Hugo Award for Best Short Story

The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of fewer than 7,500 words; awards are also given out for pieces of longer lengths in the novelette, novella, and novel categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".^[1][2]

Hugo Award for Best Short Story
Awarded for	The best science fiction or fantasy story of less than 7,500 words published in the prior calendar year
Presented by	World Science Fiction Society
First award	1955
Most recent winner	Naomi Kritzer ("Better Living Through Algorithms")
Website	thehugoawards.org

The Hugo Award for Best Short Story has been awarded annually since 1955, except in 1957. The award was titled "Best Short Fiction" rather than "Best Short Story" in 1960–1966. During this time no Novelette category was awarded and the Novella category had not yet been established; the award was defined only as a work "of less than novel length" that was not published as a stand-alone book.^[3] In addition to the regular Hugo awards, beginning in 1996 Retrospective Hugo Awards, or "Retro Hugos", have been available to be awarded for 50, 75, or 100 years prior. Retro Hugos may only be awarded for years after 1939 in which no awards were originally given.^[4] To date, Retro Hugo awards have been given for short stories for 1939, 1941, 1943–1946, 1951, and 1954.^[5]

During the 78 nomination years, 220 authors have had works as finalists; 59 of these have won, including co-authors and Retro Hugos. One translator has been noted along with the author of a story written in a language other than English: Alex Woodend, in 2024, for a translation of a work from Chinese. Harlan Ellison has received the most Hugos for Best Short Story at four, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Mike Resnick, Michael Swanwick, and Connie Willis have each won three times, and Poul Anderson, Joe Haldeman, Naomi Kritzer, and Ken Liu have won twice, the only other authors to win more than once. Resnick has received the most final ballot nominations at 18, while Swanwick has received 14; no other author has gotten more than 7. Michael A. Burstein, with 7, has the highest number of nominations without winning.

Selection

Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution as instant-runoff voting with six finalists, except in the case of a tie. The short stories on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of stories that can be nominated. The 1955 and 1958 awards did not include any recognition of runner-up stories, but since 1959 all six candidates have been recorded.^[4] Initial nominations are made by members in January through March, while voting on the ballot of six finalists is performed roughly in April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held.^[6] Prior to 2017, the final ballot was five works; it was changed that year to six, with each initial nominator limited to five nominations.^[7] Worldcons are generally held near Labor Day, and are held in a different city around the world each year.^[8][9] Members are permitted to vote "no award", if they feel that none of the finalists is deserving of the award that year, and in the case that "no award" takes the majority the Hugo is not given in that category. This happened in the Best Short Story category in 2015.^[10]

Winners and finalists

In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the short story was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a yellow background have won the award; those with a grey background are the finalists on the short-list. If the short story was originally published in a book with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the book title is included after the publisher's name.

