Hugo Stats aren’t likely until January

Several days ago on Facebook I left a message to Dave McCarty 2023 Hugo Administrator regarding any updates on this year’s stats. [for reference here https://www.facebook.com/grand.universal.dave/posts/pfbid02EN6NtBKaYtRkJStaxZnNQogoa4eqnJDk44AtCo5hYpyWvhwWaXRLyDnXEV6QsxTxl?comment_id=667208312257705 ] There was no immediate reply but Olav Rokne of Hugo Bookclub replied with a link to Tweet by ErsatzCulture on the continuing absence of the stats. There were also some comments by Chinese fans about the delay that were critical of the people running this year’s Worldcon (there is context that to be honest I couldn’t follow).

Dave McCarty has now explained that work and family commitments are currently overwhelming – understandable after having spent time overseas organizing a complex event.

There’s a dilemma here obviously. I don’t want to hassle a specific individual on their personal social media on the one hand but on the other hand, an awful lot of key updates about the Hugo process have only been available via Dave McCarty’s personal Facebook page. In addition, the delay is feeding into speculation and unsubstantiated rumours that there was something off about the nomination process — a process that had its own poorly explained delays [https://file770.com/chengdu-committee-update-on-hugo-ballot-delay/ ]

Without further evidence, the simplest and most obvious explanation is the best one: Dave McCarty has a life to lead and simply ran out of time with his other Worldcon duties. He stated this was the case. I felt that rather than a series of dates and delays, that it would be better to have a date further in the future that was achievable;

“I assumed that was the case. Pick a date that will be manageable with your life, with extra time to spare and announce that the stats will be available on that date and not before – say December 1 or even January 18. Even if you get it done before then, stick to that date. Then everybody knows when the 2023 stats will be about and nobody will be asking when they are out (or if they do ask then there is a simple answer).”

https://www.facebook.com/grand.universal.dave/posts/pfbid02EN6NtBKaYtRkJStaxZnNQogoa4eqnJDk44AtCo5hYpyWvhwWaXRLyDnXEV6QsxTxl?comment_id=667208312257705&reply_comment_id=1504931713685315

Dave McCarty’s reply to that was January 19, 2024, i.e. the date 90 days after the Worldcon laid out in the WSFS constitution 3.12.4. [If my arithmetic isn’t off that 90 Days after the award ceremony, and the con finished the next day, so maybe 20 January is actually the cut-off date?]

I don’t think this is a good outcome overall but I don’t want people organising a Worldcon to burn themselves out or place themselves in conflict with their work/family because one task wasn’t completed as quickly as I would have liked.

There are many open questions about this year’s Hugo Awards — not neccesarily controversial ones. I’m keen to see what impact Chinese science fiction had on the longlist for example.

There has been a history of the non-US Worldcons having disappointingly low representation of people and works from the host nation on the ballot. The most extreme example of this was Yokohama in 2007, which had essentially no Japanese representation on the ballot. Melbourne in 2010 had some Australian presence (notably artist Shaun Tan) but not much. UK Worldcon’s have had a better presence. I think that is a dynamic worth exploring because I think there are things we as fans (and many of the readers of this blog are not US-based) could do to help improve representation.

The flipside of non-US Worldcons having disappointing levels of local Hugo representation is that it also runs counter to the surrounding fear of Hugos in new countries somehow being swampped by local fans. So far not only has that not happened but it hasn’t come close to happening. One thing I’m curious about with the 2023 Hugo Awards is the extent to which that was due to few Chinese fans nominating works/people from China versus the degree to which it was due to there being a lack of consensus around what works/people to nominate. I would hope that EPH would have helped push up non-US centric works but I don’t know. I’d like to see.

A different question I have is whether non-US Worldcons have more (small c) conservative finalists. There aren’t many data points here and I think the UK cons suggest otherwise but… 2007 was notable for being one of the most male-dominated Hugos this century, even more so than the Puppy years! There were many credible finalists in this year’s Hugo Award and I think we picked an excellent set of winners but I also felt like Best Novel were safe choices — like voters were going for the familiar rather than the provocative. That’s a very subjective impression but I’m curious about the longlist here, what where the near-finalists?

Lastly, I think a lot of people were genuinely surprised not to see Babel by R.F. Kuang as a finalist. Earlier in the year I’d have said that is was the book to beat in 2023. Did it just fall short by a narrow margin? If so did EPH work against it and in what way? I don’t think the Hugos should change voting systems just because a book I liked didn’t make it but these kinds of data points are relevant to thinking about the rules and processes.

Anyway…I guess these questions will be delayed until January and will be an interesting appetizer to the 2024 Hugo nomination season!