1945 Retro Hugo Award Winners Announced

At the 78th World Science Fiction Convention held in Wellington, New Zealand, the winners of the 1945 Retro Hugo Awards were announced in a livestream via The Fantasy Network.

Recognizing work from years where no Hugo Awards were given, the Retro Hugos serve to honor works from years where there was a Worldcon but no Hugo Award. According to the current rule, awards can be given for 1939-1952 and 1954. This year, the Retro Hugos recognize works created or published in 1944.

The base for the 1945 Retro Hugo Award has been designed by New Zealand artist James Brown. In a statement, Brown explained the concept: “Now in keeping with the theme of exploration, my design is based on the prow of a waka, or traditional canoe of the Māori people, the amazingly skilled navigators and explorers who were the first to discover and settle Aotearoa New Zealand. The motifs on the side are inspired by whakairo, the traditional Māori art of wood carving.”

Winners are marked in red.

Best Novel

• “Shadow Over Mars” (The Nemesis from Terra), by Leigh Brackett (Startling Stories, Fall 1944)
• The Golden Fleece (Hercules, My Shipmate), by Robert Graves (Cassell)
• Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord, by Olaf Stapledon (Secker & Warburg)
• “The Winged Man”, by A.E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull (Astounding Science Fiction, May-June 1944)
• The Golden Fleece (Hercules, My Shipmate), by Robert Graves (Cassell)
• Land of Terror, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.)
• The Wind on the Moon, by Eric Linklater (Macmillan)

Best Novella

• “Killdozer!”, by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
• “The Jewel of Bas”, by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
• “The Changeling”, by A.E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1944)
• “Trog”, by Murray Leinster (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1944)
• “A God Named Kroo”, by Henry Kuttner (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1944)
• “Intruders from the Stars”, by Ross Rocklynne (Amazing Stories, January 1944)

Best Novelette

• “City”, by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1944)
• “No Woman Born”, by C.L. Moore (Astounding Science Fiction, December 1944)
• “Arena”, by Fredric Brown (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1944)
• “When the Bough Breaks”, by Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
• “The Big and the Little” (“The Merchant Princes”), by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1944)
• “The Children’s Hour”, by Lawrence O’Donnell (C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1944)

Note: “The Big and the Little” and “The Children’s Hour tied for fifth place.

Best Short Story

• “I, Rocket”, by Ray Bradbury (Amazing Stories, May 1944)
• “Desertion”, by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
• “Huddling Place”, by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1944)
• “The Wedge” (“The Traders”), by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1944)
• “And the Gods Laughed”, by Fredric Brown (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
• “Far Centaurus”, by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1944)

Best Series

• The Cthulhu Mythos, by H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, and others
• Pellucidar, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Doc Savage, by Kenneth Robeson/Lester Dent
• The Shadow, by Maxwell Grant (Walter B. Gibson)
• Captain Future, by Brett Sterling (Edmond Hamilton)
• Jules de Grandin, by Seabury Quinn

Best Related Work

• “The Science-Fiction Field”, by Leigh Brackett (Writer’s Digest, July 1944)
• Fancyclopedia, by Jack Speer (Forrest J. Ackerman)
• “The Works of H.P. Lovecraft: Suggestions for a Critical Appraisal”, by Fritz Leiber (The Acolyte, Fall 1944)
• Rockets: The Future of Travel Beyond the Stratosphere, by Willy Ley (Viking Press)
• Mr. Tompkins Explores the Atom, by George Gamow (Cambridge University Press)
• ’42 To ’44: A Contemporary Memoir Upon Human Behavior During the Crisis of the World Revolution, by H.G. Wells (Secker & Warburg)

Best Graphic Story or Comic

• Superman: “The Mysterious Mr. Mxyztplk”, by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (Detective Comics, Inc.)
• Donald Duck: “The Mad Chemist”, by Carl Barks (Dell Comics)
• The Spirit: “For the Love of Clara Defoe”, by Manly Wade Wellman, Lou Fine and Don Komisarow (Register and Tribune Syndicate)
• Buck Rogers: “Hollow Planetoid”, by Dick Calkins (National Newspaper Service)
• Flash Gordon: “Battle for Tropica”, by Don Moore and Alex Raymond (King Features Syndicate)
• Flash Gordon: “Triumph in Tropica”, by Don Moore and Alex Raymond (King Features Syndicate)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (tie)

• The Canterville Ghost, screenplay by Edwin Harvey Blum from a story by Oscar Wilde, directed by Jules Dassin (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM))
• The Curse of the Cat People, written by DeWitt Bodeen, directed by Gunther V. Fritsch and Robert Wise (RKO Radio Pictures)
• Donovan’s Brain, adapted by Robert L. Richards from a story by Curt Siodmak, producer, director and editor William Spier (CBS Radio Network)
• It Happened Tomorrow, screenplay and adaptation by Dudley Nichols and René Clair, directed by René Clair (Arnold Pressburger Films)
• House of Frankenstein, screenplay by Edward T. Lowe, Jr. from a story by Curt Siodmak, directed by Erle C. Kenton (Universal Pictures)
• The Invisible Man’s Revenge, written by Bertram Millhauser, directed by Ford Beebe (Universal Pictures)

Best Editor, Short Form

• John W. Campbell, Jr.
• Dorothy McIlwraith
• Mary Gnaedinger
• Raymond A. Palmer
• Oscar J. Friend
• W. Scott Peacock

Best Professional Artist

• Margaret Brundage
• Earle K. Bergey
• Boris Dolgov
• Paul Orban
• William Timmins
• Matt Fox

Best Fanzine

• Voice of the Imagi-Nation, edited by Forrest J. Ackerman and Myrtle R. Douglas
• Le Zombie, edited by Bob Tucker and E.E. Evans
• Futurian War Digest, edited by J. Michael Rosenblum
• The Acolyte, edited by Francis T. Laney and Samuel D. Russell
• Shangri L’Affaires, edited by Charles Burbee
• Diablerie, edited by Bill Watson

Best Fan Writer

• Fritz Leiber
• Bob Tucker
• Morojo/Myrtle R. Douglas
• Jack Speer
• Harry Warner, Jr.
• J. Michael Rosenblum