  *   Winners and joint winners   +   No winner selected

Winners and finalists

Year	Author(s)	Short story	Publisher or publication	Ref.
1955	Eric Frank Russell*	"Allamagoosa"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[11]
1956	Arthur C. Clarke*	"The Star"	Infinity Science Fiction	[12]
	F. L. Wallace	"End as a World"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[12]
	James Blish	"King of the Hill"	Infinity Science Fiction	[12]
	Algis Budrys	"Nobody Bothers Gus"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[12]
	Cordwainer Smith	"The Game of Rat and Dragon"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[12]
	Ray Bradbury	"The Dragon"	Esquire	[12]
	Robert Sheckley	"Spy Story"	Playboy	[12]
	Theodore Sturgeon	"Twink"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[12]
1958	Avram Davidson*	"Or All the Seas with Oysters"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[13]
1959	Robert Bloch*	"That Hell-Bound Train"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[14]
	Anton Lee Baker	"They've Been Working On..."	Astounding Science-Fiction	[14]
	Alfred Bester	"The Men Who Murdered Mohammed"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[14]
	J. F. Bone	"Triggerman"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[14]
	Algis Budrys	"The Edge of the Sea"	Venture Science Fiction	[14]
	C. M. Kornbluth	"The Advent on Channel Twelve"	Star Science Fiction Stories #4 (Ballantine Books)	[14]
	C. M. Kornbluth	"Theory of Rocketry"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[14]
	Fritz Leiber	"Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-Tah-Tee"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[14]
	Stanley Mullen	"Space to Swing a Cat"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[14]
	Manly Wade Wellman	"Nine Yards of Other Cloth"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[14]
1960	Daniel Keyes*	"Flowers for Algernon"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[15]
	Philip José Farmer	"The Alley Man"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[15]
	Alfred Bester	"The Pi Man"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[15]
	Theodore Sturgeon	"The Man Who Lost the Sea"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[15]
	Ralph Williams	"Cat and Mouse"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[15]
1961	Poul Anderson*	"The Longest Voyage"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[16]
	Pauline Ashwell	"The Lost Kafoozalum"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[16]
	Philip José Farmer	"Open to Me, My Sister" (aka. "My Sister's Brother")	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[16]
	Theodore Sturgeon	"Need"	Beyond Fantasy Fiction	[16]
1962	Brian Aldiss*	Hothouse (series)	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[17]
	Lloyd Biggle, Jr.	"Monument"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[17]
	Fritz Leiber	"Scylla's Daughter"	Fantastic	[17]
	Mack Reynolds	"Status Quo"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[17]
	James H. Schmitz	"Lion Loose"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[17]
1963	Jack Vance*	"The Dragon Masters"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[18]
	Gary Jennings	"Myrrha"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[18]
	Fritz Leiber	"The Unholy Grail"	Fantastic	[18]
	Theodore Sturgeon	"When You Care, When You Love"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[18]
	Thomas Burnett Swann	"Where Is the Bird of Fire?"	Science Fantasy	[18]
1964	Poul Anderson*	"No Truce with Kings"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[19]
	Rick Raphael	"Code Three Archived 2017-12-11 at the Wayback Machine"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[19]
	Roger Zelazny	"A Rose for Ecclesiastes"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[19]
	Edgar Rice Burroughs	"Savage Pellucidar"	Amazing Stories	[19]
1965	Gordon R. Dickson*	"Soldier, Ask Not"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[20]
	Rick Raphael	"Once a Cop"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[20]
	Robert F. Young	"Little Dog Gone"	Worlds of Tomorrow	[20]
1966	Harlan Ellison*	""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[21]
	Poul Anderson	"Marque and Reprisal"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[21]
	Philip José Farmer	"Day of the Great Shout"	Worlds of Tomorrow	[21]
	Fritz Leiber	"Stardock"	Fantastic	[21]
	Roger Zelazny	"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[21]
1967	Larry Niven*	"Neutron Star"	If	[22]
	Brian Aldiss	"Man In His Time"	Who Can Replace a Man? (Signet Books)	[22]
	Harlan Ellison	"Delusions for a Dragon Slayer"	Knight	[22]
	Raymond F. Jones	"Rat Race"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[22]
	Richard McKenna	"The Secret Place"	Orbit #1 (Putnam Publishing Group)	[22]
	Fred Saberhagen	"Mr. Jester"	If	[22]
	Bob Shaw	"Light of Other Days"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[22]
	Roger Zelazny	"Comes Now the Power"	Magazine of Horror	[22]
