Hugo Award for Best Series

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Awarded forThe best science fiction or fantasy series of at least 3 volumes and 240,000 words, with a work published in the prior calendar year
CountryUnited States Edit this on Wikidata
Presented byWorld Science Fiction Society
First award2017
Hugo Award for Best Series
Awarded forThe best science fiction or fantasy series of at least 3 volumes and 240,000 words, with a work published in the prior calendar year
CountryUnited States Edit this on Wikidata
Presented byWorld Science Fiction Society
First award2017
Most recent winnerRebecca Roanhorse (Between Earth and Sky)
WebsiteOfficial website

The Hugo Award for Best Series is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The award is available for series of science fiction or fantasy stories consisting of at least 3 published works totaling at least 240,000 words, with at least one work released or translated into English during the previous calendar year. A losing finalist becomes eligible again with the publication of at least two new works totaling at least 240,000 words.[1]

The Hugo Award for Best Series has been awarded annually since 2017. It was first presented in that year as a one-time special Hugo Award in advance of a vote to make it a permanent category, and was ratified as such by members of the World Science Fiction Society that year.[2] An earlier series award was given to Isaac Asimov for his Foundation series in 1966 for Best All-Time Series. In addition to the regular Hugo Awards, between 1996 and 2025 Retrospective Hugo Awards or "Retro-Hugos" were available for works published 50, 75, or 100 years prior. Retro-Hugos could only be awarded for years after 1939 in which no awards were originally given.[3] A Retro-Hugo Award was given for the series category once, in 2020, representing what could have been awarded in 1945.[4]

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. The series on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of series that can be nominated. Initial nominations of five series each 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.[5][6] Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and are held in a different city around the world each year.[7][8]

In the 11 nomination years, 54 series by 46 authors have been finalists, including co-authors and Retro-Hugos. Lois McMaster Bujold is the only author to win twice, for the Vorkosigan Saga and World of the Five Gods series. 13 other authors have received multiple final ballot nominations, with Seanan McGuire and Adrian Tchaikovsky nominated for three different series; Robert Jackson Bennett, Max Gladstone, Naomi Novik, John Scalzi, Charles Stross, and Martha Wells being nominated for two; and Ben Aaronovitch, Aliette de Bodard, Brandon Sanderson, and James S. A. Corey (a pen-name for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) nominated multiple times for the same series. McGuire has the most nominations overall with ten, winning once.

Retro-Hugos

In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when any work in the series was published. Entries with a yellow background have won the award; those with a grey background are the other finalists.

