My new Facebook Friend Cheryl Myfanwy Morgan informs me that as of next year there will be a Hugo Award for Graphic Story-telling.

Although Cheryl is not a fiction writer, she is very interested in this development. She states that the new award is on a trial basis, and that there needs to be strong interest in the new category for it to be continued.

Cheryl has a Science Fiction Awards Watch web site as can be seen at:

http://www.sfawardswatch.com/?page_id=1099

You can go there to recommend your favorite Sci-Fi Graphic Novel.

Cheryl also told me the following:

"For 2009 the Montreal Worldcon is using its right to add a single one-off Hugo category to trial Graphic Story. 
 
A proposal to make Graphic Story a permanent category from 2010 onwards passed in Denver this year and goes to Montreal for ratification (changes to the Hugo rules are subject to vote by the members of the World Science Fiction Society). 
 
The proposal includes a sunset clause that allows WSFS to drop the category in 2012 if it is not attracting sufficient interest. 
 
The result of all this will be as follows: 
- if there are not enough good nominees next year then the proposal may not get ratified 
- if we don't continue to get good nominees from 2010 onwards then the sunset clause may be invoked 
- so we need to drum up interest in the category. 
 
The official definition of a Graphic Story used in the Hugo rules is as follows: 
 
" Any science fiction or fantasy story told in graphic form appearing for the first time in the previous calendar year." 
 
This can include a single issue of a comic, or even a one-off newspaper strip, though we are expecting graphic novels to dominate the category. Electronic distribution is allowed, so web comics are eligible. 
 
A major issue is the requirement for first publication in the eligibility year. Reprints are not allowed. This causes issues with serial works and collections. So, for example: 
 
- A reprint collection of 1970s X-Men would not be eligible 
- A single issue of a comic is eligible in the year in which it is published 
- A complete story arc is eligible in the year in which the final episode is published (this parallels rules for TV series, and for novels serialized in magazines) 
- A graphic novel collection of a story arc is not eligible because it is a reprint 
 
And to give some concrete examples, Girl Genius Vol 8 is eligible in 2009 because the final story in that arc was published in 2009. Girl Genius Vol 7 is not eligible in 2009. The collection was published in 2008, but that is just a reprint of a serial story whose first publication ended in 2007."

I realize that this blog post of ours does cross-over into several areas of pop culture, so if you do have an interest in the above new Hugo Award category, be sure to recommend your favorite literature at her web site:

http://www.sfawardswatch.com/?page_id=1099

BTW, the above photo at the top of this blog post is one of the several different Hugo Awards that have been presented during the many decades this award has been presented.

An interesting point is that the base of the Award trophy changes in looks, because each location that is chosen to present the awards is allowed to design their own base that the Rocket Spaceship is affixed to!