This year’s Hugo Awards Ceremony at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki was a truly global event, held at 19:30 Helsinki time (GMT +3) on Friday, 11 August.
Photographs from the ceremony are available via Google Photos (see the gallery for information on licensing). We will also publish a video on our YouTube channel when it becomes available.
Led by Toastmistress Karen Lord, the ceremony returned to the multi-presenter format. The Hugo Awards team worked hard to assemble an amazing group from 15 countries and 6 continents, representing a broad range of disciplines and experiences from across the Science Fiction and Fantasy community. This year’s ceremony included the presentation of the Hugo Awards, the John W. Campbell Award, Forrest J. Ackerman Big Heart Award, First Fandom Hall of Fame inductions, Finland’s Atorox Award, and two of the Seiun Awards from Japan, as well as other special presentations and interviews.
The presenters included:
Vincent Docherty, Former Hugo Administrator & Worldcon Chair, Scotland
Taiyo Fujii, writer, President of Science Fiction Writers of Japan, Japan
Donna Hanson, GUFF Delegate, author, Australia
John-Henri Holmberg, critic, essayist, publisher, translator, Worldcon 75 Guest of Honour, Sweden
Nalo Hopkinson, author, professor, former Hugo finalist, Worldcon 75 Guest of Honour, Jamaica
Takeshi Ikeda, 56th Japan SF Convention Chair, Japan
Xia Jia, author, professor, China
Jyurki Kasvi, fanzine editor, fan, Member of Parliament, Finland
Sibel Kekilli, film and television actor, Germany
Mari Kotani, critic, Japan
Kjell Lindgren, astronaut, Worldcon 75 Special Guest, USA
Karen Lord, author, research consultant, Worldcon 75 Toastmistress, Barbados
Maura McHugh, writer, Ireland
George R. R. Martin, author, Hugo Award winner, USA
John Purcell, TAFF Delegate, fanzine publisher, fan, USA
Nikhil Singh, artist, writer, musician, South Africa
Johanna Sinisalo, writer, Worldcon 75 Guest of Honour, Finland
Śląski Klub Fantastyki Silesian Fantasy/Science Fiction Club, Poland
Ian Stewart, professor, writer, Hugo Finalist, Worlcon 75 Science Guest of Honour, UK
Lisa Tuttle, author, John W. Campbell Awardee, USA
Takayuki Tatsumi, professor, Japan
Tanya Tynjälä, writer, editor, Peru
Walter John Williams, author, Worldcon 75 Guest of Honour, USA
The awards themselves featured the trademark Hugo rocket, set on a base designed and produced for Worldcon 75 by local Helsinki artist and Science Fiction fan, Eeva Jokinen. As always, the base’s design was a closely guarded secret, unveiled only at the ceremony itself. As Eeva said, the design is “a simple shape which gives room to both the shape of the rocket but also to the reflection between two worlds, imagination and reality.”
