Earlier this week, the 2022 Hugo Award Finalists were announced. Similar to other (literary) awards, there were surprises, the snubs and the expected among them. After noting (and congratulating) the nominees, some of us tend to do one and/or two things. One, we look over which nominees we may or may not have read or watched. Two, we compare one list of nominees with another one. Some of you may recall I attempted to read ALL of the finalists of ALL the speculative fiction awards within a calendar year. Spoiler alert: I barely managed to read half of them (checkout this year’s NOMMOS and Aurealis Awards).
I want to make something very clear. I do NOT know the process of voting for the finalists for both the Nebula and the Hugo Awards. That being said, it’s very interesting to see the variety amongst the 2 sets of finalists. Now, adding the nominees for the 2022 SCKA, you notice which titles and works managed to get nominated across these different awards. Another thing I want to point out: I am NOT speaking for all of the other participants in the SCKA, I am speaking for myself. This year’s Nebula and Hugo Finalists has me looking into my experience participating in the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards for the second year. It is obvious these awards are voted by speculative fiction bookbloggers, it should be mentioned not only do we select nominees because we believe the work is worthy of the accolade, but also brings attention to works which were not on anyone else’s radar or TBR; and, we include indie works.
After looking across all 3 finalists/nominees lists, I’m even more stunned by which nominees from SCKA were the finalists for the Nebula and/or the Hugo Awards, too. At the same time, the differences between the Nebula and the Hugo Awards finalists are worth mentioning. Yes, there have been years when the same work will win ALL of the awards its nominated for (i.e. The Stone Sky, Every Heart a Doorway, etc.,). Then, there are years when that is NOT the case (i.e. Uprooted won the Nebula Award the same year The Fifth Season won the Hugo Award). That being said, I do NOT know who is going to win either of those two awards because a couple of the finalists are nominated for both awards, and a couple of the surprises appeared on one ballot over the other one.
As for the SCKA, the finalists for the Nebula and the Hugo Awards will NOT influence my votes for the finalists; however, my curiosity regarding those finalists has increased. My participating in the SCKA has led me to having a better understanding of how and why certain works are nominated for one award and not the other one, there are SO MANY EXCELLENT books, film/TV, editors, essays, etc., to choose from. Then again, why did the Hugo Awards decide to omit Best Video Game?
The Finalists and the Winners for the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards will be voted and announced after the preliminaries are done. It would be interesting to see whether or not our Winners are the same as one or both of the other awards, but please don’t count on that happening. But, please follow our awards the same way you’re following the Nebulas, the Hugos, the BFAs, the Arthur C. Clarke Awards, etc., because we are participating in the SCKA because we want to acknowledge the best of the previous year by given them accolades for their works.
Which finalists/nominees from ANY speculative fiction awards are you excited for the most?
