Steve Stiles Replaces Alex Garner on Hugo Ballot

The Worldcon 75 Hugo Administrators have removed Best Fan Artist nominee Alex Garner from the Hugo ballot after being informed by him that the entirety of his published 2016 work was professional and not fan art.

Nicholas Whyte, lead administrator, said, “With regret, we have no alternative but to disqualify him as a finalist for Best Fan Artist. We very much appreciate his candor in dealing with this awkward situation, and respect his integrity in bringing the matter to our attention.”

Alex Garner’s name appeared on Vox Day’s 2017 Rabid Puppies slate, therefore removing him has also changed the calculus of the “Measuring the Rabid Puppies Effect on the 2017 Hugo Ballot” post, which has been updated.

Garner’s place on the ballot for Best Fan Artist has been taken by the next available candidate, Steve Stiles.

Whyte adds, “Paper Hugo ballots will be reprinted and the online Hugo ballot (which will go live shortly) will be amended accordingly.”

The full press release follows the jump.

MEDIA RELEASE #05 – April 21, 2017

Steve Stiles a New Nominee for Best Fan Artist Hugo

In a prepared statement, the Hugo administrators have announced that Alex Garner has been withdrawn from the Fan Artist category, and as a result candidate Steve Stiles has been added to the ballot.

Nicholas Whyte, lead administrator, explained: “Alex Garner, who was announced as a finalist in the Best Fan Artist category for the 2017 Hugo Awards on 4 April, has notified the Hugo administrators that in fact the entirety of his published 2016 work was professional and not fan art.”

“With regret, we have no alternative but to disqualify him as a finalist for Best Fan Artist. We very much appreciate his candour in dealing with this awkward situation, and respect his integrity in bringing the matter to our attention.”

“His place on the ballot for Best Fan Artist will be taken by the next available candidate, Steve Stiles. Paper Hugo ballots will be reprinted and the online Hugo ballot (which will go live shortly) will be amended accordingly.”

“The revised final ballot for Best Fan Artist is therefore Ninni Aalto, Vesa Lehtimäki, Likhain (M. Sereno), Spring Schoenhuth, Steve Stiles, and Mansik Yang.”

The winner will be announced at the Hugo Awards in Helsinki this August.


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. All media releases are available at http://worldcon.fi/press.

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

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9 thoughts on “Steve Stiles Replaces Alex Garner on Hugo Ballot

  1. Pingback: Measuring the Rabid Puppies Effect on the 2017 Hugo Ballot | File 770

  2. Well done Alex Garner for showing integrity by bringing the matter to the Hugo administrators. Congratulations to Steve Stiles on the nomination!

    (Also, I’d been doing some handwringing over what to do about voting, since Garner’s art is really good but really not fanart. Problem solved!)

  3. Pingback: 2017 Hugo Award Finalists | File 770

  4. Good on Alex Garner for being upfront with the Hugo admins.

    Congratulations to Steve Stiles.

    I expect Vox Day will try to spin this result as part of his genius plan all along. Not that I care, but it would be entirely predictable.

  5. I had Steve Stiles on my ballot, so I’m happy with this!

    Alex Garner is to be commended for his honesty.

  6. Laura Resnick: Is there anything VD attempts that doesn’t become yet another example of his bumbling incompetence?

    That’s a rhetorical question, right? 😀

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