Chicon 7 announces that it has started taking 2012 Hugo nominations and will continue until Sunday, March 11, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. (And darned if they aren’t right about that being PDT…)

If you absolutely must send in your Hugo nominations today you’ll have to do it using the snail mail ballot in Progress Report 3, or downloaded in PDF format. Full instructions are on the form.

If you can wait a few weeks you’ll be able to nominate online. That requires a Chicon 7 membership ID and a unique PIN coming in January to all eligible voters (by e-mail where addresses are available) — the current members of Renovation (2011), Chicon 7 (2012) and Lone Star Con 3 (2013). Note, what’s coming is a brand new PIN. The PINs issued to Renovation members last year won’t work on Chicon’s site.

In addition to the usual categories, listed here, Chicon 7 has exercised its right under the WSFS constitution to create a single, extra, one-time Hugo Award for Best Fancast, defined as “Any non-professional audio- or video-casting with at least four (4) episodes that had at least one (1) episode released in 2011.”

When the nominations are in, Chicon 7 will issue a final ballot containing the finalists in each category. The nominees will be officially announced April 7, 2012 at several conventions being held over the Easter weekend.

Update 01/04/2012: Press release received today and added to post.

PRESS RELEASE #7

Hugo Award Nomination Period is Open

Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention,
Chicago, IL – August 30 to September 3, 2012

[email protected]
www.chicon.org

Postal queries to: Chicon 7, P.O. Box 13, Skokie, IL 60076

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Chicago, Illinois, USA – Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention
(Worldcon), is delighted to announce that the 2012 Hugo Award nomination period
is now open.

Nomination ballots will be accepted from January 2, 2012, to Sunday, March 11,
2012, 23:59 PDT for the prestigious Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award
for Best New Writer. Members of Chicon 7 and LoneStarCon 3 (the 2013 Worldcon)
who join by January 31, 2012, and all members of Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon,
are invited to submit nominating ballots.

The Hugo Awards are the premier award in the science fiction genre, honoring
science fiction literature and media as well as the genre’s fans. The Awards
were first presented at the 1953 World Science Fiction Convention in
Philadelphia (Philcon II), and they have continued to honor science fiction and
fantasy notables for nearly 60 years.

More information about the Hugo Awards, including details about how to submit a
nominating ballot, is available from www.chicon.org/hugo-awards.php. Nominations
may be submitted by postal mail or online.

For additional information, contact us at [email protected].

ENDS

Chicon 7 is the 2012 World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”). The first
Worldcon occurred in New York City in 1939 and Worldcons have been held annually
since then except for 1942-45 when there was no event due to World War II.
Chicon 7’s Guests of Honor are five-time Hugo winning author Mike Resnick,
artist Rowena Morrill, art agent and collector Jane Frank, science fiction fan
and former Worldcon chair Peggy Rae Sapienza, and astronaut Story Musgrave.
Chicon 7’s Toastmaster is John Scalzi.

For more details about the convention or to purchase memberships, visit
www.chicon7.org. Send press questions, or requests to be removed from the Chicon
7 press release mailing list, to [email protected]. Send general queries to
[email protected]. “World Science Fiction Society,” “WSFS,” “World Science Fiction
Convention,” “Worldcon,” “NASFiC,” “Hugo Award,” and the distinctive design of
the Hugo Award Rocket are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an
unincorporated literary society.