This blog is a brief study of the demographics of the Hugo Award for Best Novel nominees and winners. You can find my detailed study of just the winners here. A general parent page for my work on the Hugo demographics is here.

When I published my original article on the demographics of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, I had a quite a few people get in touch with suggestions, corrections and even some offers of help.

One of these Speculative Fiction fans pulled together the demographics of the Best Novel nominees for me. This is a huge job and I’d love to give them credit for all their work, but (for reasons I understand and respect) they asked to remain anonymous. So thank you Masked Researcher – all the hard work below is really yours.

From here I will refer to Best Novel simply as the Hugo.

296 nominations have been recorded for this Hugo. 64 of these talented nominees went on to be winners.

In addition to the 296, 20 authors (male) were nominated for the four ‘Retro Hugos’ awarded.

The 296 ‘normal’ nominations are shared by 127 individuals. 55 individuals have received more than one nomination. This heroic 55 is led by Lois McMaster Bujold with ten, and then Robert A Heinlein, Robert J Sawyer and Robert Silverberg with nine each.

<Edit. 22.04.15. Anne McCaffrey was originally recorded as British, not Irish. This has now be corrected.> Only five nations have been nominated for a Best Novel Hugo (!!). They are America, Britain, Canada, France and Ireland. The breakdowns are below;

Statistics With Retro Hugos Excluded
All-Time Stats		%  of Total (296)		Last 15 Years (2000-2014)		%  of Total(79)		Prior Years (1953-1999)		%  of Total(217)
Female	58	19.6		Female	21	26.58		Female	37	17.05
Male	238	80.41		Male	58	73.42		Male	180	82.95
American	233	78.72		American	42	53.16		American	191	88.01
British	35	11.82		British	24	30.38		British	11	5.07
Canadian	23	7.77		Canadian	13	16.46		Canadian	10	4.61
Irish	4	1.35						Irish	4	1.84
French	1	0.33						French	1	0.47

The next tables present a comparison of the nomination and winner demographics for the two principal periods we’ve looked at (1953-1999 and 2000-2014).

Nominations (1953 – 1999)		%  of Total (217)		Winners (1953 – 1999)		%  of Total (48)
Female	37	17.05		Female	12	25.00
Male	180	82.95		Male	36	75.00
American	191	88.01		American	44	91.67
British	11	5.07		British	3	6.25
Canadian	10	4.61		Canadian	1	2.08
Irish	4	1.84
French	1	0.47

Nominations (2000-2014)		%  of Total (79)		Winners (2000-2014)		%  of Total (16)
Female	21	26.58		Female	6	37.5
Male	58	73.42		Male	10	62.5
American	42	53.16		American	8	50
British	24	30.38		British	5	31.25
Canadian	13	16.46		Canadian	3	18.75

Some general remarks.

• Interestingly, the nomination pool is slightly more diverse by nation than the winners pool, but significantly less diverse by gender.
• America is the only nation that does better in wins than nominations (78.7% of nominations to 81.3% of wins). The other three nations all have slightly less winners than nominees.
• This improvement is due to American women who generate 15.3% of nominees, but turn that into 23.4% of wins.
• American blokes are nominated with more frequency that the rest of the planet combined.
• If your nation didn’t fight in the War of 1812, you’ve never won a Hugo.

Some remarks for this century.

• When the totals are separated into two periods (the last 15 years vs. all the years prior to that), the gender diversity of nominations has shown a 10% improvement (from its first uplift in the 70s, anyway), but 73.4% of nominations still go to men. Wins are marginally more diverse with 37.5% of wins since 2000 to women.
• National diversity has increased somewhat, with American wins and nominations down to ~50%. However, Britain and Canada (!!) were the only nations to profit from this diversification.

Some graphs.

Our data.

As I mentioned above, almost all the hard work for this post was carried out by my anonymous helper. The data they used is included below. They also asked for the following caveats be included.