1968	Harlan Ellison*	"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"	If	[23]
	Larry Niven	"The Jigsaw Man"	Dangerous Visions (Doubleday)	[23]
	Samuel R. Delany	"Aye, and Gomorrah"	Dangerous Visions (Doubleday)	[23]
1969	Harlan Ellison*	"The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[24]
	Larry Niven	"All the Myriad Ways"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[24]
	Terry Carr	"The Dance of the Changer and the Three"	The Farthest Reaches (Pocket Books)	[24]
	Betsy Curtis	"The Steiger Effect"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[24]
	Damon Knight	"Masks"	Playboy	[24]
1970	Samuel R. Delany*	"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones"	New Worlds	[25]
	Robert Silverberg	"Passengers"	Orbit #4 (Putnam Publishing Group)	[25]
	Larry Niven	"Not Long Before the End"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[25]
	Gregory Benford	"Deeper than the Darkness"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[25]
	Ursula K. Le Guin	"Winter's King"	Orbit #5 (Putnam Publishing Group)	[25]
1971	Theodore Sturgeon*	"Slow Sculpture"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[26]
	R. A. Lafferty	"Continued on Next Rock"	Orbit #7 (Putnam Publishing Group)	[26]
	Gordon R. Dickson	"Jean Duprès"	Nova #1 (Delacorte Press)	[26]
	Keith Laumer	"In the Queue"	Orbit #7 (Putnam Publishing Group)	[26]
	Ben Bova	"Brillo"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[26]
1972	Larry Niven*	"Inconstant Moon"	All the Myriad Ways (Ballantine Books)	[27]
	Ursula K. Le Guin	"Vaster than Empires and More Slow"	New Dimensions #1 (Doubleday)	[27]
	Clifford D. Simak	"The Autumn Land"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[27]
	Stephen Tall	"The Bear with the Knot on His Tail"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[27]
	R. A. Lafferty	"Sky"	New Dimensions #1 (Doubleday)	[27]
	George Alec Effinger	"All the Last Wars at Once"	Universe #1 (Bantam Spectra)	[27]
1973	R. A. Lafferty*	"Eurema's Dam"	New Dimensions #2 (Doubleday)	[28]
	Frederik Pohl*	"The Meeting"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[28]
	C. M. Kornbluth*
	Robert Silverberg	"When We Went to See the End of the World"	Universe #2 (Bantam Spectra)	[28]
	James Tiptree, Jr.	"And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[28]
	Joanna Russ	"When It Changed"	Again, Dangerous Visions (Doubleday)	[28]
1974	Ursula K. Le Guin*	"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"	New Dimensions #3 (Doubleday)	[29]
	George R. R. Martin	"With Morning Comes Mistfall"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[29]
	Clifford D. Simak	"Construction Shack"	If	[29]
	Vonda N. McIntyre	"Wings"	The Alien Condition (Ballantine Books)	[29]
1975	Larry Niven*	"The Hole Man"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[30]
	Alfred Bester	"The Four-Hour Fugue"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[30]
	Michael Bishop	"Cathadonian Odyssey"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[30]
	Ursula K. Le Guin	"The Day Before the Revolution"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[30]
	Robert Silverberg	"Schwartz Between the Galaxies"	Stellar #1 (Ballantine Books)	[30]
1976	Fritz Leiber*	"Catch That Zeppelin!"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[31]
	Harlan Ellison	"Croatoan"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[31]
	P. J. Plauger	"Child of All Ages"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[31]
	Richard A. Lupoff	"Sail the Tide of Mourning"	New Dimensions #5 (Doubleday)	[31]
	Michael Bishop	"Rogue Tomato"	New Dimensions #5 (Doubleday)	[31]
	Gregory Benford	"Doing Lennon"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[31]
1977	Joe Haldeman*	"Tricentennial"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[32]
	Charles L. Grant	"A Crowd of Shadows"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[32]
	Damon Knight	"I See You"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[32]
	James White	"Custom Fitting"	Stellar #2 (Ballantine Books)	[32]
1978	Harlan Ellison*	"Jeffty Is Five"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[33]
	John Varley	"Air Raid"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[33]
	Spider Robinson	"Dog Day Evening"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[33]
	Randall Garrett	"Lauralyn"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[33]
	James Tiptree, Jr.	"Time-Sharing Angel"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[33]
1979	C. J. Cherryh*	"Cassandra"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[34]
	Harlan Ellison	"Count the Clock that Tells the Time"	Omni	[34]
	Joan D. Vinge	"View From a Height"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[34]
	Edward Bryant	"Stone"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[34]
	Ian Watson	"The Very Slow Time Machine"	Anticipations (Faber and Faber)	[34]
1980	George R. R. Martin*	"The Way of Cross and Dragon"	Omni	[35]
	Orson Scott Card	"Unaccompanied Sonata"	Omni	[35]
