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The 1945 Retro-Hugo Award winners and detailed stats can be found here.1
The 2020 Hugo Award winners and detailed stats can be found here.1
Brief comments on the 1945 Retro-Hugo Awards:
A number of these awards appear to have been voted for on name recognition (either writer or book), such as the Novelette award for City by Clifford D. Simak (the same title as the novel, and a weak piece in a strong category); the Short Story award for I, Rocket, by Ray Bradbury (beating out two other ‘City’ stories, Desertion and Huddling Place);2 the Best Related Work award for The Science-Fiction Field, by Leigh Brackett (I couldn’t find this online so wonder if anyone actually read it); and the Best Fan Writer award to Fritz Leiber (those in the know suggest Bob Tucker should have won).
Not a particularly useful set of awards.
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1. Nicholas Whyte provides detailed analysis of the stats for the 1945 and 2020 awards.
Cora Buhlert provides detailed commentary on the 1945 awards.
2. If you look at the nominations statistics, I, Rocket only just made the short list ahead of The Lake.
My commentary on the 2020 Hugos will be going up soon, but I had to write a post about the neverending Hugo ceremony from hell first. Coincidentally, I did check out of the Hugo Ceremony when the winner for Best Related Work was announced, which I was not happy with.
Oh yes, and I didn’t win, but I came in second, which is pretty amazing on the first try.
I read your post about the neverendum when I was looking for your 2020 post (which I’ll link to when it’s up).
Strong second place. Next year.
Paul, thanks.
The best thing I can say about the 1945 Retro Hugo Awards is that they were (generally) not embarrassing. I concurred with Best Novel and Best Novella, although I was appalled that “Trog” finished ahead of “A God Named Kroo”, and that “Intruders From the Stars” made the ballot. I liked the stories that won Best Novelette and Best Short Story, but felt those awards were more name recognition than people having read all the nominations. I also felt that some of these nominations were more name recognition than people reading them, but maybe I’m wrong.
I do know there is some controversy about the Retro Hugo’s, but I personally enjoy them and the opportunity to learn more about works from the past (both the things I have previously seen but see again with today’s eyes, and work that I’ve never seen before). Considering that there are a finite number of Retro Hugo years left, and many people seem to like them, I think we’ll continue to see them.
And lastly, Paul, my thanks for all the hard work you do to help make the Retro Hugo written material from the SF/Fantasy magazines accessible. That is invaluable to me!
I felt pretty good about the 2020 Hugo Awards, except for the Best Related Work. Yes, it was a good speech, but I am really struggling with the last two wins (a speech and a website). I know that speeches have won in the Dramatic Presentation/whatever category in the past, but I still just don’t find this a good fit here. I am reaching out to the Hugo Awards Study Committee on this issue.
And I do have some concerns about the Best Series award. People like it, and I like it, but it feels either a bit broken or needing some improvement. I’m not yet sure how.
I have very mixed feelings about the 2020 Hugo Award Ceremony. I watched most of it later, as I had a conflict. It was too long, and some of the GRRM material did wander a lot. I personally did enjoy it, although I do think GRRM would have been well served to say something about the historical behavior of some that are today seen as objectionable and unacceptable. I especially liked the speeches by the winners and the other non-GRRM introductory material for some of the awards. I try never to criticize others when they are doing something that I did not volunteer to do, and that I know is very hard, but there sure is room for improvement here.
Cora, my congratulations on your coming in 2nd. You do great work, and I appreciate it.
One fan’s opinion.
Thank you for your comments, David.