Last week, the Hugo Awards melted down over unexplained disqualifications. Insiders tell Esquire what really happened—and what it could mean for the future of literary awards.
It’s difficult to not cite a host country conspiracy because of how many votes were literally bought to move the celebration to Chengdu. It certainly seems like an authoritarian wanted to exercise control over the narrative so they paid for a lavish convention and bribed the people running it. Since the judging is so open, the only way to fuck with it is to disqualify things before the selections narrow.
It’s probably likely that the 3 people running the convention who were kicked out of the Hugo productions probably took bribes to not investigate anything despite so much suspicious behavior. The entire thing feels like a short sighted attempt to snub some sci fi authors who didn’t agree with the treatment of Uyghers.
It’s difficult to not cite a host country conspiracy because of how many votes were literally bought to move the celebration to Chengdu. It certainly seems like an authoritarian wanted to exercise control over the narrative so they paid for a lavish convention and bribed the people running it. Since the judging is so open, the only way to fuck with it is to disqualify things before the selections narrow.
It’s probably likely that the 3 people running the convention who were kicked out of the Hugo productions probably took bribes to not investigate anything despite so much suspicious behavior. The entire thing feels like a short sighted attempt to snub some sci fi authors who didn’t agree with the treatment of Uyghers.