2022 Hugo Award Finalists

Chicon 8, the 80th World Science Fiction Convention, today announced the finalists for the 2022 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and Astounding Award for Best New Writer.

There were 1368 valid nominating ballots (1366 electronic and 2 paper) received from members of the 2021 and 2022 World Science Fiction Conventions. Voting on the final ballot will open later in May.

The 2022 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award, and the Astounding Award will be presented at Chicon 8 on Sunday evening, September 4, 2022.

BEST NOVEL

[1151 ballots for 443 nominees; Finalist range 111-242]

  • A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine (Tor)
  • The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager / Hodder & Stoughton)
  • Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki (Tor / St Martin’s Press)
  • A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom / Orbit UK)
  • Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (Ballantine / Del Rey)
  • She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor / Mantle)

BEST NOVELLA

[807 ballots for 138 nominees; Finalist range 90-235]

  • Across the Green Grass Fields, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
  • Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
  • Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
  • The Past Is Red, by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
  • A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
  • A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)

BEST NOVELETTE

[463 ballots for 171 nominees; Finalist range 44-74]

  • “Bots of the Lost Ark”, by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, Jun 2021)
  • “Colors of the Immortal Palette”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)
  • L’Esprit de L’Escalier, by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
  • “O2 Arena”, by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Galaxy’s Edge, Nov 2021)
  • “That Story Isn’t the Story”, by John Wiswell (Uncanny Magazine, Nov/Dec 2021)
  • “Unseelie Brothers, Ltd.”, by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, May/Jun 2021)

BEST SHORT STORY

[632 ballots for 589 nominees; Finalist range 44-96]

  • “Mr. Death”, by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, Feb 2021)
  • “Proof by Induction”, by José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny Magazine, May/Jun 2021)
  • “The Sin of America”, by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)
  • “Tangles”, by Seanan McGuire (Magicthegathering.com: Magic Story, Sep 2021)
  • “Unknown Number”, by Blue Neustifter (Twitter, Jul 2021)
  • “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)

BEST SERIES

[707 ballots for 194 nominees; Finalist range 66-242]

  • The Green Bone Saga, by Fonda Lee (Orbit)
  • The Kingston Cycle, by C. L. Polk (Tordotcom)
  • Merchant Princes, by Charles Stross (Macmillan)
  • Terra Ignota, by Ada Palmer (Tor Books)
  • Wayward Children, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
  • The World of the White Rat, by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) (Argyll Productions)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC

[340 ballots for 239 nominees; Finalist range 19-66]

  • DIE, vol. 4: Bleed, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles (Image)
  • Far Sector, written by N.K. Jemisin, art by Jamal Campbell (DC)
  • Lore Olympus, vol. 1, by Rachel Smythe (Del Rey)
  • Monstress, vol. 6: The Vow, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)
  • Once & Future, vol. 3: The Parliament of Magpies, written by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain (BOOM!)
  • Strange Adventures, written by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads and Evan “Doc” Shaner (DC)

BEST RELATED WORK

[453 ballots for 303 nominees; Finalist range 27-65]

  • Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism, by Elsa Sjunneson (Tiller Press)
  • The Complete Debarkle: Saga of a Culture War, by Camestros Felapton (Camestros Felapton)
  • Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985, edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre (PM Press)
  • “How Twitter can ruin a life”, by Emily St. James (Vox, Jun 2021)
  • Never Say You Can’t Survive, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tordotcom)
  • True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, by Abraham Riesman (Crown)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

[597 ballots for 192 nominees; Finalist range 67-261]

  • Dune, screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth; directed by Denis Villeneuve; based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert (Warner Bros / Legendary Entertainment)
  • Encanto, screenplay by Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush; directed by Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
  • The Green Knight, written and directed by David Lowery (BRON Studios/A24)
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, screenplay by Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham; directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
  • Space Sweepers, written and directed by Jo Sung-hee (Bidangil Pictures)
  • WandaVision, screenplay by Peter Cameron, Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Megan McDonnell, Jac Schaeffer (created by and head writer), Cameron Squires, Gretchen Enders, Chuck Hayward; directed by Matt Shakman (Disney+)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

