worldbuilding for Masochists | Cass Morris, Rowenna Miller, and Marshall Ryan Maresca | [19]
2024  | Octothorpe* | John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty  | [20]
The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [20]
Hugos There | Seth Heasley | [20]
Publishing Rodeo | Sunyi Dean and Scott Drakeford  | [20]
Science Fiction Fans Buma | Buma, Liu Lu, Liu Chang  | [20]
Worldbuilding for Masochists | Marshall Ryan Maresca, Cass Morris, and Natania Barron  | [20]
2025  | The Coode Street Podcast | Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe | [21]
Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones | Emily Tesh, Rebecca Fraimow  | [21]
Hugo, Girl! | Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson  | [21]
Hugos There | Seth Heasley | [21]
A Meal of Thorns | Jake Casella Brookins | [21]
Worldbuilding for Masochists | Marshall Ryan Maresca, Cass Morris, and Natania Barron  | [21]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Jordison, Sam (2008-08-07). "An International Contest We Can Win". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2009-07-29. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
2. ^ Cleaver, Emily (2010-04-20). "Hugo Awards Announced". Litro Magazine. Archived from the original on 2011-05-07. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
3. ^ "Hugo Award Categories". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-12-11.
4. ^ "The Hugo Awards: Introduction". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
5. ^ "Worldcon 75: 2017 Hugo report #2" (PDF). Worldcon 75. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2017-08-15.
6. ^ "The Locus index to SF Awards: About the Hugo Awards". Locus. Archived from the original on 2010-01-03. Retrieved 2010-04-21.
7. ^ "World Science Fiction Society / Worldcon". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2009-04-14. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
8. ^ a b c d e f g "2016 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2017-08-16. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
9. ^ a b c d e "2012 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2012-04-09. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
10. ^ a b c d e "2013 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
11. ^ a b c d e f g "2014 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
12. ^ a b c d e "2015 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
13. ^ a b c d e f "2017 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on 2017-08-12. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
14. ^ a b c d e f "2018 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2018-03-15. Archived from the original on 2018-04-02. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
15. ^ a b c d e f "2019 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2019-09-18. Archived from the original on 2019-07-29. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
16. ^ a b c d e f "2020 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2020-04-07. Archived from the original on 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
17. ^ a b c d e f "2021 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2021-12-18. Archived from the original on 2022-01-03. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
18. ^ a b c d e f "2022 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2022-09-04. Archived from the original on 2022-09-05. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
19. ^ a b c d e f "2023 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2023-07-06. Archived from the original on 2023-07-06. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
20. ^ a b c d e f "2024 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2024-03-29. Archived from the original on 2024-08-12. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
21. ^ a b c d e f "2025 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2025-04-10. Retrieved 2025-04-10.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website Archived 2012-07-22 at the Wayback Machine

* v
* t
* e

Hugo Awards

Written fiction|

* Novel
* Novella
* Novelette
* Short Story
* Series

Other works|

* Dramatic Presentation
* Related Work
* Graphic Story or Comic
* Game or Interactive Work
* Discontinued awards

Magazines/Periodicals|

* Professional Magazine
* Semiprozine
* Fanzine
* Fancast

People|

* Professional Editor
* Professional Artist
* Fan Artist
* Fan Writer

Other WSFS awards|

* Astounding Award for Best New Writer
* Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

Related|

* Hugo Gernsback (namesake)

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