	Ted Reynolds	"Can These Bones Live?"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[35]
	Edward Bryant	"giANTS"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[35]
	Connie Willis	"Daisy, In the Sun"	Galileo	[35]
1981	Clifford D. Simak*	"Grotto of the Dancing Deer"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[36]
	Robert Silverberg	"Our Lady of the Sauropods"	Omni	[36]
	Susan C. Petrey	"Spidersong"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[36]
	Jeff Duntemann	"Cold Hands"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[36]
	Jeff Duntemann	"Guardian"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[36]
1982	John Varley*	"The Pusher"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[37]
	Gene Wolfe	"The Woman the Unicorn Loved"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[37]
	Somtow Sucharitkul	"Absent Thee from Felicity Awhile"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[37]
	George Guthridge	"The Quiet"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[37]
1983	Spider Robinson*	"Melancholy Elephants"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[38]
	Ursula K. Le Guin	"Sur"	The New Yorker	[38]
	James Tiptree, Jr.	"The Boy Who Waterskied to Forever"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[38]
	Bruce Sterling	"Spider Rose"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[38]
	Howard Waldrop	"Ike at the Mike"	Omni	[38]
1984	Octavia E. Butler*	"Speech Sounds"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[39]
	Frederik Pohl	"Servant of the People"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[39]
	Hilbert Schenck	"The Geometry of Narrative"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[39]
	Gardner Dozois	"The Peacemaker"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[39]
	William F. Wu	"Wong's Lost and Found Emporium"	Amazing Stories	[39]
1985	David Brin*	"The Crystal Spheres"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[40]
	George Alec Effinger	"The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[40]
	Lee Killough	"Symphony for a Lost Traveler"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[40]
	Lucius Shepard	"Salvador"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[40]
	Kim Stanley Robinson	"Ridge Running"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[40]
	Steven Gould	"Rory"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[40]
1986	Frederik Pohl*	"Fermi and Frost"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[41]
	Howard Waldrop	"Flying Saucer Rock & Roll"	Omni	[41]
	John Crowley	"Snow"	Omni	[41]
	Bruce Sterling	"Dinner in Audoghast"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[41]
	William F. Wu	"Hong's Bluff"	Omni	[41]
1987	Greg Bear*	"Tangents"	Omni	[42]
	Isaac Asimov	"Robot Dreams"	Robot Dreams (Berkley Books)	[42]
	Nancy Springer	"The Boy Who Plaited Manes"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[42]
	David S. Garnett	"Still Life"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[42]
	James Patrick Kelly	"Rat"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[42]
1988	Lawrence Watt-Evans*	"Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[43]
	Kate Wilhelm	"Forever Yours, Anna"	Omni	[43]
	Pat Cadigan	"Angel"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[43]
	Howard Waldrop	"Night of the Cooters"	Omni	[43]
	Karen Joy Fowler	"The Faithful Companion at Forty"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[43]
	Lisa Goldstein	"Cassandra's Photographs"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[43]
1989	Mike Resnick*	"Kirinyaga"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[44]
	David Brin	"The Giving Plague"	Interzone	[44]
	Geoffrey A. Landis	"Ripples in the Dirac Sea"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[44]
	Bruce Sterling	"Our Neural Chernobyl"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[44]
	Eileen Gunn	"Stable Strategies for Middle Management"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[44]
	Jack McDevitt	"The Fort Moxie Branch"	Full Spectrum (Doubleday)	[44]
1990	Suzy McKee Charnas*	"Boobs"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[45]
	Orson Scott Card	"Lost Boys"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[45]
	Eileen Gunn	"Computer Friendly"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[45]
	Larry Niven	"The Return of William Proxmire"	What Might Have Been? Vol. 1: Alternate Empires (Bantam Spectra)	[45]
	Michael Swanwick	"The Edge of the World"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[45]
	Bruce Sterling	"Dori Bangs"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[45]
1991	Terry Bisson*	"Bears Discover Fire"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[46]
	Connie Willis	"Cibola"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[46]
	Charles Sheffield	"Godspeed"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[46]
	Robert Reed	"The Utility Man"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[46]
	W. R. Thompson	"VRM-547"	Analog Science Fact & Fiction	[46]
