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First
Hugo award for websites - Yipee.
Does your SF web site know the way to San José?
Well it should do, because ConJosé, the 2002 World Science Fiction
Convention, has just announced that it will be presenting a special
Hugo Award for Best Web Site.
Said award will be open to any web site related to the fields of
science fiction, fantasy, or fandom and will be given for material
displayed on the Web during 2001.
For those of you that don't know, the Hugo Awards are presented
for achievement in the fields of science fiction and fantasy literature,
both to professionals and fans. And let's face it, it's the Oscars
of the SF/F world.
The Hugos are bestowed by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS)
and are presented at the society's annual convention - otherwise
known as the fabulous Worldcon.
Past Hugo winners have included Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein,
Ursula Le Guin, William Gibson and, the film "2001: A Space Odyssey".
An odd name you might think? Well, the Hugo Awards are named after
the pioneering science fiction pulp magazine editor, Hugo Gernsback.
This year over 5,000 science fiction fans are expected to attend
the event, so it should make a fitting venue to introduce the first
SF Web Award.
This may be the first and last award too, as the Web Hugo is currently
being presented for 2002 only (the complexities of adding a new
permanent award mean a lot of work to the Hugo's constitution).
Here's the definitive FAQ on the first Web Site Hugo, from our
chums over at ConJosé.
Q. How is the award defined?
Any generally accessible world wide web site whose subject is primarily
related to the field of science fiction, fantasy, or fandom, and
which had content generally available during the calendar year 2001.
Q. How do I enter my site for the Award?
You don't need to do anything. All web sites that meet the definition
of the award are automatically eligible.
Q. Do sites have to be based in the USA and/or written in English?
No, the Hugo Awards are international in scope. This should be particularly
the case for the web site award as web sites can be easily accessed
regardless of where in the world they are based.
Q. How does voting work?
Voting is in two stages. The first stage is a nomination process
in which voters are allowed to suggest up to five entires for each
category in the Hugo Awards. The top five nominees then go forward
to a final ballot. For an in-depth description of the voting process
please see the following web page: http://www.emcit.com/hugo_rules.shtml
Q. Who is eligible to vote?
Nomination is open to all members of the current and previous year's
Worldcon. The final ballot is voted on only by members of the current
year's Worldcon. Nominations for the Best Web Site Hugo will thus
be open to members of ConJosé and to members of The Millennium Philcon,
the 2001 Worldcon in Philadelphia. The final ballot will be voted
on by members of ConJosé.
Q. Do I have to attend Worldcon to vote?
No, all Worldcons have a special category of Supporting Membership,
which entitles the member to a range of benefits, including voting
on the Hugo Awards, but does not include the cost of attending the
convention.
Q. Can I nominate my site now?
No. ConJosé will issue a nomination ballot to all eligible persons
sometime early in 2002. Because the 2002 Hugo Awards are for works
published in 2001 nominations cannot take place until 2001 is over.
Q. My site contains numerous sub-sites. Are they separately
eligible?
ConJosé has no control over how voters nominate. If a nomination
is made for a specific sub-site then we will probably accept that
as separate from a nomination for the main site. If your site contains
a number of separately edited sections, each with its own distinct
identity (for example you host the sites of several authors or clubs)
it would probably be polite to suggest to voters that those sub-sites
be separately eligible. However, if your "sub-sites" are effectively
the equivalent of the columns or departments of a newspaper then
you should probably ask voters to consider the site as a whole.
Q. How should web sites be judged?
That is entirely up to the voters. We expect them to consider factors
such as content, appearance, ease of use and usefulness to lovers
of science fiction and fantasy. However, individual voters will
have their own opinions as to which factors are most important.
Q. Can I publicise the Award on my web site?
Certainly. We ask you to include a link to the ConJosé web site
(http://www.conjose.org). After
all, unless they join ConJosé your readers can't vote for you. In
addition we would be grateful if you would note somewhere on the
site that "WSFS", "Worldcon", "World Science Fiction Convention"
and "Hugo Award" are registered service marks of the World Science
Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.
Q: How can we judge web sites when the content changes over
time?
Just as artists often produce a continuous flow of artwork, web
sites quite often change over time. Just as in the Best Artist category,
our basic assumption is that Hugo voters will be making their decisions
based on what they saw appear during the previous calendar year.
(And just like the Best Artist category, we won't quiz the voters
on the specifics they're using.) Luckily, many web site sites provide
archives or "issues" so that visitors can examine past content.
Q: Does this affect any other Hugo Awards? What about fanzines
that also have web sites?
This category does not preclude any entity from being eligible in
any permanent category. If a fanzine or semiprozine sponsors a web
site, then the magazine will be judged against other magazines,
and the web site itself will be judged against other web sites.
Periodicals and hyperlinked web pages are usually quite different,
even if produced by the same person. There is no more a conflict
than someone being up for both Best Fanzine and Best Fan Writer
category.
Q: Will there be "Best Professional Web Site" and "Best Fan
Web Site" awards?
No, there is only one web site Hugo award-all web sites will be
judged against other web sites. (There are some "amateur" web sites
that are much nicer than most "professional" sites.) With the universal
access capabilities of web sites, there's no real divide in visibility
as there is with the large differences in press runs of various
printed publications, and therefore no need to have a similar split
in web site categories.
More information about the Hugo Awards can be obtained from the
WSFS web site (http://www.wsfs.org/)
or from this fan-run site (http://www.emcit.com/hugo_home.shtml).
More information about ConJosé, including current membership rates,
is available from its web site (http://www.conjose.org/)
or by writing to info@conjose.org.
ConJosé will take place at the McEnery Convention Center, San José,
California from 29 August through 2 September 2002.
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OTHER CONTENT - April 2001
Star
Trek goes Quantum (NEWS)
X
Files and Trek Files
(SITE REVIEWS)
Sneak
showing of Star Wars Episode II (CONVENTIONS)
First
Hugo award for websites - Yipee
(CONVENTIONS)
1
book, 3 videos and no funerals
(REVIEWS)
The
Future In Science Fiction
(ARTICLE)
 Advertise
Here (More ...)
Jo Pacey. 01/04/2001
The thing that annoys me about the Hugos is that despite their professed
international profile, it is dominated by the USA. My prediction
for the first Web Site Hugo ... it'll go to a really crap-looking
site that just happens to wave the American flag. Happen to be in
Australia, Britain, Japan etc? Tough shit. No chance.
William Mercer. 01/04/2001
The Hugos for books tend to be fairly good tasteful choices; if
any titles appear that I haven't read, I will normally go out and
get them. But I have to say, when it comes to magazines & zines
- and I suspect web sites - these things are a complete stitch-up.
The fan community closes ranks and votes for the same old favourites.
Bet Locus Online ends up with this Award... despite the fact only
a handful of users surf it.
Kevin Lackland. 01/04/2001
I have to agree with you William ... although it pains me to do
so. Popular with Con Fans won't equate to popular on the web with
real SF users. If you go to Hitbox.com, the source for realtime
web stats, and use their popularity rankings while looking for SF,
you'll see that the most popular science fiction site on the web
is ... SFcrowsnest. The second most popular is a site featuring
naked pics of the ladies of sci-fi. Ho hum. Bet neither of these
feature in the Hugos at all! : . )
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