  *   Winners and joint winners

Winners and finalists
Year Author Series Publisher(s) Ref.
2017 Lois McMaster Bujold*The Vorkosigan SagaBaen Books [2]
Max GladstoneThe Craft SequenceTor Books [2]
James S. A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) The Expanse Orbit Books [2]
Seanan McGuireThe October Daye seriesDAW Books / Corsair Books [2]
Ben AaronovitchThe Peter Grant / Rivers of London seriesVictor Gollancz Ltd / Del Rey Books / DAW Books / Subterranean Press [2]
Naomi NovikThe Temeraire seriesDel Rey Books / Harper Voyager UK [2]
2018 Lois McMaster Bujold*World of the Five GodsHarper Voyager / Spectrum Literary Agency [9]
Martha WellsThe Books of the RaksuraNight Shade Books [9]
Robert Jackson BennettThe Divine CitiesBroadway Books [9]
Seanan McGuireInCryptidDAW Books [9]
Marie BrennanThe Memoirs of Lady TrentTor Books / Titan Books [9]
Brandon SandersonThe Stormlight ArchiveTor Books / Victor Gollancz Ltd [9]
2019 Becky Chambers*WayfarersHodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager [10]
Malka OlderThe Centenal CycleTor.com Publishing [10]
Charles StrossThe Laundry FilesTor.com Publishing / Orbit Books [10]
Yoon Ha LeeMachineries of EmpireSolaris Books [10]
Seanan McGuireThe October Daye seriesDAW Books [10]
Aliette de BodardThe Universe of XuyaSubterranean Press [10]
2020 James S. A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck)* The Expanse Orbit Books [11]
Seanan McGuireInCryptidDAW Books [11]
Ian McDonaldLunaTor Books / Victor Gollancz Ltd [11]
Emma NewmanPlanetfall seriesAce Books / Victor Gollancz Ltd [11]
Katherine ArdenWinternight TrilogyDel Rey Books [11]
Tade ThompsonThe Wormwood TrilogyOrbit Books [11]
2021 Martha Wells*The Murderbot DiariesTor.com Publishing [12]
S. A. ChakrabortyThe Daevabad TrilogyHarper Voyager [12]
John ScalziThe InterdependencyTor Books [12]
Mary Robinette KowalThe Lady Astronaut UniverseTor Books / Audible / The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction [12]
Seanan McGuireThe October Daye seriesDAW Books [12]
R. F. KuangThe Poppy WarHarper Voyager [12]
2022 Seanan McGuire*Wayward ChildrenTordotcom Publishing [13]
Fonda LeeThe Green Bone SagaOrbit Books [13]
C. L. PolkThe Kingston CycleTordotcom Publishing [13]
Charles StrossThe Merchant PrincesMacmillan Publishers [13]
Ada PalmerTerra IgnotaTor Books [13]
T. KingfisherThe World of the White RatArgyll Productions [13]
2023 Adrian Tchaikovsky*[a]Children of Time seriesPan Macmillan/Orbit Books [15]
Robert Jackson BennettThe Founders TrilogyDel Rey Books [15]
Tamsyn MuirThe Locked TombTordotcom [15]
Seanan McGuireOctober DayeDAW Books [15]
Ben AaronovitchRivers of LondonOrion Publishing Group [15]
Naomi NovikThe ScholomanceDel Rey Books [15]
2024 Ann Leckie*Imperial RadchOrbit Books [16]
Adrian TchaikovskyThe Final ArchitectureTordotcom / Orbit Books [16]
Freya MarskeThe Last BindingTordotcom / Tor Books [16]
Charles StrossThe Laundry FilesTordotcom / Orbit Books [16]
Seanan McGuireOctober DayeDAW Books [16]
Aliette de BodardThe Universe of XuyaVictor Gollancz Ltd / JABberwocky Literary Agency / Subterranean Press / Uncanny Magazine / et al.) [16]
2025 Rebecca Roanhorse*Between Earth and SkySaga Press [17]
Tasha SuriThe Burning KingdomsTordotcom / Orbit Books [17]
Seanan McGuireInCryptidDAW Books [17]
Jeff VanderMeerSouthern ReachFarrar, Straus and Giroux [17]
Brandon SandersonThe Stormlight ArchiveTor Books [17]
Adrian TchaikovskyThe Tyrant PhilosophersAd Astra [17]
2026 Heather FawcettEmily WildeDel Rey Books / Orbit Books [18]
Seanan McGuireOctober DayeTordotcom / DAW Books [18]
John ScalziOld Man's WarTor Books [18]
Katherine AddisonThe Chronicles of OsrethTor Books / Subterranean Press [18]
Max GladstoneThe Craft WarsTordotcom [18]
Elizabeth BearWhite SpaceSaga Press / Victor Gollancz Ltd [18]

Between the 1996 Worldcon and 2025 Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Society had the concept of "Retro-Hugos", in which the Hugo award could be retroactively awarded for 50, 75, or 100 years prior.[3][19] Retro-Hugos could only be awarded for years after 1939 (the year of the first Worldcon) in which no Hugos were originally awarded.[3] Retro-Hugos were awarded eight times, for 1939, 1941, 1943–1946, 1951, and 1954, though only once for series.[4] Retro-Hugos for series do not note the original publishers.

Retro-Hugo winners and nominees
Year Year awarded Author(s) Series Ref.
1945 2020 H. P. Lovecraft* The Cthulhu Mythos [20]
August Derleth et al.*
Edmond Hamilton (as Brett Sterling)Captain Future [20]
Kenneth Robeson Doc Savage [20]
Lester Dent
Seabury QuinnJules de Grandin [20]
Edgar Rice BurroughsPellucidar [20]
Walter B. Gibson (as Maxwell Grant)The Shadow [20]

Notes

References

External links

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