by As the finalists for the 2026 Hugo Awards were announced recently, we thought this might be a good moment to acquaint people with this specific award.
“The Hugo Awards, first presented in 1953 and presented annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award.”
(from The Hugo Award website)
The way it works: from January through March, a number of titles published in the previous year are nominated by members of WorldCon, with the announcement of the finalists in April. The members can then vote on the final ballot, with the winners for each category being announced at the WorldCon event. This year, that’ll be on August 30th, in Los Angeles.
The list has many categories – over 20, in fact! – including Best Novelette, Best Short Story, Best Series, Best Game, and Best Dramatic Presentation. We’ll be focusing only on the Best Novel and Best Novella categories in this post, but if you’re interested in the whole list, you can check out the whole thing here.
Previous winners of the Hugo for Best Novel include Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh in 2024, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine in 2020, and The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin in 2016 (Jemisin actually made history by winning three years in a row for all three books of her Broken Earth series!).
Best Novel finalists
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Tainted Cup, part 1 in this series, is Jouke‘s and Sophie‘s Staff Choice
In sequel to the Hugo award-winning The Tainted Cup, an eccentric detective matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant bio-punk fantasy mystery.
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Else‘s Staff Choice
Multi-award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor presents a sweeping story about a disabled Nigerian American who writes a science fiction novel that becomes a global phenomenon – but at a price. A tale about family, culture and identity, this blends the tenderness of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow with the ambition of How High We Go in the Dark.
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
After two scientists crash on a hostile moon, they must use every tool at their disposal to survive. A tense, atmospheric voyage into the unknown from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
From the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House comes a moving and genre-defying adventure through time, as a reluctant lady knight and a historian with dreams of being a hero, fight to rewrite their tragic fates and finish the greatest legend ever told.
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
Else‘s and Iris‘s Staff Choice
From the Hugo Award winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of Some Desperate Glory comes a captivating, contemporary, dark academia novel set in a school where the magic involves summoning demons. Perfect for fans of A Deadly Education, Rivers of London and Plain Bad Heroines.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
The first book in a masterfully woven and playfully inventive epic adult fantasy trilogy from an award-winning author, full of imperial intrigue, cutthroat competition, and one scholar’s quest to uncover the truth.
Best Novella finalists
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
From sci-fi visionary and acclaimed author Annalee Newitz comes Automatic Noodle, a cozy near-future novella about a crew of abandoned food service bots opening their very own restaurant.
Cinder House by Freya Marske
Meet Cinderella as you’ve never seen her before in this debut novella from Freya Marske, international bestselling author of the Last Binding trilogy. A Gothic fairy tale romance where the roles of the ghost, the house and the ingenue are all played by the same character.
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
Iris‘s and Naomi‘s Staff Choice
Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in this sci-fi ode to the cosy mystery, helmed by a formidable no-nonsense auntie of a detective.
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
The Summer War by Naomi Novik
In this poignant, heartfelt novella from the New York Times bestselling author of Spinning Silver and the Scholomance trilogy, a young witch who has inadvertently cursed her brother to live a life without love must find a way to undo her spell.
What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher
What Moves the Dead, part 1 of this series, is Damla‘s Staff Choice
Alex Easton does not want to visit America. They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.
But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin—who went missing in that very mine—well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do…