1992	Geoffrey A. Landis*	"A Walk in the Sun"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[47]
	Mike Resnick	"One Perfect Morning, With Jackals"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[47]
	Connie Willis	"In the Late Cretaceous"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[47]
	Mike Resnick	"Winter Solstice"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[47]
	Terry Bisson	"Press Ann"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[47]
	John Kessel	"Buffalo"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[47]
	Martha Soukup	"Dog's Life"	Amazing Stories	[47]
1993	Connie Willis*	"Even the Queen"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[48]
	Nancy Kress	"The Mountain to Mohammed"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[48]
	Mike Resnick	"The Lotus and the Spear"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[48]
	Martha Soukup	"The Arbitrary Placement of Walls"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[48]
	Nicholas A. DiChario	"The Winterberry"	Alternate Kennedys (Tor Books)	[48]
1994	Connie Willis*	"Death on the Nile"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[49]
	Mike Resnick	"Mwalimu in the Squared Circle"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[49]
	Martha Soukup	"The Story So Far"	Full Spectrum 4 (Doubleday)	[49]
	Bridget McKenna	"The Good Pup"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[49]
	Terry Bisson	"England Underway"	Omni	[49]
1995	Joe Haldeman*	"None So Blind"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[50]
	Kate Wilhelm	"I Know What You're Thinking"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[50]
	Mike Resnick	"Barnaby in Exile"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[50]
	Terry Bisson	"Dead Man's Curve"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[50]
	Barry N. Malzberg	"Understanding Entropy"	SF Age	[50]
	M. Shayne Bell	"Mrs. Lincoln's China"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[50]
1996	Maureen F. McHugh*	"The Lincoln Train"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[51]
	Esther Friesner	"A Birthday"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[51]
	Michael A. Burstein	"TeleAbsence"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[51]
	Tony Daniel	"Life on the Moon"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[51]
	Michael Swanwick	"Walking Out"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[51]
1997	Connie Willis*	"The Soul Selects Her Own Society: Invasion and Repulsion: A Chronological Reinterpretation of Two of Emily Dickinson's Poems: A Wellsian Perspective"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[52]
	James White	"Un-Birthday Boy"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[52]
	Michael Swanwick	"The Dead"	Starlight #1 (Tor Books)	[52]
	Robert Reed	"Decency"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[52]
	John Crowley	"Gone"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[52]
1998	Mike Resnick*	"The 43 Antarean Dynasties"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[53]
	James Patrick Kelly	"Itsy Bitsy Spider"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[53]
	Gene Wolfe	"No Planets Strike"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[53]
	Robert J. Sawyer	"The Hand You're Dealt"	Free Space (Tor Books)	[53]
	Karen Joy Fowler	"Standing Room Only"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[53]
	Andy Duncan	"Beluthahatchie"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[53]
1999	Michael Swanwick*	"The Very Pulse of the Machine"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[54]
	Bruce Sterling	"Maneki Neko"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[54]
	Michael Swanwick	"Radiant Doors"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[54]
	Michael Swanwick	"Wild Minds"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[54]
	Michael A. Burstein	"Cosmic Corkscrew"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[54]
	Robert Reed	"Whiptail"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[54]
2000	Michael Swanwick*	"Scherzo with Tyrannosaur"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[55]
	Michael Swanwick	"Ancient Engines"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[55]
	Mike Resnick	"Hothouse Flowers"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[55]
	Terry Bisson	"macs"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[55]
	Nicholas A. DiChario	"Sarajevo"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[55]
2001	David Langford*	"Different Kinds of Darkness"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[56]
	Michael A. Burstein	"Kaddish for the Last Survivor"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[56]
	Michael Swanwick	"Moon Dogs"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[56]
	Mike Resnick	"The Elephants on Neptune"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[56]
	Stephen Baxter	"The Gravity Mine"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[56]
