The winner of the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine is Strange Horizons by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective.
Author: Neil Clarke
2023 Semiprozine Winner
The winner of the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine is Uncanny Magazine: publishers and editors-in-chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas; managing/poetry editor Chimedum Ohaegbu; managing editor Monte Lin; nonfiction editor Meg Elison; podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky.
2022 Semiprozine Winner
The winner of the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine is 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.
Semiprozine Rules update
The previously mentioned proposal that would have effectively eliminated the Semiprozine category was revised prior to the business meeting, but still contained serious flaws. Fortunately, it was never put up for vote and was instead passed along to a committee for review. The soonest this could come up for vote again is next year in Chengdu, but it seems unlikely that it would be put forward in its current state.
Semiprozine is once again in danger of being eliminated as a category
I have an editorial in the August issue of Clarkesworld that talks about a new proposal for Hugo rules that would effectively eliminate Best Semiprozine by categorizing all publications as either fan or pro. If it is not withdrawn, it will be put up for vote at the Business Meeting at Chicon 8. We urge anyone attending this year’s Worldcon to show up and vote against this proposal.
2022 Semiprozine Finalists
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, Bruhad Dave, Sarah Davidson, Tahlia Day, 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
2021 Hugo Award Winner for Best Semiprozine
The 2021 Hugo Award winner for Best Semiprozine is Fiyah Magazine. They’ve been a finalist three times and this is their first win.
The other finalists were:
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies
- Escape Pod
- Podcastle
- Strange Horizons
- Uncanny Magazine
2020 Directory
The directory has been updated to reflect 2020 eligibility for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.
At the moment, it doesn’t appear as though any publications have taken themselves out of the running for this year’s award.
If you are the editor of an unlisted publication, please contact Neil at neil(at)clarkesworldmagazine.com to discuss eligibility and addition to the list.
2020 Hugo Award Finalists for Best Semiprozine
Congratulations to the 2020 Hugo Award finalists for Best Semiprozine:
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies
- Escape Pod
- Fireside
- FIYAH
- Strange Horizons
- Uncanny
All six finalists have been on the ballot at least once in previous years. Uncanny is the only previous winner on the ballot. (Aside from Weird Tales and Interzone, they are the only previous winner still eligible and publishing. The rest have since closed or become classified as “professional.”)
The six finalists represent thirty-three different people. This appears to be the longest list of people in this category for any given year.
Directory Updated for 2019
The Semiprozine directory has been updated to reflect the 2019 eligibility of the various publications we know of. To our knowledge, no one has graduated to professional or declared that they would not be participating this year. Editors, if your eligible magazine is not on our list, email books -at- clarkesworld.com and we’ll add you.