The prestigious Hugo Awards for science fiction and fantasy writing have revealed that nearly 400 votes—about 10% of the total votes cast in this year’s awards—were fraudulently paid for to help one finalist win.
The Hugo administration subcommittee, which tallies the votes for the annual awards, issued a statement on Monday saying they had determined that 377 votes were cast by individuals with “obvious fake names and/or other disqualifying characteristics.”
These included voters with almost identical surnames, differing by only one letter and arranged alphabetically, as well as names that were “translations of consecutive numbers.”
The voting pattern was “startlingly and obviously different” from anything the current Hugo administration subcommittee had ever seen, with most of the votes favoring one finalist, referred to as “Finalist A.”
“We have no evidence that Finalist A was aware of the fraudulent votes being cast for them, let alone responsible for the operation. Therefore, we are not identifying them,” the subcommittee said.
Only members of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) can nominate works for the Hugos and vote on finalists, which costs a minimum of £45 each year. According to the subcommittee’s tally, paying for 377 memberships would have cost at least £16,965 (A$33,000, US$22,000).
The subcommittee stated they received “a confidential report that at least one person had sponsored the purchase of WSFS memberships by large numbers of individuals, who were refunded the cost of membership after confirming that they had voted as the sponsor wished.”
The WSFS constitution states that “only natural persons” can vote and that “no person may cast more than one vote on any issue or more than one ballot in any election.”
After investigating, 377 of 3,813 votes were determined to be fraudulent and were omitted from the final tally, the subcommittee said.
“This decision is not one made lightly, but we are duty-bound as the Hugo Administrators to protect the Hugo Awards and to act against fraud,” they said.
While the finalist has not been disqualified, they did not win their category without the invalid votes, the subcommittee added.
The Hugo Awards, first presented in 1953 and presented annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”), which is also responsible for administering them.
This year’s Worldcon will be held in Glasgow in August, with the Hugo winners announced at a ceremony on 11 August.
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