The Problem with Slate-Voting for Popular Awards Like the Hugos

Like the vast majority of people who've been voting for the Hugos for years, I have never, ever voted for a slate of people/works. It's certainly been tried. I haven't voted for people I've known for a long time, because I've never viewed the Hugos purely as a popularity contest. I have always believed the Hugos should go for quality works.

I don't believe the slate-voting that produced the 2015 Hugo nominations was a crime or an act or war. I think it was wrong, but it did not break any of the current set of rules, mostly because no individual/group had ever carried the notion of a slate to such an extreme.

In fandom, we often work together, but we act as individuals. It was unthinkable to find 200 people in fandom to vote in the lock step manner the SP slate demanded. So I'd argue anyone who did vote the SP slate is, by default, not a fan.

No matter who wins next August, unlike almost every other year, this year's Hugos will not reflect the votes of Worldcon members, because the nominations were so skewed. Some good works probably will win, but many good works, under the old "cream rises to the top" theory, didn't even make the ballot.

The fact that a slate took over the nominations does not mean I won't vote this summer. I certainly will vote, and I will work to help keep slates from taking over a ballot in the future.

2007 Hugo Nominations

Best Novel

Eifelheim by Michael F. Flynn (Tor)
His Majecty's Dragon/Temeraire by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
Glasshouse by Charles Stross (Ace)
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (Tor)
Blindsight by Peter Watts (Tor)

Best Novella

"The Walls of the Universe" by Paul Melko (Asimov's, April/May 2006)
"A Billion Eves" by Robert Reed (Asimov's, October/November 2006)
"Inclination" by William Shunn (Asimov's April/May 2006)
"Lord Weary's Empire" by Michael Swanwick (Asimov's December 2006)
"Julian" by Robert Charles Wilson (PS Publishing)

Best Novelette

"Yellow Card Man" by Paolo Bacigalupi (Asimov's December 2006)
"Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth" by Michael F. Flynn (Asimov's December 2006)
"The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald (Asimov's July 2006)
"All the Things You Are" by Mike Resnick (Jim Baen's Universe October 2006)
"Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter" by Geoff Ryman (F&SF October/November 2006)

Best Short Story

"How to Talk to Girls at Parties" by Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things)
"Kin" by Bruce McAllister (Asimov's February 2006)
"Impossible Dreams" by Timothy Pratt (Asimov's July 2006)
"Eight Episodes" by Robert Reed (Asimov's June 2006)
"The House Beyond Your Sky" by Benjamin Rosenbaum (Strange Horizons September 2006)

Best Related Book

About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews by Samuel R. Delany (Wesleyan University Press)
Heinlein's Children: The Juveniles by Joseph T. Major (Advent)
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon edited by Julie Phillips (St. Martin's Press)
Cover Story: The Art of John Picacio by John Picacio (MonkeyBrain Books )
Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches by Mike Resnick and Joe Siclari (ISFiC Press)

Best Dramatic Presentation

Children of Men (Universal Pictures)
Pan's Labyrinth (Picturehouse)
The Prestige (Warner Brothers/Touchstone Pictures)
A Scanner Darkly (Warner Independent Pictures)
V for Vendetta (Warner Brothers)

Note: Due to a file corruption during electronic tabulation of the nominees, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest appeared on the initial Hugo ballot. A subsequent audit revealed that this was an error; Pirates was removed and Pan's Labyrinth was added to the final Hugo ballot.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Battlestar Galactica, "Downloaded"
Doctor Who, "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday"
Doctor Who, "Girl in the Fireplace"
Doctor Who, "School Reunion"
Stargate SG-1, "200"

Best Professional Editor, Long Form

Lou Anders
James Patrick Baen
Ginjer Buchanan
David G. Hartwell
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Best Professional Editor, Short Form

Gardner Dozois
David G. Hartwell
Stanley Schmidt
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams

Best Professional Artist

Bob Eggleton
Donato Giancola
Stephan Martiniere
John Jude Palencar
John Picacio

Best Semiprozine

Ansible, edited by Dave Langford
Interzone, edited by Andy Cox
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, edited by Gavin J. Grant
Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction, edited by Kathryn Cramer, David Hartwell & Kevin J. Maroney

Best Fanzine

Banana Wings ed. by Claire Brialey & Mark Plummer
Challenger edited by Guy Lillian, III
The Drink Tank edited by Christopher J. Garcia
Plokta edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies & Mike Scott
Science Fiction Five-yearly edited by Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan & Randy Byers

Best Fan Writer

Chris Garcia
John Hertz
Dave Langford
John Scalzi
Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist

Brad W. Foster
Teddy Harvia
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Frank Wu

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

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