[386 ballots for 337 nominees; Finalist range 25-44]

  • The Wheel of Time: The Flame of Tar Valon, written by Justine Juel Gillmer, directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield, based on The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (Amazon Studios)
  • For All Mankind: The Grey, written by Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi; directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Tall Ship Productions/Sony Pictures Television)
  • Arcane: The Monster You Created, written by Christian Linke and Alex Yee; story by Christian Linke, Alex Yee, Conor Sheehy, and Ash Brannon; directed by Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord (Netflix)
  • The Expanse: Nemesis Games, written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Naren Shankar; directed by Breck Eisner (Amazon Studios)
  • Loki: The Nexus Event, written by Eric Martin, directed by Kate Herron, created for television by Michael Waldron (Disney+)
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: wej Duj, written by Kathryn Lyn, directed by Bob Suarez (CBS Eye Animation Productions)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

[319 ballots for 123 nominees; Finalist range 47-72]

  • Neil Clarke
  • Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
  • Mur Lafferty & S.B. Divya
  • Jonathan Strahan
  • Sheree Renée Thomas
  • Sheila Williams

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM

[182 ballots for 85 nominees; Finalist range 12-44]

  • Ruoxi Chen
  • Nivia Evans
  • Sarah T. Guan
  • Brit Hvide
  • Patrick Nielsen Hayden
  • Navah Wolfe

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

[233 ballots for 210 nominees; Finalist range 19-34]

  • Tommy Arnold
  • Rovina Cai
  • Ashley Mackenzie
  • Maurizio Manzieri
  • Will Staehle
  • Alyssa Winans

BEST SEMIPROZINE

[312 ballots for 78 nominees; Finalist range 39-113]

  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor Scott H. Andrews
  • Escape Pod, editors S.B. Divya, Mur Lafferty, and Valerie Valdes; assistant editors Benjamin C. Kinney and Premee Mohamed; guest editor Brent C. Lambert; hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart; audio producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht; and the entire Escape Pod team
  • FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher Troy L Wiggins; executive editor DaVaun Sanders; managing editor Eboni Dunbar; poetry editor B. Sharise Moore; reviews editor and social media manager Brent Lambert; art director L. D. Lewis; web editor Chavonne Brown; non-fiction editor Margeaux Weston; guest editors Summer Farah and Nadia Shammas; acquiring editors Kaleb Russell, Rebecca McGee, Kerine Wint, Joshua Morley, Emmalia Harrington, Genine Tyson, Tonya R. Moore, Danny Lore; technical assistant Nelson Rolon
  • PodCastle, co-editors Jen R. Albert, C. L. Clark, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, and Eleanor R. Wood; assistant editors Summer Fletcher and Sofía Barker; audio producer Peter Adrian Behravesh; host Matt Dovey; and the entire PodCastle team
  • Strange Horizons, Vanessa Aguirre, Joseph Aitken, Kwan-Ann Tan, Rachel Ayers, M H Ayinde, Tierney Bailey, Scott Beggs, Drew Matthew Beyer, Gautam Bhatia, Tom Borger, S. K. Campbell, Emma Celi, Zhui Ning Chang, Rita Chen, Tania Chen, Liz Christman, Emma-Grace Clarke, Linda H. Codega, Kristian Wilson Colyard, Bruhad Dave, Sarah Davidson, Tahlia Day, Arinn Dembo, Belen Edwards, Rebecca Evans, Ciro Faienza, Courtney Floyd, Lila Garrott, Guananí Gómez-Van Cortright, Colette Grecco, Julia Gunnison, Dan Hartland, Sydney Hilton, Angela Hinck, Amanda Jean, Jamie Johnson, Sean Joyce-Farley, Erika Kanda, Kat Kourbeti, Catherine Krahe, Anna Krepinsky, Clayton Kroh, Natasha Leullier, Dante Luiz, Gui Machiavelli, Cameron Mack, Samantha Manaktola, Marisa Manuel, Jean McConnell, Heather McDougal, Maria Morabe, Amelia Moriarty, Sarah Noakes, Aidan Oatway, AJ Odasso, Joel Oliver-Cormier, Kristina Palmer, Karintha Parker, Anjali Patel, Juliana Pinho, Nicasio Reed, Belicia Rhea, Abbey Schlanz, Elijah Rain Smith, Alyn Spector, Hebe Stanton, Melody Steiner, Romie Stott, Yejin Suh, Sonia Sulaiman, Ben Tyrrell, Renee Van Siclen, Kathryn Weaver, Liza Wemakor, Aigner Loren Wilson, E.M. Wright, Vicki Xu, and The Strange Horizons Editorial Collective
  • Uncanny Magazine, publishers and editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas; managing/poetry editor Chimedum Ohaegbu; nonfiction editor Elsa Sjunneson; podcast producers Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky

BEST FANZINE

[243 ballots for 87 nominees; Finalist range 21-76]

  • The Full Lid, by Alasdair Stuart and Marguerite Kenner
  • Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus; editor Janice L. Newman; associate writers Gwyn Conaway, Jason Sacks, and John Boston
  • Journey Planet, edited by Erin Underwood, Jean Martin, Sara Felix, Vanessa Applegate, Chuck Serface, Errick Nunnally, Evan Reeves, Steven H Silver, James Bacon and Christopher J Garcia
  • Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur
  • Small Gods, Lee Moyer (Icon) and Seanan McGuire (Story)
  • Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, editors Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne

BEST FANCAST

[384 ballots for 202 nominees; Finalist range 32-55]

  • Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske, and Jennifer Mace
  • The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan producer
  • Hugo, Girl!, hosts Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, and Lori Anderson; producer/editor Kevin Anderson
  • Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty
  • Our Opinions Are Correct, presented by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, produced by Veronica Simonetti
  • Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Cass Morris, Rowenna Miller, and Marshall Ryan Maresca

BEST FAN WRITER

[368 ballots for 168 nominees; Finalist range 31-117]

  • Chris M. Barkley
  • Bitter Karella
  • Alex Brown
  • Cora Buhlert
  • Jason Sanford
  • Paul Weimer

BEST FAN ARTIST

[230 ballots for 122 nominees; Finalist range 15-49]

  • Iain J. Clark
  • Lorelei Esther
  • Sara Felix
  • Ariela Housman
  • Nilah Magruder
  • Lee Moyer

LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK

[451 ballots for 208 nominees; Finalist range 59-117]

  • Chaos on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
  • Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen / Rock the Boat)
  • The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey Books)
  • Redemptor, by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet Books / Hot Key Books)
  • A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
  • Victories Greater Than Death, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen / Titan)

ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER

[416 ballots for 187 nominees; Finalist range 44-119]

  • Tracy Deonn (2nd year of eligibility)
  • Micaiah Johnson (2nd year of eligibility)
  • A.K. Larkwood (2nd year of eligibility)
  • Everina Maxwell (1st year of eligibility)
  • Shelley Parker-Chan (1st year of eligibility)
  • Xiran Jay Zhao (1st year of eligibility)

Only Chicon 8 members will be able to vote on the final ballot and choose the winners for the 2022 Awards. To become a member, go to the Chicon 8 website to register as at least a Supporting member in order to participate in the Hugo Awards. More information about the Hugo Awards is available here.

81 thoughts on “2022 Hugo Award Finalists

  1. I liked some of the nominated works. I disliked some of the nominated works. And there are a bunch I’m looking forward to reading.

    But none of them are undeserving.

    Gratz to all of the nominees! I look forward to figuring out what to vote for. Gonna be a tough one, I think.