2002	Michael Swanwick*	"The Dog Said Bow-Wow"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[57]
	Ursula K. Le Guin	"The Bones of the Earth"	Tales from Earthsea (Harcourt)	[57]
	Mike Resnick	"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[57]
	Stephen Baxter	"The Ghost Pit"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[57]
	Michael A. Burstein	"Spaceships"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[57]
2003	Geoffrey A. Landis*	"Falling onto Mars"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[58]
	Michael Swanwick	"'Hello,' Said the Stick"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[58]
	Michael Swanwick	"The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[58]
	Jeffrey Ford	"Creation"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[58]
	Molly Gloss	"Lambing Season"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[58]
2004	Neil Gaiman*	"A Study in Emerald"	Shadows Over Baker Street (Del Rey Books)	[59]
	Michael A. Burstein	"Paying It Forward"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[59]
	Mike Resnick	"Robots Don't Cry"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[59]
	Joe Haldeman	"Four Short Novels"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[59]
	David D. Levine	"The Tale of the Golden Eagle"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[59]
2005	Mike Resnick*	"Travels with My Cats"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[60]
	James Patrick Kelly	"The Best Christmas Ever"	Scifi.com	[60]
	Mike Resnick	"A Princess of Earth"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[60]
	Robert J. Sawyer	"Shed Skin"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[60]
	Michael A. Burstein	"Decisions"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[60]
2006	David D. Levine*	"Tk'tk'tk"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[61]
	Michael A. Burstein	"Seventy-Five Years"	Analog Science Fiction and Fact	[61]
	Dominic Green	"The Clockwork Atom Bomb"	Interzone	[61]
	Margo Lanagan	"Singing My Sister Down"	Black Juice (Eos)	[61]
	Mike Resnick	"Down Memory Lane"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[61]
2007	Tim Pratt*	"Impossible Dreams"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[62]
	Neil Gaiman	"How to Talk to Girls at Parties"	Fragile Things (William Morrow and Company)	[62]
	Robert Reed	"Eight Episodes"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[62]
	Bruce McAllister	"Kin"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[62]
	Benjamin Rosenbaum	"The House Beyond Your Sky"	Strange Horizons	[62]
2008	Elizabeth Bear*	"Tideline"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[63]
	Michael Swanwick	"A Small Room in Koboldtown"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[63]
	Stephen Baxter	"Last Contact"	The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction #1 (Solaris Books)	[63]
	Ken MacLeod	"Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?"	The New Space Opera (Eos)	[63]
	Mike Resnick	"Distant Replay"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[63]
2009	Ted Chiang*	"Exhalation"	Eclipse #2 (Night Shade Books)	[64]
	Kij Johnson	"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[64]
	Michael Swanwick	"From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[64]
	Mary Robinette Kowal	"Evil Robot Monkey"	The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction #2 (Solaris Books)	[64]
	Mike Resnick	"Article of Faith"	Jim Baen's Universe	[64]
2010	Will McIntosh*	"Bridesicle"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[65]
	Mike Resnick	"The Bride of Frankenstein"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[65]
	Lawrence M. Schoen	"The Moment"	Footprints (Hadley Rille Books)	[65]
	N. K. Jemisin	"Non-Zero Probabilities"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[65]
	Kij Johnson	"Spar"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[65]
2011	Mary Robinette Kowal*	"For Want of a Nail"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[66]
	Carrie Vaughn	"Amaryllis"	Lightspeed Magazine	[66]
	Kij Johnson	"Ponies"	Tor.com	[66]
	Peter Watts	"The Things"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[66]
2012	Ken Liu*	"The Paper Menagerie"	Fantasy & Science Fiction	[67]
	E. Lily Yu	"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[67]
	Mike Resnick	"The Homecoming"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[67]
	Nancy Fulda	"Movement"	Asimov's Science Fiction	[67]
	John Scalzi	"The Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue"	Tor.com	[67]
2013	Ken Liu*	"Mono no Aware"	The Future is Japanese (Viz Media)	[68]
	Aliette de Bodard	"Immersion"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[68]
	Kij Johnson	"Mantis Wives"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[68]
2014	John Chu*	"The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere"	Tor.com	[69]
	Rachel Swirsky	"If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love"	Apex Magazine	[69]
