John Scalzi's 'Redshirts' wins prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novel

The winners of the 2013 Hugo Awards were announced yesterday at the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Hugo Awards, they have been given each year since 1953 by the World Science Fiction Society to recognize the best sci-fi and fantasy works from the previous year.

Awards this year were given in a number of major categories, including Best Novel, Best Graphic Story and Best Dramatic Presentations. What follows is a complete list of the winners.

BEST NOVEL – “Redshirts” by John Scalzi

BEST NOVELLA – “The Emperor’s Soul” by Brandon Sanderson

BEST NOVELETTE – “The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi” by Pat Cadigan

BEST SHORT STORY – “Mono no Aware” by Ken Liu

BEST RELATED WORK – “Writing Excuses, Season Seven” by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler and Jordan Sanderson

BEST GRAPHIC STORY – “Saga, Volume One” by Brian K. Vaughn, art by Fiona Staples

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM – “The Avengers”

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM – “Blackwater” (Game of Thrones)

BEST PROFESSIONAL EDITOR, SHORT FORM – Stanley Schmidt

BEST PROFESSIONAL EDITOR, LONG FORM – Patrick Nielsen Hayden

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST – John Picacio

BEST SEMIPROZINE - Clarkesworld

BEST FANZINE – SF Signal

BEST FANCAST – SF Squeecast

BEST FAN WRITER – Tansy Rayner Roberts

BEST FAN ARTIST – Galen Dara

JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER – Mur Lafferty

The Hugo Award for Best Novel is arguably the most prestigious of these awards, and Scalzi’s “Redshirts” must be especially good. In July, it received the Locus Award for Science Fiction Novel and was nominated for an Arthur C. Clarke Award.

The other nominees for this year’s Best Novel Hugo Award include the following books:

- “Throne of the Crescent Moon” by Saladhin Ahmed

- “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance” by Lois McMaster Bujold

- “Blackout” by Mira Grant

- “2312” by Kim Stanley Robinson

Scalzi’s “Redshirts” joins a long list of classic science fiction and fantasy works that have won the prestigious Best Novel Hugo Award. What follows is a complete list of the all-time winners.

1953 – “The Demolished Man” by Alfred Bester
1954 – No Award
1955 – “They’d Rather Be Right” by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley
1956 – “Double Star” by Robert A. Heinlein
1957 – No Award
1958 – “The Big Time” by Fritz Leiber
1959 – “A Case of Conscience” by James Blish
1960 – “Starship Troopers” by Robert A. Heinlein
1961 – “A Canticle for Leibowitz” by Walter M. Miller Jr.
1962 – “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein
1963 – “The Man in the High Castle” by Philip K. Dick
1964 – “Here Gather the Stars” by Clifford D. Simak
1965 – “The Wanderer” by Fritz Leiber
1966 (tie) – “Dune” by Frank Herbert and “…And Call Me Conrad” by Roger Zelazny
1967 – “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress” by Robert A. Heinlein
1968 – “Lord of Light” by Roger Zelazny
1969 – “Stand on Zanzibar” by John Brunner
1970 – “The Left Hand of Darkness” by Ursula K. Le Guin
1971 – “Ringworld” by Larry Niven
1972 – “To Your Scattered Bodies Go” by Philip Jose Farmer
1973 – “The Gods Themselves” by Isaac Asimov
1974 – “Rendezvous with Rama” by Arthur C. Clarke
1975 – “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin
1976 – “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman
1977 – “Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang” by Kate Wilhelm
1978 – “Gateway” by Frederik Pohl
1979 – “Dreamsnake” by Vonda N. McIntyre
1980 – “The Fountains of Paradise” by Arthur C. Clarke
1981 – “The Snow Queen” by Joan D. Vinge
1982 – “Downbelow Station” by C.J. Cherryh
1983 – “Foundation’s Edge” by Isaac Asimov
1984 – “Startide Rising” by David Brin
1985 – “Neuromancer” by William Gibson
1986 – “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card
1987 – “Speaker for the Dead” by Orson Scott Card
1988 – “The Uplift War” by David Brin
1989 – “Cyteen” by C.J. Cherryh
1990 – “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons
1991 – “The Vor Game” by Lois McMaster Bujold
1992 – “Barrayar” by Lois McMaster Bujold
1993 (tie) – “A Fire Upon the Deep” by Vernon Vinge and “Doomsday Book” by Connie Willis
1994 – “Green Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson
1995 – “Mirror Dance” by Lois McMaster Bujold
1996 – “The Diamond Age” by Neal Stephenson
1997 – “Blue Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson
1998 – “Forever Peace” by Joe Haldeman
1999 – “To Say Nothing of the Dog” by Connie Willis
2000 – “A Deepness in the Sky” by Vernor Vinge
2001 – “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling
2002 – “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman
2003 – “Hominids” by Robert J. Sawyer
2004 – “Paladin of Souls” by Lois McMaster Bujold

2005 – “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” by Susanna Clarke

2006 – “Spin” by Robert Charles Wilson

2007 – “Rainbows End” by Vernor Vinge

2008 – “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union” by Michael Chabon
2009 – “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman

2010 (tie) – “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi and “The City & the City” by China Mieville 2011 – “Blackout/All Clear” by Connie Willis

2012 – “Among Others” by Jo Walton

2013 – “Redshirts” by John Scalzi

In the end, what do you think of this year’s slate of Hugo winners? Which do you like or dislike and why? How many of the all-time Best Novel winners have you read? Which is your personal favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.