Hugo finalists announced

LAcon V has released the 2026 Hugo finalists, setting up an August 30 vote-and-ceremony cycle for science fiction, fantasy, young adult, and new-writer awards. (lacon.org) The official ballot says members of the 2025 and 2026 World Science Fiction Conventions cast 1,488 valid nominating ballots, including six paper ballots, and submitted 23,543 nominations covering 4,299 works and individuals across 21 categories. (lacon.org) Best Novel finalists include *A Drop of Corruption* by Robert Jackson Bennett, *Death of the Author* by Nnedi Okorafor, *Shroud* by Adrian Tchaikovsky, *The Everlasting* by Alix E. Harrow, *The Incandescent* by Emily Tesh, and *The Raven Scholar* by Antonia Hodgson. (lacon.org) The ballot also stretches beyond prose. In Best Game or Interactive Work, LAcon V listed *Blue Prince*, *Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector*, *Clair Obscur: Expedition 33*, *Dispatch*, *Hades II*, and *Hollow Knight: Silksong*. (lacon.org) That games category is now a recurring part of the Hugos after first appearing as a special category in 2021 and returning on later ballots; the 2026 slate puts big-budget role-playing games and smaller interactive works on the same finalist list. (thehugoawards.org) (lacon.org) LAcon V is also running Best Poem again in 2026 after a 2025 trial. Hugo Awards Administrator Tammy Coxen said organizers wanted another year of data before the World Science Fiction Society decides whether to make the category permanent. (thehugoawards.org) The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer are on the same finalist announcement, but they are not Hugo categories in a technical sense; they are presented alongside the Hugos at Worldcon under separate rules. (thehugoawards.org 1) (thehugoawards.org 2) One official post about the finalists says the awards will be presented on August 30, 2025, but LAcon V’s own finalists page and Locus both list Sunday, August 30, 2026, in Los Angeles. (thehugoawards.org) (lacon.org) (locusmag.com) Final-round voting opens in early May, according to LAcon V, and only World Science Fiction Society members of the convention can cast the final ballot. The winners will be announced at the formal ceremony on August 30, closing a ballot that now treats novels, short fiction, poems, and games as part of the same awards conversation. (lacon.org) (thehugoawards.org)