General Information About The Hugo and Nebula

I think some background information will start this project off on a good note.

Hugo Award - According to its official website www.thehugoawards.org, The Hugo Awards are awarded every year by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), an organization which exists for this sole purpose. It is through the membership dues of its members, currently fifty dollars, that the WSFS sponsors an annual World Science Fiction Convention or Worldcon. Prior to the years Worldcon, paying members of the WSFS are allowed to take part in a two step voting process, which allows a list of potential candidates to be formed and eventually winners to be chosen.

At Worldcon awards are granted for excellence in several categories. Currently there are fifteen categories which can be found here www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-categories/

While the organization centers itself around fantasy and science fiction, books which fall outside of the general fantasy sci-fi category are not necessarily excluded. In most cases the preference of the voters seems to take preference over pedantic delineation. An example which comes to mind is the 2009 winner, The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon, which is usually found in the regular fiction section.

Nebula Award - According to http://www.nebulaawards.com, The Nebula Awards are annual awards granted for outstanding literary achievement in several categories including Novel, Novella, Short Story, Script(A more recent addition), and several specialized categories. The various Nebula awards are voted on and given out by the Science Fiction Writers of America or SFWA.

Information about SFWA can be found at http://www.sfwa.org

"SWFA informs, supports, promotes, defends and advocates for its members. We host the prestigious Nebula Awards, assist members in legal disputes with publishers, and administer benevolent funds for authors facing medical or legal expenses. Novice authors benefit from our Information Center and the well-known Writer Beware site."

It would seem that the SWFA has a more limited view of membership in that the WSFS is limited to persons who have some kind of professional involvement in the literature business. This includes but is not limited too authors, publishers, and legal representatives. Only Active and Associate members of the SFWA are allowed to nominate and vote on the final ballots. Similiar to the WSFS, Nebula voting happens in a two stage process by which members nominate and then vote on final winners.

I found this interesting http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php/about/rules

6. Eligibility
a. All works first published in English, in the United States, during the calendar year, in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, or a related fiction genre are eligible for the Nebula Awards® in their respective categories.
i. Works such as comic books, graphic novels, and similar type works shall be placed in an existing category as deemed appropriate by the Nebula Awards Commissioner, based primarily on their word count.
ii. The Nebula Awards Commissioner will decide the eligibility of a questionable work. (emphasis mine)