	Thomas Olde Heuvelt	"The Ink Readers of Doi Saket"	Tor.com	[69]
	Sofia Samatar	"Selkie Stories Are for Losers"	Strange Horizons	[69]
2015	(no award)+			[10][a]
	Lou Antonelli	"On a Spiritual Plain"	Sci Phi Journal	[10]
	Steven Diamond	"A Single Samurai"	The Baen Big Book of Monsters (Baen Books)	[10]
	Kary English	"Totaled"	Galaxy's Edge	[10]
	Steve Rzasa	"Turncoat"	Riding the Red Horse (Castalia House)	[10]
	John C. Wright	"The Parliament of Beasts and Birds"	The Book of Feasts & Seasons (Castalia House)	[10]
2016	Naomi Kritzer*	"Cat Pictures Please"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[72]
	S. R. Algernon	"Asymmetrical Warfare"	Nature	[72]
	Juan Tabo	"If You Were an Award, My Love"	voxday.blogspot.com	[72]
	S. Harris
	Charles Shao	"Seven Kill Tiger"	There Will Be War Volume X (Castalia House)	[72]
	Chuck Tingle	Space Raptor Butt Invasion	Amazon Digital Services	[72]
2017	Amal El-Mohtar*	"Seasons of Glass and Iron"	The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales (Saga Press)	[73]
	N. K. Jemisin	"The City Born Great"	Tor.com	[73]
	Alyssa Wong	"A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers"	Tor.com	[73]
	Brooke Bolander	"Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies"	Uncanny Magazine	[73]
	Carrie Vaughn	"That Game We Played During the War"	Tor.com	[73]
	John C. Wright	"An Unimaginable Light"	God, Robot (Castalia House)	[73]
2018	Rebecca Roanhorse*	"Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™"	Apex Magazine	[74]
	Caroline M. Yoachim	"Carnival Nine"	Beneath Ceaseless Skies	[74]
	Fran Wilde	"Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand"	Uncanny Magazine	[74]
	Vina Jie-Min Prasad	"Fandom for Robots"	Uncanny Magazine	[74]
	Linda Nagata	"The Martian Obelisk"	Tor.com	[74]
	Ursula Vernon	"Sun, Moon, Dust"	Uncanny Magazine	[74]
2019	Alix E. Harrow*	"A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies"	Apex Magazine	[75]
	Brooke Bolander	"The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat"	Uncanny Magazine	[75]
	P. Djèlí Clark	"The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington"	Fireside Magazine	[75]
	Sarah Gailey	"STET"	Fireside Magazine	[75]
	Ursula Vernon (as T. Kingfisher)	"The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society"	Uncanny Magazine	[75]
	Sarah Pinsker	"The Court Magician"	Lightspeed	[75]
2020	S. L. Huang*	"As the Last I May Know"	Tor.com	[76]
	Shiv Ramdas	"And Now His Lordship Is Laughing"	Strange Horizons	[76]
	Rivers Solomon	"Blood Is Another Word for Hunger"	Tor.com	[76]
	Fran Wilde	"A Catalog of Storms"	Uncanny Magazine	[76]
	Alix E. Harrow	"Do Not Look Back, My Lion"	Beneath Ceaseless Skies	[76]
	Nibedita Sen	"Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island"	Nightmare Magazine	[76]
2021	Ursula Vernon* (as T. Kingfisher)	"Metal Like Blood in the Dark"	Uncanny Magazine	[77]
	Rae Carson	"Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse"	Uncanny Magazine	[77]
	Vina Jie-Min Prasad	"A Guide for Working Breeds"	Made to Order: Robots and Revolution (Solaris Books)	[77]
	Naomi Kritzer	"Little Free Library"	Tor.com	[77]
	Yoon Ha Lee	"The Mermaid Astronaut"	Beneath Ceaseless Skies	[77]
	John Wiswell	"Open House on Haunted Hill"	Diabolical Plots	[77]
2022	Sarah Pinsker*	"Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather"	Uncanny Magazine	[78]
	Alix E. Harrow	"Mr. Death"	Apex Magazine	[78]
	José Pablo Iriarte	"Proof by Induction"	Uncanny Magazine	[78]
	Catherynne M. Valente	"The Sin of America"	Uncanny Magazine	[78]
	Seanan McGuire	"Tangles"	Magic Story (Magicthegathering.com)	[78]
	Blue Neustifter	"Unknown Number"	Self-published, via Twitter	[78]
2023	Samantha Mills*	"Rabbit Test"	Uncanny Magazine	[79]
	John Wiswell	"D.I.Y."	Tor.com	[79]
	Jiang Bo	"On the Razor's Edge"	Science Fiction World	[79]
	Ren Qing	"Resurrection"	Future Fiction/Science Fiction World	[79]
	Lu Ban	"The White Cliff"	Science Fiction World	[79]
	Regina Kanyu Wang	"Zhurong on Mars"	Frontiers	[79]
2024	Naomi Kritzer*	"Better Living Through Algorithms"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[80]
	Han Song (Chinese)	"Answerless Journey"	Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers (Flame Tree Press)	[80]
	Alex Woodend (translator)
	P. Djèlí Clark	"How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub"	Uncanny Magazine	[80]
	Aliette de Bodard	"The Mausoleum's Children"	Uncanny Magazine	[80]
	Rachael K. Jones	"The Sound of Children Screaming"	Nightmare Magazine	[80]
	Baoshu	"Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times"	Galaxy's Edge	[80]
2025	Rachael K. Jones	"Five Views of the Planet Tartarus"	Lightspeed Magazine	[81]
	Mary Robinette Kowal	"Marginalia"	Uncanny Magazine	[81]
	Nghi Vo	"Stitched to Skin Like Family Is"	Uncanny Magazine	[81]
	Arkady Martine	"Three Faces of a Beheading"	Uncanny Magazine	[81]
	Caroline M. Yoachim	"We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read"	Lightspeed Magazine	[81]
	Isabel J. Kim	"Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole"	Clarkesworld Magazine	[81]

