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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The 75th World Science Fiction Convention (commonly known as WorldCon) is being held this weekend in Helsinki, Finland. The convention is where the annual Hugo Awards are presented, and today, the convention announced the latest recipients.
This year, women almost completely swept the Hugo Awards, taking home the top prizes for literature in the science fiction community. That's particularly notable, given how the awards have been increasingly recognizing works from female and minority creators. The trend prompted a counter-movement from two group of fans, the self-described "Sad Puppies," and their alt-right equivalents, the "Rabid Puppies." These groups gamed the awards and forced a slate of nominees onto the Hugo ballot in 2015, prompting widespread backlash within the wider genre community. Another award, the Dragon, faced similar issues earlier this week when several authors asked to pull their nominations over concerns about Puppy interference and the award's integrity.
This year's sweep by female creators seems to be a strong repudiation of anti-diversity groups. 2017 also marked the year the ceremony earned its own award: a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records certified that the Hugos are the longest-running science fiction awards ever.
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(Score: 1) by insanumingenium on Wednesday August 16 2017, @06:31PM
Am I blind, or do I not actually see that story on the winners list?
I will be the first to admit, other than "The Expanse" I don't actually recognize anything on the winning list, I don't read a lot of "new" fiction.
The winner is apparently a sequel to last years winner, hard to judge if that is politics or good fiction without reading it, but the synopsis isn't as inane as what you describe in "The Art of Space Travel". I do get worried about the fact that there is a very well publicized positive NPR review by another one of the winners from this year. Whether that is an "old boys club", or just cream rising to the top would be hard to judge without reading the books. Then again I can't stand Orson Scott Card, and he is the only other back to back winner I see on a cursory inspection of the list.
I also note that Ursula K. Le Guin (who won a minor category) is a Best Novel winner from 1970 and 1975, perhaps these aren't all diversity hires?
I will read the winning series, winning consecutive Hugos is rare. If it turns out that they are the trash reported here, I will know not to trust the Hugos anymore, which is sad, because it was a prestigious award once upon a time. But I will at least give them a chance.