The 2026 Hugo Awards wrapped Sunday night at LAcon V, the 84th World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, with The Everlasting, The River Has Roots, “Never Eaten Vegetables,” and “In My Country” taking home the top written-fiction prizes. Toastmaster Ursula Vernon kept the ceremony firmly in geek territory, while South Side Symphony under conductor Dr. Marcus Norris provided live music that framed the night like a genre film score.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US/Tor UK) claimed the Hugo for Best Novel, emerging from a shortlist that also featured A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett, Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor, Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, and The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson. The final ballot was selected by members of the 2025 and 2026 World Science Fiction Conventions, a voting pool that highlights how Hugo outcomes are driven by engaged fans rather than a closed jury. The mix of finalists—ranging from political fantasies to big-idea science fiction—underscored just how far contemporary speculative fiction has stretched beyond traditional genre boundaries.
In Best Novella, Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots took the rocket, beating a Tordotcom-dominated field that included Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle, Freya Marske’s Cinder House, Olivia Waite’s Murder by Memory, Naomi Novik’s The Summer War, and T. Kingfisher’s What Stalks the Deep. El-Mohtar’s win continues a pattern of lush, emotionally intricate novellas thriving in the category, where stories concerned with grief, resistance, and responsibility sit comfortably alongside more playful experiments with form.
Short fiction categories stayed fiercely competitive. “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak won Best Novelette over a slate that included Scott Lynch’s “Kaiju Agonistes,” Martha Wells’ “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy,” Cameron Reed’s “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For,” Sarah Pinsker’s “The Millay Illusion,” and Catherynne M. Valente’s “When He Calls Your Name,” with venues like Clarkesworld, Uncanny, and Reactor sharing the spotlight. Best Short Story went to “In My Country” by Thomas Ha, another Clarkesworld piece, edging out Samantha Mills’ “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” and other finalists that grappled with climate anxiety, mutual aid, and end-times self-care. Taken together, the short fiction winners confirm that voters are rewarding stories that fuse big speculative premises with intensely personal stakes.
Beyond prose, the rockets went to an eclectic mix of comics, games, film, and TV. Best Graphic Story or Comic was awarded to A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel, Fred Fordham’s adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s fantasy classic, a win that signals how respectfully modern creators are reinterpreting foundational genre texts. On the interactive front, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 captured Best Game or Interactive Work, underscoring the Hugos’ growing willingness to treat narrative-heavy video games as peers to novels and films. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners secured Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, while the Murderbot episode “All Systems Red” earned Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form for writers Paul and Chris Weitz and director Roseanne Liang, expanding the awards’ snapshot of speculative storytelling to include prestige cinema and character-driven television. In the series category, Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde books took the Hugo for Best Series, edging out long-running favorites and reflecting voters’ appetite for cozy-but-sharp folkloric fantasy.
LAcon V reported 2,492 final ballots this year—2,490 electronic and just 2 on paper—a number that speaks to both the global reach of the fandom and the increasingly digital nature of the Hugo process. As the official Hugo Award site emphasizes, Worldcon administers the awards but relies on attending and supporting members to nominate and vote, preserving the Hugos as a fan-driven honor rather than a juried prize. Finalists for the 2026 Hugos were announced in April, giving readers months to catch up before the August ceremony in Anaheim, and the show itself was streamed free on YouTube, allowing anyone interested in genre’s future to watch along without a convention badge.
Taken together, the 2026 slate paints a picture of a field where epic and folkloric fantasy, formally playful science fiction, and introspective, voice-driven short work coexist with ambitious games and screen projects under one awards umbrella. For fans trying to navigate the firehose of new releases, the Hugo Awards’ year-by-year listings and independent winner databases remain invaluable maps of what the community is excited about. The 2026 winners in particular read like a curated tour through the current heart of speculative fiction—one that stretches from reimagined classics and cozy academia to experimental futures and apocalyptic self-help.
