Worldcon 75, which will take place in Helsinki, Finland in 2017, has announced the trial inclusion of a new Hugo Awards category: Best Series. Worldcon 75 will test Best Series in 2017, with the potential for inclusion in 2018 based on fan response and suggested revisions.

If it goes through, this will be the first time that a new category may be added to the written fiction Hugo categories in fifty years. Eligible works will be multi-volume (at least three) series that are united by elements including plot, characters, setting, and presentation.

The full press release is below.

The 75th World Science Fiction Convention, (“Worldcon”) taking place in Helsinki in August 2017, announced today that a special Hugo category for “Best Series” will be included in the 2017 Hugo Awards.

The Hugo Awards are the leading awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, and have been presented at Worldcons since 1953. They are voted on by members of each year’s Worldcon.

Fans voted in August 2016 to trial a new Hugo award for “Best Series”, which could be added in 2018. Each Worldcon Committee has the authority to introduce a special category Hugo award, and Worldcon 75 has decided to test “Best Series” in 2017. This follows the precedent of the 2009 Worldcon, which trialled “Best Graphic Story” before it became a regular Hugo the following year. Fans at Worldcon 75 will be able to decide whether to ratify the “Best Series” for future years and suggest revisions to the award definition at the World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting held in Helsinki during the convention.

Nicholas Whyte, Worldcon 75 Hugo administrator, said, “The proposed Hugo for “Best Series” is a big change, the first time that a new category may be added to the written fiction Hugo categories in fifty years. There is clearly a great deal of interest in how this new award will work, and what might be nominated.”

An eligible work for this special award is a multi-volume science fiction or fantasy story, unified by elements such as plot, characters, setting, and presentation, which has appeared in at least three volumes consisting of a total of at least 240,000 words by the close of the calendar year 2016, at least one volume of which was published in 2016.

The 75th World Science Fiction Convention, Worldcon 75 will take place in Helsinki, Finland, 9-13 August 2017. For more information about the convention, including current membership rates, visit http://worldcon.fi.

The Guests of Honor for Worldcon 75 are John-Henri Holmberg, Nalo Hopkinson, Johanna Sinisalo, Claire Wendling, and Walter Jon Williams.

Media questions or requests to be removed from the Worldcon 75 press release mailing list should be sent to [email protected] Contact [email protected] with general queries.

ABOUT THE WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION

Founded in 1939, the World Science Fiction Convention is one of the largest international gatherings of authors, artists, editors, publishers, and fans of science fiction and fantasy. The Hugo Awards, a leading award for excellence in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, are voted on by the Worldcon membership and presented during the convention.

“World Science Fiction Society”, “WSFS”, “World Science Fiction Convention”, “Worldcon”, “NASFiC”, “Hugo Award”, the Hugo Award Logo, and the distinctive design of the Hugo Award Trophy Rocket are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.

Which currently eligible series do you think warrant this new Best Series Hugo Award?