Award
Retro-Hugo Award
The Retro-Hugo Awards honor works from years before the Hugo Awards were established, or from years in which they were not awarded. Introduced in 1996, they are presented by members of the World Science Fiction Convention for eligible years 50, 75, or 100 years in the past.
Where the Hugo Awards recognize contemporary achievements, Retro-Hugos offer a retrospective view—celebrating influential works that were not formally recognized at the time.
Where the Hugo Awards recognize contemporary achievements, Retro-Hugos offer a retrospective view—celebrating influential works that were not formally recognized at the time.
1954
Best Novel
Fahrenheit 451
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her...
1951
Best Novel
Farmer in the Sky
When Bill Lermer and his family leave an overcrowded Earth for a new life on Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s moons, they are chasing the promise of opportunity on a distant frontier. But the reality of colonization is far harsher than they imagined. Ganymede is a frozen, hostile world, only recently made...
1946
Best Novel
Foundation and Empire
Foundation, Book 2
Led by its founding father, the psychohistorian Hari Seldon, and utilizing science and technology, the Foundation survived the greed and barbarism of its neighboring warrior-planets. Now cleverness and courage may not be enough. For the Empire—the mightiest force in the Galaxy—is even more dangerous...
1945
Best Novel
The Nemesis From Terra
Rick Urquhart travels to a dying, dreamlike Mars in search of a secret left behind by his father—an invention rumored to hold immense power. What begins as a personal quest quickly draws him into the tensions between Earth’s expanding influence and the ancient Martian cultures struggling to survive....
1944
Best Novel
Conjure Wife
Norman Saylor is a rational man—a college professor who prides himself on logic, reason, and a firm disbelief in superstition. But when he discovers that his wife has been secretly practicing witchcraft to protect him from unseen forces, he dismisses it as nonsense and insists she abandon it...
1943
Best Novel
Beyond This Horizon
In a future where humanity has seemingly perfected itself through genetic engineering, society is orderly, prosperous—and quietly constrained. Individuals are bred for intelligence, health, and stability, creating a world in which conflict is rare and efficiency reigns. Yet beneath this carefully...
1941
Best Novel
Slan
Slan, Book 1
In a world where humanity fears what it cannot understand, the Slans—mutant beings with heightened intelligence and telepathic abilities—are hunted to the brink of extinction. Branded as dangerous and inhuman, they live in hiding, pursued relentlessly by a society determined to destroy them. When...
1939
Best Novel
The Sword in the Stone
"Learn. That is the only thing that never fails." -- Merlyn the Wizard
Before there was a famous king named Arthur, there was a curious boy named Wart and a kind old wizard named Merlyn. Transformed by Merlyn into the forms of his fantasy, Wart learns the value of history from a snake, of education...