  2. I’m with Meredith. I am not on twitter, I never see anything on it, and I don’t expect ever to join. (Sounds like an entire website/stream of small talk–like the worst cocktail party in the world.)
    So I was a bit intimidating to be told it was where I had to go to read a Hugo nominee. But hey, I’ve got a good mind. I can learn. So I went there, and Unknown Number was definitely a good story. And the format was perfectly suited to twitter, and wouldn’t have looked right in a more traditional print format.
    Mind you, I’m still never going to sign on to twitter.

  3. Twitter is a legitimate medium for fiction and we actually have two authors of Twitter fiction on the ballot this year.

    Also, I think people should at least wait 24 hours before they complain about the Hugo finalists. Let people celebrate, especially the first-timer finalists.

  4. A few years ago, a Twitter thread was made into a movie (with Alyson Hannigan!)

  5. My favorite kind of news: Local Filers make good! So congratulations to Cora, Camestros, Paul, Chris, and . . . RedWombat! w00t!

    Professional Artist: Congratulations to Tommy Arnold, yay! I’m a fan of his work. 🙂

    Astounding Award: Congratulations to Micaiah Johnson & Everina Maxwell! I loved both their books, but I need to read works by the other finalists. If it comes down to these two, it’ll be a tough decision for me.

    Fanzine: “Small Gods” is an unusual and intriguing finalist for this category.

  6. @Kendall I was happy to see Small Gods. I’ve been enjoying it a lot for a long time, but didn’t know how they could be nominated. I’m glad others figured it out. This works for me.

  7. What’s the deal with a Twitter thread being nominated as a short story? What special interest group got it on the ballot? Who is Blue Neustifter? The link posted above goes to an account under the name Bi Dyke Energy @Azure_Husky

    You could have read “Unknown Caller” before making uncharitable assumptions about why it got on the ballot. The person at the Twitter account @Azure_Husky wrote the story.

    People who have read it are sharing it all over the place because it’s good and packs an emotional punch. I found it irresistible to share today after the unexpected discovery that a Twitter thread got a nomination.

  8. @Cat Eldridge
    The naming convention of the Tleixcalaan people is much like that of the Maya it’s based on.

  9. “A Twitter thread got nominated” is inaccurate, though. A story got nominated, and it was published on Twitter using images. It’s still a short story (and yes, IIRC a good one!).

  10. This is exciting. I have not read or viewed or whatever many of the finalists. It will be fun to see what others have nominated. I’ll decide which I like best, and vote accordingly. My thanks to all who nominated and to the Hugo Administrators. My congratulations to all the finalists; you are amazing.

  11. What a great list, and hearty congrats to all the nominees, but especially the Filers!
    Voting this year looks like a tough job.

  12. @Liz Riba:
    If you count series as a fictioncategory than Seanan McGuire is in a similar position as Cat Valente (not to sell Cat short).
    To years ago she menaged to get nominated in Novel, Novella and Best Series.
    10 nominations in 3 years is very impresive. (Best Graphic Novel and Best Fanzine here the not core fictioncategories.

  13. “Unknown Number” (the story published on Twitter) was one of two short stories on the ballot finalists I hadn’t read yet, so I took a moment to read it. A modern take on the epistolary format that works well in that mode of publication. Will it get my top vote? No, there are other stories on the ballot that I thought were better written and that I like better. But it was innovative and packs an emotional punch.

    On a separate note, every year I’m amazed at the low numbers of ballots submitted for some of the categories.

  14. There may be errors in my counting, but I think that 14 people have had three fiction (novel, novella, novelette, short story, graphic story, and series) nominations in a single year.

    Seanan McGuire and Michael Swanwick have had four fiction nominations in a single year; in 2014 and 2003 respectively.

    Seanan McGuire is the only person to have three or more fiction nominations within one year more than twice (the four just mentioned in 2014 and three in 2020, 2021, and 2022). Michael Swanwick had three in 1999 and four in 2003. Robert Silverberg had three in 1970 and 1973.

    Nobody had three in the 1980s.

