The Hugo Award for Best Fanzine was first awarded in 1955, making it the oldest of the current fan categories, and given every year since with the mysterious exception of 1958 (categories were more or less in flux in those early years).
Best Fanzine:
Any generally available non-professional periodical publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that by the close of 2017 has published four (4) or more issues (or the equivalent in other media), at least one (1) of which appeared in 2017, that does not qualify as a semiprozine or a fancast, and that in 2017 met neither of the following criteria:
- paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication,
- was generally available only for paid purchase.
In spite of some resistance, in recent years many nominators include regularly updated websites or blogs, rather than just traditional zines or e-zines, in their interpretation of this category. Of course, blogs are now getting supplanted by social media so who knows where this category will go in the future. I nominated my five favorite go-to online resources:
- File 770, Mike Glyer
- nerds of a feather, flock together, The G, Vance K., and Joe Sherry
- Quick Sip Reviews, Charles Payseur
- Rocket Stack Rank, Greg Hullender and Eric Wong
- The Wertzone, Adam Whitehead
In 2011, a podcast won Best Fanzine, and a proposal to create a new category for audio or video fan productions was approved. Best Fancast was first presented in 2012 and ratified to continue for at least four more years. In 2016, it was re-ratified to become an ongoing category.
Best Fancast:
Any generally available non-professional audio or video periodical devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that by the close of 2017 has released four (4) or more episodes, at least one (1) of which appeared in 2017, and that does not qualify as a dramatic presentation.
While I enjoy listening to the occasional episode, I haven’t managed to become a regular follower of any podcasts. However, a few years ago I discovered Booktube, a community of YouTube channels which are primarily devoted to reading-related videos. I nominated my three favorite that focus on SFF:
In 1967 two more fan categories were added for writers and artists (see my previous post on the artist categories).
Best Fan Writer:
Any person whose writing has appeared in semiprozines, fanzines, or in generally available electronic media during 2017.
Here’s who I nominated with links to their blogs (a couple repeats from fanzine above):
I would have included last year’s winner Abigail Nussbaum, but she stated that she didn’t want to accept a repeat finalist spot this year. I’m not sure who I would have left off in her place though.
What do you think about the fan categories? Who and what are you a fan of?
Laura's Library 