As a follow-up to my previous post about the Hugo Awards, I want to discuss the fan categories.  These are all for things which are non-professional, in that the folks doing them aren't paid anything (or, if they are paid, they only receive a pittance).  The fanzine category has existed since the second time the Hugos were given, in 1955, though the name of the category has morphed over the years - fanzine, fan magazine, amateur magazine.  The fan writer and fan artist categories were added in 1967, upon the suggestion of Ted White (as described in fanzine "In A Prior Lifetime" issue 16). 

Fanzines were originally published with primitive hand-crank devices such as mimeographs, and some hold-outs are still only available in dead-tree formats.  However, many are conveniently collected online at efanzines.com. 

Five fanzines made the final ballot last year:
Challenger, The Drink Tank, Plotka, Banana Wings, and Science Fiction Five-Yearly.  The last, SF5Y has been published every five years since 1951, remarkable for a field known for flaky, unreliable fans.  However, its editor, the mighty and powerful Lee Hoffman has passed on, and SF5Y's run is complete.  Banana Wings is a British fanzine readable only in hard copy.  Plotka (whose name stands for "Press Lots of Keys to Abort") is also a British fanzine, though their website only contains issues up to 2004.  Chris Garcia's The Drink Tank publishes smallish issues just about every week, though occasionally it runs large theme issues (like this year's corset issue). Guy Lillian's Challenger has a different publishing strategy - publishing one or two very very large issues every year.

Other fanzines which received many nominations (but too few to reach the final ballot of five) included: Mike Glyer's File 770, Chunga, Electric Velocipede, Bento, Pixel, Alexiad, Argentus, Pacheco Progress (a comic progress report for a non-existent bid for a convention), SF Signal, SF Revu, I Hope I Didn't Give Away the Ending, Prolapse, Vanamonde, E.I., Steam Engine Time, Trapdoor, Vegas Fandom Weekly, BestSF.net, Fosfax, Lofgeornost, The MT Void, Paradox and WSFA Journal.  Many of these are, again, available at efanzines.com.

"Strange Horizons" also received several noms in this category, though this is NOT a fanzine, but rather an online fiction publication which pays its authors professional rates.

Fan writers are folks who write/edit fanzines.  The most prominent of these is Dave Langford, who's won an armload of Hugos.  His newsletter Ansible can be read here.

Other fan writers on the final Hugo ballot last year were:
Chris Garcia, editor of the aforementioned The Drink Tank,
John Hertz, editor of Vanamonde; his writings can be sampled here.
Steven H. Silver, editor of Argentus
John Scalzi.

The last, John Scalzi, is best known for his novels such as "Old Man's War", and his nomination in the best fan writer category was very remarkable last year.  Partially because he was nominated not for writings which appeared in fanzines, but rather for his writings in his blog.  Such a thing had never happened before.  Also, first time out of the gate, he came within one vote of tying Dave Langford (who usually wins this category every year).

Additional folks who received nominations but didn't make the final ballot of the Top Five include (in order of nominations): Claire Brialey, myself, Guy Lillian ("Challenger"), William Lexner, Joseph Major, Matthew Cheney, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Cheryl Morgan, Jay Lake, Ted White, Lloyd Penney, James Nicoll, Mike Glyer ("File 770"), Rick Kieffel, Arnie Katz ("Vegas Fandom Weekly"), Bob Devney, Ernest Lilley, Jay Tomio, Kevin Roche, Michael Burstein, Randy Byers, Andy Hooper, Elizabeth Bear, Evelyn C. Leeper, Mark Plummer, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Sam Tomaino, Bruce Gillespie, James Bacon, Nick Mamatas, and Tobias Buckell.

Of these folks, Teresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Jay Lake and Nick Mamatas also received noms primarily due to their blogwork; my blogwork probably contributed some to my noms, but I also write a lot of articles for The Drink Tank.

Fan artists are folks like me whose work appears in fanzines (for which they are paid nothing) or in semi-professional magazines (semi-prozines) (for which they are paid next to nothing).

Additional folks nominated last year were Sue Mason, Steve Stiles, Teddy Harvia and Brad Foster.

Other folks who received nominations (but not enough to make the final ballot of five) include: Dan Steffan, Taral Wayne (subject of a recent two-part interview by me in The Drink Tank), Alan White, Sheryl Birkhead, Marc Shirmeister, Alexis Gilliland, Alison Scott, Harry Bell, Kurt Erichsen, Theresa Mather, Bill Rotsler, Stu Shiffman, Ray Van Tilburg, Randy Cleary, Deb Kosiba, Alan F. Beck, Sara Butcher, Chrissy Ellsworth, Ken Fletcher, Steve Jeffires, Rachael Mayo, Erin McKee, Jean Pierre Normand (though in my book he should be considered in the Professional artist category, as his work often appears on big name magazines like Asimov's), Spring Schoenhuth, Craig Smith, Howard Taylor, Michael Whelan (again, a professional), and Charlie Williams.

Of course, I am not saying that these fanzines and individuals are the only ones suitable for nomination in these categories, only that they received nominations last year.  Again, as always, vote your own conscience.