Hugo awards Science fiction awards held in China under fire for excluding authors

[LisaM]

3. There is also speculation that the last minute votes were paid for

Last edited Wed Jan 24, 2024, 03:51 PM - Edit history (1)

by the Chinese government. In order to vote on the location, you need to belong to WSFS. Apparently at the very last minute, a couple of thousand new voters were eligible (membership is $50) and a lot of people think the government paid for these memberships. Ergo, the government likely was able to exert pressure regarding the nominations. This is a lose-lose situation. The people who won are always going to have an asterisk by their name, and the people who weren't nominated were overlooked for a prestigious prize.

There is an upcoming bid to host Worldcon by Uganda and the strong LGBQT contingent is understandably worried about attending.

I am not involved in WSFS or Worldcon but I know a number of people who are and I have been following this story with great interest.