2025 Hugo Award eligibility post

Last year was definitely a unique one for me as a journalist. First, Chris M. Barkley and I worked on the biggest story I’ve ever been involved in, our report on censorship and exclusion at the 2023 Hugo Awards. Our story generated massive waves within the SF/F genre and beyond, with the report being picked up by such media outlets as The New York Times, The BBC, The Guardian, NPR, Vulture, Locus, Polygon, Esquire, and many other places. Our report also jumpstarted a push for changes in how both Worldcon and the Hugos are run.

Then in the last few months of the year, I was hit hard by burnout, which slowed down my reporting. However, I was able to recover and end the year with the release of two works I’m very proud of, my report on “AI and the Enshittification of Life,” which examined the effect of an entire year’s worth of generative artificial intelligence slop on our lives, and “Your Stories and Art Matter Even When the World Turns Bad,” which explored how the work of writers and artists can reshape not only how other people see their own lives, but also change our entire world.

As such, this is my Hugo Award eligibility post. I’m eligible for nomination in the following categories:

Below is a selection of my 2024 fan writings. Thank you for the consideration.

Special Reports and Essays

Genre Grapevine columns

Glasgow Worldcon schedule

I’m attending this year’s Worldcon in Glasgow, Scotland. I’m really excited about this because it’s my first Worldcon outside the USA and the first one I’ve attended in a few years.

I’ll also be reporting on Worldcon through my Genre Grapevine and social media accounts.

My schedule is below. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Friday, August 9, 9 am
Stroll with the Stars
Festival Park, starting outside CrownePlaza
Join your fellow convention members, and perhaps some big names, for a gentle stroll (1.3 miles/2km) around Festival Park, across the river from the SEC, led by Farah Mendlesohn and Mike Scott. The route is wheelchair-accessible, and we will adjust our pace to match the abilities of the slowest walkers. Sign up at the Registration Desk by 18:00 the previous day, and meet at 09:00 outside the Crowne Plaza hotel’s main entrance.

Friday, August 9, 2:30 pm
How is the Hugo Award Administered These Days, Anyway?
Argyll 1
Let's gather during Worldcon to debate whether we should pursue incorporating WSFS and implementing more accountability within WSFS and the Hugo administration process. What are the pros and cons of such a solution, and should we make any changes? The intention is to specify what we expect for the future of the Hugo Awards.

Friday, August 9, 2024, 5:30 PM
Neurodivergent Approaches to Stories Participants
Alsh 1
Neurodivergent authors and readers approach the art of fiction in different ways from neurotypical people. Stories may be a way to understand and process the world. For neurodivergent authors, traditional advice on how to write fiction may actually be harmful or counterproductive. In this panel, a group of neurodivergent authors and readers will discuss both how they process fiction written by others and how they write their own stories.

Saturday August 10 at 13:00
Autographing
Hall 4

Saturday, August 10, 8:30 PM
AI and Creative Writing - Do Androids Dream of Winning a Hugo?
Carron
There has been a surge in self-published e-books written (largely) by ChatGPT whilst some magazine editors report being swamped by AI-generated stories. For now, these are easily identifiable and generally of poor quality. However, will a time come when AI-generated fiction is indistinguishable from human-generated stories and of a standard people might actually want to read? Should we accept that this is inevitable or resist the rise of AI fiction? And how do we resist?

2024 Hugo Award eligibility post

Update: I wrote this eligibility post before beginning work with Chris M. Barkley on our report about censorship during last year’s Hugo Awards, which was released on February 14, 2024. So where before I said it was weird to ask to be considered for a Hugo nomination, it’s now super weird. But that said, I still believe everything I wrote below. The Hugos remain an important part of the SF/F genre and I believe they will be fixed so all this never happens again. Thanks for any consideration.

The recent revelations about last year’s Hugo Awards are disturbing to say the least. So it is definitely weird to ask to be considered for nomination for the 2024 Hugos. However, I still believe the awards are an important part of the science fiction and fantasy genre. I’m also optimistic that the genre community will fix the issues that happened last year so they never happen again.

As such, this is my Hugo Award eligibility post. I’m eligible for nomination in the following categories:

Below are samples of my fan writings from 2023. Thank you to everyone for your support of my writing and reporting about the SF/F genre.

Essays and Coverage about Machine Learning

Note: My writings about machine learning, plus addition essays and coverage, have been collected in the book Genre Grapevine’s 2023 AI Coverage: Creativity in the Age of Machine Learning.

Other Special Reports

Sample of Genre Grapevine columns

Chicon Schedule

I'm attending Chicon, the 80th World Science Fiction Convention, later this week. I’m doing the following in-person events, so please come check them out. I’ll also be attending the Hugo Awards ceremony, where I’m a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer.

I look forward to seeing everyone there!

  • Autographing Session
    Thursday, September 1
    1:00 PM CDT, 2:00 PM EDT

  • Table Talk (advance registration required, details here)
    Friday, September 2
    10:00 AM CDT , 11:00 AM EDT

  • Neurodivergent Fan Meetup
    Saturday, September 3
    4:00 PM CDT, 5:00 PM EDT

Gen Con Writer's Symposium schedule

I’m a panelist at the Gen Con Writer's Symposium, which starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday. R. A. Salvatore is the Author Guest of Honor and a ton of other great authors will also be attending, including Maurice Broaddus, C.S.E. Cooney, Mary Fan, Jaym Gates, LaShawn Wanak, Carlos Hernandez and many more.

The Writer’s Symposium is a tiny part of the larger Gen Con but it’s a great way to interact with authors and also get advice on writing and publishing your own works. Definitely check it out!

Here’s my schedule:

Thursday, August 4

The Full-time Myth: Does every writer really want to do this full-time?
11:00 am in Atlanta
Jennifer Brozek, Erik de Bie, Jason Sanford, C. S. E. Cooney, Jerry Gordon

Writing Tools: Tools to help organize your writing
1 pm in Austin/Boston
Katherine Monasterio, Marie Bilodeau, Jason Sanford, Howard Andrew Jones, LaShawn Wanak (M)

Finding Novels a Home
3 pm in Atlanta
Jason Sanford

Friday, August 5

Finding Short Stories a Home
4 pm in Atlanta
LaShawn Wanak, Jason Sanford

Saturday, August 6

Submitting Your Work: Bye-bye, SASE! Modern methods of submitting work, the good and the bad
1 pm in Austin/Boston
Howard Andrew Jones, Jason Sanford, Carlos Hernandez, Steve Diamond

NFTs and the future of fiction. Can writers benefit from trying to introduce NFTs into their fiction writing?
3 pm in Atlanta
Gini Koch, Lucien Soulban, Jason Sanford, Chris Bell (M)

Imagining Alternate Futures: How to extrapolate a future for your setting
4 pm in Atlanta
Gini Koch, Donald J. Bingle, Paul Weimer, Jason Sanford

Defining Traits: How to distinguish one character from another without overdoing it
5 pm in Austin/Boston
Jennifer Brozek, Erin M. Evans, Jason Sanford, David Mack