Remarks:	Listed as:
Nalo Hopkinson – Jamaican-born Canadian	Canadian
Donald Kingsbury – Canadian-American who moved to Canada in 1948(at the age of 19)	Canadian
Harry Harrison – American who moved to Ireland in 1970after his nominations	American
Anne McCaffrey – American who moved to Ireland in 1970 before her nominations.	Irish
Co-Authors and Pseudonyms for 2 Authors – Each of the seven works written by dual authors are counted as two nominations or wins. These works are: The Wheel of Time, Leviathan Wakes, Footfall, Lucifer’s Hammer, Inferno, The Mote in God’s Eye, and That Sweet Little Old Lady	Both authors counted

Year	Title	Author	Gender	Nationality
2014	Warbound	Correia, Larry	Male	American
2014	Parasite	Grant, Mira (Seanan McGuire)	Female	American
2014	The Wheel of Time	Jordan, Robert	Male	American
2014	Ancillary Justice	Leckie, Ann	Female	American
2014	The Wheel of Time	Sanderson, Brandon	Male	American
2014	Neptune’s Brood	Stross, Charles	Male	British
2013	Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
2013	Blackout	Grant, Mira (Seanan McGuire)	Female	American
2013	2312	Robinson, Kim Stanley	Male	American
2013	Throne of the Crescent Moon	Saladin, Ahmed	Male	American
2013	Redshirts	Scalzi, John	Male	American
2012	Leviathan Wakes	Corey, James S A (Daniel Abraham)	Male	American
2012	Leviathan Wakes	Corey, James S A (Ty Franck)	Male	American
2012	Deadline	Grant, Mira (Seanan McGuire)	Female	American
2012	A Dance with Dragons	Martin, George R R	Male	American
2012	Embassytown	Miéville, China	Male	British
2012	Among Others	Walton, Jo	Female	Canadian
2011	Cryoburn	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
2011	Feed	Grant, Mira (Seanan McGuire)	Female	American
2011	The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms	Jemisin, N K	Female	American
2011	The Dervish House	McDonald, Ian	Male	British
2011	Blackout/All Clear	Willis, Connie	Female	American
2010	The Windup Girl	Bacigalupi, Paolo	Male	American
2010	The City & The City	Miéville, China	Male	British
2010	Boneshaker	Priest, Cherie	Female	American
2010	Wake	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
2010	Palimpsest	Valente, Catherynne M	Female	American
2010	Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America	Wilson, Robert Charles	Male	Canadian
2009	Little Brother	Doctorow, Cory	Male	Canadian
2009	The Graveyard Book	Gaiman, Neil	Male	British
2009	Zoe’s Tale	Scalzi, John	Male	American
2009	Anathem	Stephenson, Neal	Male	American
2009	Saturn’s Children	Stross, Charles	Male	British
2008	The Yiddish Policemen’s Union	Chabon, Michael	Male	American
2008	Brasyl	McDonald, Ian	Male	British
2008	Rollback	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
2008	The Last Colony	Scalzi, John	Male	American
2008	Halting State	Stross, Charles	Male	British
2007	Eifelheim	Flynn, Michael F	Male	American
2007	His Majesty’s Dragon	Novik, Naomi	Female	American
2007	Glasshouse	Stross, Charles	Male	British
2007	Rainbows End	Vinge, Vernor	Male	American
2007	Blindsight	Watts, Peter	Male	Canadian
2006	Learning the World	MacLeod, Ken	Male	British
2006	A Feast for Crows	Martin, George R R	Male	American
2006	Old Man’s War	Scalzi, John	Male	American
2006	Accelerando	Stross, Charles	Male	British
2006	Spin	Wilson, Robert Charles	Male	Canadian
2005	The Algebraist	Banks, Iain M	Male	British
2005	Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell	Clarke, Susanna	Female	British
2005	River of Gods	McDonald, Ian	Male	British
2005	Iron Council	Miéville, China	Male	British
2005	Iron Sunrise	Stross, Charles	Male	British
2004	Paladin of Souls	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
2004	Humans	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
2004	Ilium	Simmons, Dan	Male	American
2004	Singularity Sky	Stross, Charles	Male	British
2004	Blind Lake	Wilson, Robert Charles	Male	Canadian
2003	Kiln People (also known as Kil’n People)	Brin, David	Male	American
2003	The Scar	Miéville, China	Male	British
2003	The Years of Rice and Salt	Robinson, Kim Stanley	Male	American
