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".
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. 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 15 years the award has been active, 34 fancasts by 90 people have been finalists, and 10 of those fancasts have won. SF Squeecast, created by a team of five people, won the first two awards in 2012 and 2013, Our Opinions Are Correct, by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, won three times, and Hugo, Girl! by four creators has won twice. They are the only fancasts to win multiple times. The Coode Street Podcast, by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, has received the most final ballot nominations at twelve, winning once, while Worldbuilding for Masochists by four creators has the most nominations without winning at six.
Selection 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. Prior to 2017, the final ballot was five works; it was changed that year to six, with each initial nominator limited to five nominations. Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and are held in a different city around the world each year. 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.
Winners and finalists 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
+ YearFancastEditor(s) 2012 SF Squeecast* , Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente and Gary K. Wolfe Galactic Suburbia Podcast , Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Andrew Finch SF Signal Podcast , JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester StarShipSofa 2013 SF Squeecast* , Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, Catherynne M. Valente, and David McHone-Chase and Gary K. Wolfe Galactic Suburbia Podcast , Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Andrew Finch SF Signal Podcast , JP Frantz, and Patrick Hester StarShipSofa 2014 SF Signal Podcast* and Gary K. Wolfe Galactic Suburbia Podcast , Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Andrew Finch , Jen Zink, Julia Rios, Paul Weimer, David Annandale, Mike Underwood, and Stina Leicht Tea and Jeopardy Verity! , Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L. M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts and Ian Mond 2015 Galactic Suburbia Podcast* , Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch Adventures in SF Publishing , Kristi Charish, Timothy C. Ward, and Moses Siregar III Dungeon Crawlers Radio , Travis Alexander, Scott Tomlin, Dale Newton, and Damien Swenson Tea and Jeopardy and Peter Newman 2016 (no award)+ 8-4 Play , John Ricciardi, Hiroko Minamoto, and Justin Epperson Cane and Rinse Cane, Rinse HelloGreedo HelloGreedo The Rageaholic RazörFist Tales to Terrify , Scott Silk, and Philip Oldham 2017 Tea and Jeopardy* and Peter Newman and Gary K. Wolfe Ditch Diggers and Matt Wallace Fangirl Happy Hour and Renay Williams Galactic Suburbia Podcast , Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch The Rageaholic RazörFist 2018 Ditch Diggers* and Matt Wallace and Gary K. Wolfe Fangirl Happy Hour and Renay Williams Galactic Suburbia Podcast , Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch Sword and Laser and Tom Merritt Verity! , Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L. M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts 2019 Our Opinions Are Correct* and Charlie Jane Anders Be the Serpent , , and Jennifer Mace and Gary K. Wolfe Fangirl Happy Hour and Renay Williams Galactic Suburbia Podcast , Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch , Shaun Duke 2020 Our Opinions Are Correct* and Charlie Jane Anders Be the Serpent , , and Jennifer Mace Claire Rousseau's YouTube channel and Gary K. Wolfe Galactic Suburbia Podcast , Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Andrew Finch , Shaun Duke 2021 * and Gary K. Wolfe Be the Serpent , , and Jennifer Mace Claire Rousseau's YouTube channel Kalanadi Rachel , Shaun Duke, Alex Acks, Paul Weimer, and David Annandale Worldbuilding for Masochists , Marshall Ryan Maresca, and Cass Morris 2022 Our Opinions Are Correct* , Charlie Jane Anders, and Veronica Simonetti Be the Serpent , , and Jennifer Mace and Gary K. Wolfe Hugo, Girl! , Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson Octothorpe , Alison Scott, and Liz Batty Worldbuilding for Masochists , Marshall Ryan Maresca, and Rowenna Miller 2023 Hugo, Girl! , Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson and Gary K. Wolfe Hugos There Kalanadi Rachel Octothorpe , Alison Scott, and Liz Batty Worldbuilding for Masochists , Rowenna Miller, and Marshall Ryan Maresca 2024 Octothorpe* , Alison Scott, and Liz Batty and Gary K. Wolfe Hugos There Publishing Rodeo and Scott Drakeford Science Fiction Fans Buma Buma, Liu Lu, Liu Chang Worldbuilding for Masochists , Cass Morris, and Natania Barron 2025 Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones* , Rebecca Fraimow and Gary K. Wolfe Hugo, Girl! , Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson Hugos There Worldbuilding for Masochists , Cass Morris, and Natania Barron 2026Hugo, Girl!*, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson Eating the Fantastic Octothorpe, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty and Gary K. Wolfe Worldbuilding for Masochists, Cass Morris, and Natania Barron
References
External links Official website