The Hugo Awards are one of the biggest sci-fi and fantasy awards, and through the years, they’ve been plagued with controversy. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members, which means they fall somewhere between a typical literary award and a Goodreads Choice award: a popularity contest with a caveat. It also means they are susceptible to fraud and manipulation.
Despite all the scandals of recent years, the Hugo Awards are one of the longest-running SFF literary awards, and they continue to work to try to prevent bad actors from taking over—which seems to be a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.
This year seems to have been smooth sailing, though, and they’ve just announced the winners of the 2026 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and Astounding Award for Best New Writer.
Below, you can find the winners in the book categories, but be sure to check out the WorldCon website for the full list, including the finalists for best game, fanzine, fancast, poem, semiprozine, professional artist, editor, dramatic presentation, and more.
Best Novel
Winner: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
Finalists:
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
Best Novella
Winner: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
Finalists:
What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher
Cinder House by Freya Marske
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
The Summer War by Naomi Novik
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
Best Series
Winner: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Finalists:
The Chronicles of Osreth by Katherine Addison
White Space by Elizabeth Bear
Emily Wilde by Heather Fawcett
The Craft Wars by Max Gladstone
October Daye by Seanan McGuire
Best Graphic Story or Comic
Winner: A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel, written by Ursula K. Le Guin, adapted & art by Fred Fordham
Finalists:
The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio
The Power Fantasy Volume 1: The Superpowers written by Kieron Gillen, art by Caspar Wijngaard, lettering by Clayton Cowles
The Space Cat, written by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford
Absolute Wonder Woman Vol. 1: The Last Amazon, written by Kelly Thompson, art by Hayden Sherman & Mattia de Iulis, coloring by Jordie Bellaire, lettering by Becca Carey
A Girl and Her Fed, written by KB Spangler, art by Ale Presser
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
Winner: Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee
Finalists:
Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman
Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen
Oathbound by Tracy Deonn
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran
You can read the full list of winners at the WorldCon website.
Keep up with all the latest book news by signing up for the Book Riot Newsletter.