Retro Hugos

Beginning with the 1996 Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Society created the concept of "Retro Hugos", in which the Hugo award could be retroactively awarded for years 50, 75, or 100 years before the current year, if no awards were originally given that year.^[4] Retro Hugos have been awarded eight times, for 1939, 1941, 1943–1946, 1951, and 1954.

Retro Hugo winners and nominees

Year	Year awarded	Author(s)	Short story	Publisher or publication	Ref.
1939	2014	Arthur C. Clarke*	"How We Went to Mars"	Amateur Science Stories	[82]
		Lester del Rey	"The Faithful"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[82]
		Lester del Rey	"Helen O'Loy"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[82]
		Ray Bradbury	"Hollerbochen's Dilemma"	Imagination!	[82]
		L. Sprague de Camp	"Hyperpilosity"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[82]
1941	2016	Isaac Asimov*	"Robbie"	Super Science Stories	[83]
		Leigh Brackett	"Martian Quest"	Astounding Science Fiction	[83]
		Robert A. Heinlein	"Requiem"	Astounding Science Fiction	[83]
		Leigh Brackett	"The Stellar Legion"	Planet Stories	[83]
		Jorge Luis Borges	"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius"	Sur	[83]
1943	2018	C. L. Moore* (as Lewis Padgett)	"The Twonky"	Astounding Science Fiction	[84]
		Henry Kuttner* (as Lewis Padgett)
		Fredric Brown	"Etaoin Shrdlu"	Unknown	[84]
		Donald A. Wollheim (as Martin Pearson)	"Mimic"	Astonishing Stories	[84]
		Hal Clement	"Proof"	Astounding Science Fiction	[84]
		Isaac Asimov	"Runaround"	Astounding Science Fiction	[84]
		Fritz Leiber	"The Sunken Land"	Unknown	[84]
1944	2019	Ray Bradbury*	"King of the Gray Spaces" (aka "R is for Rocket")	Famous Fantastic Mysteries	[85]
		Isaac Asimov	"Death Sentence"	Astounding Science Fiction	[85]
		C. L. Moore	"Doorway into Time"	Famous Fantastic Mysteries	[85]
		Edmond Hamilton	"Exile"	Super Science Stories	[85]
		Anthony Boucher (as H. H. Holmes)	"Q.U.R."	Astounding Science-Fiction	[85]
		Robert Bloch	"Yours Truly – Jack the Ripper"	Weird Tales	[85]
1945	2020	Ray Bradbury*	"I, Rocket"	Amazing Stories	[86]
		Fredric Brown	"And the Gods Laughed"	Planet Stories	[86]
		Clifford D. Simak	"Desertion"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[86]
		A. E. van Vogt	"Far Centaurus"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[86]
		Clifford D. Simak	"Huddling Place"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[86]
		Isaac Asimov	"The Wedge" ("The Traders")	Astounding Science-Fiction	[86]
1946	1996	Hal Clement*	"Uncommon Sense"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[87]
		Murray Leinster	"The Ethical Equations"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[87]
		Fredric Brown	"The Waveries"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[87]
		Lewis Padgett	"What You Need"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[87]
		Raymond F. Jones	"Correspondence Course"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[87]
1951	2001	Damon Knight*	"To Serve Man"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[88]
		Fritz Leiber	"Coming Attraction"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[88]
		Richard Matheson	"Born of Man and Woman"	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction	[88]
		A. J. Deutsch	"A Subway Named Mobius"	Astounding Science-Fiction	[88]
		Reginald Bretnor	"The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out"	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction	[88]
1954	2004	Arthur C. Clarke*	"The Nine Billion Names of God"	Star Science Fiction Stories #1 (Ballantine Books)	[89]
		Jerome Bixby	"It's a Good Life"	Star Science Fiction Stories #2 (Ballantine Books)	[89]
		Alfred Bester	"Star Light, Star Bright"	The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction	[89]
		Theodore Sturgeon	"A Saucer of Loneliness"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[89]
		Robert Sheckley	"Seventh Victim"	Galaxy Science Fiction	[89]

See also

• Nebula Award for Best Short Story

Notes

1. Several categories, including Best Short Story, were awarded to "No award" in 2015 in response to the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies ballot manipulation campaigns. Additionally, "Goodnight Stars" by Annie Bellet was initially nominated for Best Short Story in 2015; however, Bellet subsequently withdrew it from consideration, calling the situation a "game of political dodge ball" and emphasizing that "[a]ll joy that might have come from [the] nomination has been co-opted, ruined, or sapped away."^[70] This was the first time a nominee was withdrawn after the ballot was announced. Bellet's story was replaced on the ballot by "A Single Samurai" by Steven Diamond.^[71]