2003	Hominids	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
2003	Bones of the Earth	Swanwick, Michael	Male	American
2002	The Curse of Chalion	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
2002	American Gods	Gaiman, Neil	Male	British
2002	Cosmonaut Keep	MacLeod, Ken	Male	British
2002	Perdido Street Station	Miéville, China	Male	British
2002	Passage	Willis, Connie	Female	American
2002	The Chronoliths	Wilson, Robert Charles	Male	Canadian
2001	Midnight Robber	Hopkinson, Nalo	Female	Canadian
2001	The Sky Road	MacLeod, Ken	Male	British
2001	A Storm of Swords	Martin, George R R	Male	American
2001	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Rowling, J K	Female	British
2001	Calculating God	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
2000	Darwin’s Radio	Bear, Greg	Male	American
2000	A Civil Campaign	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
2000	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Rowling, J K	Female	British
2000	Cryptonomicon	Stephenson, Neal	Male	American
2000	A Deepness in the Sky	Vinge, Vernor	Male	American
1999	Children of God	Russell, Mary Doria	Female	American
1999	Factoring Humanity	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
1999	Distraction	Sterling, Bruce	Male	American
1999	To Say Nothing of the Dog, Or How We Found the Bishop’s Bird Stump At Last	Willis, Connie	Female	American
1999	Darwinia	Wilson, Robert Charles	Male	Canadian
1998	Forever Peace	Haldeman, Joe	Male	American
1998	Frameshift	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
1998	The Rise of Endymion	Simmons, Dan	Male	American
1998	Jack Faust	Swanwick, Michael	Male	American
1998	City on Fire	Williams, Walter Jon	Male	American
1997	Memory	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
1997	Remnant Population	Moon, Elizabeth	Female	American
1997	Blue Mars	Robinson, Kim Stanley	Male	American
1997	Starplex	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
1997	Holy Fire	Sterling, Bruce	Male	American
1996	The Time Ships	Baxter, Stephen	Male	British
1996	Brightness Reef	Brin, David	Male	American
1996	The Terminal Experiment (also known as Hobson’s Choice)	Sawyer, Robert J	Male	Canadian
1996	The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer	Stephenson, Neal	Male	American
1996	Remake	Willis, Connie	Female	American
1995	Mother of Storms	Barnes, John	Male	American
1995	Brittle Innings	Bishop, Michael	Male	American
1995	Mirror Dance	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
1995	Towing Jehovah	DiFilippo, Paul	Male	American
1995	Beggars and Choosers	Kress, Nancy	Female	American
1994	Moving Mars	Bear, Greg	Male	American
1994	Glory Season	Brin, David	Male	American
1994	Virtual Light	Gibson, William	Male	Canadian
1994	Beggars in Spain	Kress, Nancy	Female	American
1994	Green Mars	Robinson, Kim Stanley	Male	American
1993	China Mountain Zhang	McHugh, Maureen F	Female	American
1993	Red Mars	Robinson, Kim Stanley	Male	American
1993	Steel Beach	Varley, John	Male	American
1993	A Fire Upon the Deep	Vinge, Vernor	Male	American
1993	Doomsday Book	Willis, Connie	Female	American
1992	Barrayar	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
1992	Bone Dance	Bull, Emma	Female	American
1992	Xenocide	Card, Orson Scott	Male	American
1992	All the Weyrs of Pern	McCaffrey, Anne	Female	Irish
1992	Stations of the Tide	Swanwick, Michael	Male	American
1992	The Summer Queen	Vinge, Joan D	Female	American
1991	Queen of Angels	Bear, Greg	Male	American
1991	Earth	Brin, David	Male	American
1991	The Vor Game: The Continuing Adventures of Miles Vorkosigan	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
1991	The Quiet Pools	Kube-McDowell, Michael P	Male	American
1991	The Fall of Hyperion	Simmons, Dan	Male	American
1990	The Boat of a Million Years	Anderson, Poul	Male	American
1990	Prentice Alvin	Card, Orson Scott	Male	American
1990	A Fire in the Sun	Effinger, George Alec	Male	American
1990	Hyperion	Simmons, Dan	Male	American
1990	Grass	Tepper, Sheri S	Female	American
1989	Falling Free	Bujold, Lois McMaster	Female	American
1989	Red Prophet	Card, Orson Scott	Male	American
