Belated news, I know

[james_davis_nicoll]

Neil Clarke has launched Save the Semiprozine Hugo

About

This could be the last year the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine is offered. We respectfully disagree with the reasons presented by those pursuing this goal. Through this blog, we hope to make the case against voting out the semiprozine category.

I have no strong feelings one way or another. On the one hand, I can see the point the people who want to eliminate this category are making but on the other, I still check each year to see if this will be the one where I get nominated for Best Langford so who am I to say another category needs to go?

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

See above -- I was confused. This is actually about Locus, not Ansible. The principle stands.

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

Oops -- I was confused too.

Dealing with Locus instead ...

If you look at the actual 2008 nominees, there are:
Best Semiprozine
(283 Ballots)

* Clarkesworld Magazine edited by Neil Clarke, Nick Mamatas & Sean Wallace
* Interzone edited by Andy Cox
* Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
* The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Kris Dikeman, David G. Hartwell, &Kevin J. Maroney
* Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal

Seems to me that these five are, in fact, worthy contenders for the Hugo, and most, if not all of them, are long-standing and well-written. (I haven't read Clarkesworld so can't speak about it.)

If people don't want Locus to get any more Hugos, then don't vote for it. Don't eliminate the category.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I am speaking for the motion's proponents (or opponents, for that matter; I'm chairman of 2009's Business Meeting), but it appears that their argument boils down to "It's not an honor to be nominated," on the grounds that the potential pool of nominees is so small. If you have about 15 minutes' patience to sit through it, you can hear the argument put forward at the 2008 Business Meeting in Denver for yourself.