    The additional threes:
    C.M. Kornbluth 1959 [N.B., there were eight nominees for novelette that year, and ten for short story]
    Roger Zelazny 1967 [N.B., there were nine nominees for novelette that year, and eight for short story]
    Samuel R. Delany 1968
    Larry Niven 1976
    Orson Scott Card 1990
    Connie Willis 1992
    Michael Resnick 1995
    Ursula K. Le Guin 1995
    Bruce Sterling 1999
    Charles Stross 2005
    Catherynne M. Valente 2022

    Also, in 1961 there were only two fiction categories. Both Ted Sturgeon and Poul Anderson were nominated in both categories.

    Since nobody asked, two fiction works with the same title were finalists in 2010. I don’t think that has happened any other time.

    (If other categories were included, there would be a lot more with three nominations, but someone else can look that all up. Lists from thehugoawards.org.)

  15. “A Twitter thread got nominated” is inaccurate, though. A story got nominated, and it was published on Twitter using images. It’s still a short story (and yes, IIRC a good one!).

    It’s a short story (true) published as a Twitter thread (true). Neither one of those negates the other. Calling it a Twitter thread just emphasizes the novelty of the author’s choice of medium to tell the tale.

  16. Maybe I’m just old and crotchety and out of touch, but the popularity of Lore Olympus is just baffling to me.

  17. Jake: To make the Hugo ballot a work needs a constituency that really likes it — enough of them to separate it from the hundreds of others getting votes in a category. So that’s a level of popularity. However, the minimum number of votes among the finalists in a lot of cases is about 9 or 10 percent of the ballots cast in their category, and may be as little as 2 percent of the total number of Hugo nominating ballots. When the full voting stats come out we’ll know more — although by then people have been able to look at the finalists in the Hugo Voter Packet and the discussion has moved on from “I never heard of that” to “Here’s what I think of that.”

  18. IIRC the Short Story category tends to have a wider spread of nominations because there are so many short stories published every year in so many places. This is a feature, not a bug.

  19. It occurs to me given the material published or newly released this year that I have to wonder if it would be possible to nominate J.R.R. Tolkien for professional artist next time around, or if it would be disqualified?

  20. @Warner Holme

    It occurs to me given the material published or newly released this year that I have to wonder if it would be possible to nominate J.R.R. Tolkien for professional artist next time around, or if it would be disqualified?

    It may be eligible, certainly is noteworthy, but is it “best”?

  21. bill – It is high enough quality within the style that I could easily see putting it on a full list of nominees thus far, although it is early enough in the year I can’t be sure of that obviously.

    I appreciate your answering my question about eligibility, or trying to. While I would never nominate something I did not consider deserving, I have to admit the fact that this may be the creator in question’s last chance at a Hugo could be a factor in its getting nominated. These things are always a difficult balancing act.

  22. Jeff Smith on April 7, 2022 at 1:52 pm said:
    Not at my best today, so I may not be completely accurate, but I think the last time a story from the three print magazines was on the ballot was 2018, and the last time one won was 2012.

    Asimov’s and F&SF continue to get their editors nominationed though.

  23. @Warner Holme — I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be ineligible. Assuming you mean Pro Artist, the difficulty (for me, at least) is identifying the specific works which have never been exhibited or published before. They don’t seem to be called out as such on the Tolkien estate website. Several news articles about the artwork use the painting “Conversation with Smaug” as an example, but here it is in a 2019 press release.
    If you mean Fan Artist, I don’t see a requirement that the art be new or unpublished, just that it appeared in the previous year.

    But I have to say that “wanting to give Tolkien a Hugo on his last possible chance, for old time’s sake” isn’t a reason that works for me.

  24. bill – the difficulty in determining the new work is definitely a factor, although I certainly was aware that the piece you cited had been revealed before.

    As I said I wouldn’t nominate something I considered unworthy otherwise, and have legitimately enjoyed the revealed material. As to giving Tolkien a Hugo, I merely acknowledged that would have to factor into my decision one way or the other, in the same way I would have to at least factor it in if a new Terry Pratchett or Robert Jordan.

    It is an acknowledgment of the fact that giving an award that seems long overdue would be a good thing, especially if the work by said individual is otherwise worthy.

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