At Glasgow 2024, the WSFS Business Meeting passed a resolution offering an apology to those people who were harmed by the Hugo Award results in 2023. Kevin Standlee published the text of the apology today on the World Science Fiction Society website. Linda Deneroff, Chair, WSFS Marketing Committee, has requested File 770 to publish it, too. The text includes a Chinese translation by Sophia Xue, who did all of Glasgow’s Chinese translations.
The following resolution passed at the 2024 Business Meeting of the World Science Fiction Society:
BE IT RESOLVED, that the World Science Fiction Society apologizes unreservedly to the nominators and voters of the 2023 Hugo Awards for any failures in the administration of the 2023 Hugo Awards; and
The World Science Fiction Society apologizes unreservedly to all nominees, finalists, and winners of the 2023 Hugo Awards for any failures in the administration of the 2023 Hugo Awards as well as any harm which may result from those actions; and
The World Science Fiction Society specifically and unreservedly apologizes to R.F. Kuang, author of Babel; Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu, author of “Color the World”; Hai Ya, author of Fongong Temple Pagoda; Neil Gaiman, author/writer for The Sandman; Paul Weimer; and Xiran Jay Zhao for their exclusion from the 2023 Hugo Award and/or Astounding Award Final Ballots.
Sophia Xue has provided the following Chinese translation of the official resolution:
世界科幻协会为2023年雨果奖评选过程中的任何失误，向2023年雨果奖的提名者和投票者表示毫无保留的歉意；
世界科幻协会为2023年雨果奖评选过程中的任何失误以及由此可能造成的任何伤害，向2023年雨果奖的所有获提名者、入围者和获奖者表示毫无保留的歉意；
世界科幻协会尤其向以下个人表示毫无保留的歉意：匡灵秀（R.F. Kuang）（《巴别塔》作者）、慕明（顾从云）（《涂色世界》作者）、海漄（《尽化塔》作者）、尼尔·盖曼（Neil Gaiman）（《睡魔》作者/编剧）、保罗·韦默（Paul Weimer）、赵希然（Xiran Jay Zhao），因为他们被排除在2023年雨果奖和/或惊奇奖决选名单之外。
[Thanks to Linda Deneroff for the story.]
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Thank you.
Gaiman didn’t write those episodes, and was only an Exec producer on the series! Why no apology to the writer and director of the specific episode that was excluded? A Hugo would have meant a lot more to Mairzee Almas and Lauren Bello than Gaiman who already has a bunch.
I’m not surprised this apology laid an egg here, judging by the lack of comments. The language “for any failures” is as soft as a pat of butter. It even sounds a little uncertain that there were failures.
rcade: True. No doubt an apology that specified the “failures” would have been quashed due to the Dread Scottish Laws against saying anything bad about anyone ever.
@rcade: Gaiman’s inclusion here in light of ongoing events probably doesn’t help. Especially, as Just A Bean pointed out, Almas and Bello weren’t included. The former really isn’t in WSFS’s control, but. Unfortunate timing.
I pointed that out here when this whole thing was proposed in the first place, and I thought that people had heard me about who to include, but apparently not! The allegations were well in the open at the time, too.
ETA: To be clear, I don’t think the folks drafting it could’ve known, but by the time it was posted here, the first two women had come forward, and the topic was being widely discussed in SF/F spaces (though not here).
Also, including a guy who didn’t really do anything and leaving off two women who did all the work is exactly the culture our community trying to get away from.