2024 saw Worldcon come to Glasgow in the UK, which meant that a good number of STARBURST readers got to enjoy the delights of the World Science Fiction Society and the Hugo Awards Ceremony. The Hugos are the leading award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, mostly because they’re voted for and managed by super-dedicated fans. And though the Hugos have had their fair share of controversy, it’s still an honour to be nominated.

If you attended or supported Glasgow In 2024, or you’re going to this year’s Worldcon in Seattle, you can nominate candidates via the portal here. And if you’re not sure who to nominate for an award, here’s a list of STARBURST’s humble suggestions. (For the rest of us, this is just a fun list of stuff to check out.) It is by no means comprehensive (we’ve skipped some categories) and is mostly for fun.

Best Novel is the hottest award at the Nerd Prom that is the Hugo Awards.  Our recommendations include

Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time  –  A mind-bending story about defying history with some very current and crucial political undertones.

James S.A. Corey’s The Mercy of the Gods – A new space opera from the creators of The Expanse.

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Alien Clay is a stunning satirical take on authoritarianism with a strong environmental message that is also a cracking read, and it is another strong showing from the author of Children of Time.

Best Novella helps showcase those odd works that aren’t quite novels but certainly aren’t short stories.

Wole Talabi’s Ganger from his collection, Convergence Problems, is an amazing piece of dystopian sci-fi that looks at individual freedoms in a new way.

Knicky L Abbott’s Tanglewood is a post-colonial gothic romance that breaks new ground whilst mining ancient stories for fresh ideas.

Best Series is a weird one, as it’s for large collections of books. We only have one recommendation here, and that’s because despite being a popular, long-running series, it’s simply never been considered for a Hugo in the past, despite its influence, scale of ambition and surprisingly sublime moments. Our recommendation is

The Horus Heresy by Dan Abnett, Graham McNeil, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, et al. Our example of qualifying work is, of course, the excellent The End and the Death III.

Best Graphic Story or Comic tends to get dominated by USA-based comics for some reason, and it’s a fiercely competitive category.

Kenneth Niemand Judge Dredd: A Penitent Man is a tale of corruption and revenge. As usual, despite being a Dredd story, he’s not the main character. A solid, hard-boiled story from some of the finest creators in comics today.

Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans We Called Them Giants is a gorgeous piece of work about how the world can end in so many different ways.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form we only have one recommendation for this. Star Trek Prodigy is a great animated show that introduces Star Trek to younger audiences, who simply deserve all the love it can muster. Also features Ella Purnell, who is in everything that Starburst readers love.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form is a broad category that is usually dominated by TV shows, which is a shame because it’s also intended for other sorts of short dramatic works. Our recommendations were both available to be enjoyed at 2024’s Worldcon in Glasgow.

Dan Collins’s Dune! The Musical is a must-watch one-man show inspired by the novel Dune. And it is 100% the spirit of fandom. It’s a great show.

John Robertson’s The Dark Room has been around for a while, but John performed a special version for Worldcon audiences, making it eligible for a rocket. It’s wild, it’s imaginative and it’s deepy rooted in all things SF, it’s very much a thing that is beloved by SF types. This staple of fandom has been overlooked for too long; give it a nomination.

Best Game or Interactive Work This young category is mostly dominated by video games. So we’re going to recommend a genre-defying, escape room-like event called The Key of Dreams by Lemon Difficult, fantasy horror at its finest.

Best Fanzine Our recommendation? Alasdair Stuart’s The Full Lid. Nuff said.

Best Fancast Actual play TTRPGs have long been overlooked by Hugo Award voters, so we’re going to plug the extremely fan-friendly and rather funny Star Wars Force Majeure. Also, the STARBURST Radio Official Podcast is very good and eligible.