1989	Cyteen	Cherryh, C J	Female	American
1989	Mona Lisa Overdrive	Gibson, William	Male	Canadian
1989	Islands in the Net	Sterling, Bruce	Male	American
1988	The Forge of God	Bear, Greg	Male	American
1988	The Uplift War	Brin, David	Male	American
1988	Seventh Son	Card, Orson Scott	Male	American
1988	When Gravity Fails	Effinger, George Alec	Male	American
1988	The Urth of the New Sun	Wolfe, Gene	Male	American
1987	Speaker for the Dead	Card, Orson Scott	Male	American
1987	Count Zero	Gibson, William	Male	Canadian
1987	Black Genesis	Hubbard, L Ron	Male	American
1987	The Ragged Astronauts	Shaw, Bob	Male	British
1987	Marooned in Realtime	Vinge, Vernor	Male	American
1986	Blood Music	Bear, Greg	Male	American
1986	The Postman	Brin, David	Male	American
1986	Ender’s Game	Card, Orson Scott	Male	American
1986	Cuckoo’s Egg	Cherryh, C J	Female	American
1986	Footfall	Niven, Larry	Male	American
1986	Footfall	Pournelle, Jerry	Male	American
1985	Neuromancer	Gibson, William	Male	Canadian
1985	Job: A Comedy of Justice	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1985	The Integral Trees	Niven, Larry	Male	American
1985	Emergence	Palmer, David R	Male	American
1985	The Peace War	Vinge, Vernor	Male	American
1984	The Robots of Dawn	Asimov, Isaac	Male	American
1984	Startide Rising	Brin, David	Male	American
1984	Tea with the Black Dragon	MacAvoy, R A	Female	American
1984	Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern	McCaffrey, Anne	Female	Irish
1984	Millennium	Varley, John	Male	American
1983	Foundation’s Edge	Asimov, Isaac	Male	American
1983	The Pride of Chanur	Cherryh, C J	Female	American
1983	2010: Odyssey Two	Clarke, Arthur C	Male	British
1983	Friday	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1983	Courtship Rite	Kingsbury, Donald	Male	Canadian
1983	The Sword of the Lictor	Wolfe, Gene	Male	American
1982	Downbelow Station	Cherryh, C J	Female	American
1982	Little, Big	Crowley, John	Male	American
1982	The Many Colored Land	May, Julian	Female	American
1982	Project Pope	Simak, Clifford D	Male	American
1982	The Claw of the Conciliator	Wolfe, Gene	Male	American
1981	The Ringworld Engineers	Niven, Larry	Male	American
1981	Beyond the Blue Event Horizon	Pohl, Frederik	Male	American
1981	Lord Valentine’s Castle	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1981	Wizard	Varley, John	Male	American
1981	The Snow Queen	Vinge, Joan D	Female	American
1980	The Fountains of Paradise	Clarke, Arthur C	Male	British
1980	On Wings of Song	Disch, Thomas M	Male	American
1980	Harpist in the Wind	McKillip, Patricia A	Female	American
1980	Jem	Pohl, Frederik	Male	American
1980	Titan	Varley, John	Male	American
1979	The Faded Sun: Kesrith	Cherryh, C J	Female	American
1979	The White Dragon	McCaffrey, Anne	Female	Irish
1979	Dreamsnake	McIntyre, Vonda N	Female	American
1979	Blind Voices	Reamy, Tom	Male	American
1978	Time Storm	Dickson, Gordon R	Male	American
1978	Dying of the Light	Martin, George R R	Male	American
1978	Lucifer’s Hammer	Niven, Larry	Male	American
1978	Gateway	Pohl, Frederik	Male	American
1978	Lucifer’s Hammer	Pournelle, Jerry	Male	American
1978	The Forbidden Tower	Zimmer Bradley, Marion	Female	American
1977	Mindbridge	Haldeman, Joe	Male	American
1977	Children of Dune	Herbert, Frank	Male	American
1977	Man Plus	Pohl, Frederik	Male	American
1977	Shadrach in the Furnace	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1977	Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang	Wilhelm, Kate	Female	American
1976	The Computer Connection (also known asThe Indian Giver)	Bester, Alfred	Male	American
1976	The Forever War	Haldeman, Joe	Male	American
1976	Inferno	Niven, Larry	Male	American
1976	Inferno	Pournelle, Jerry	Male	American
1976	The Stochastic Man	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1976	Doorways in the Sand	Zelazny, Roger	Male	American
1975	Fire Time	Anderson, Poul	Male	American
1975	Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said	Dick, Philip K	Male	American
1975	The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia	Le Guin, Ursula K	Female	American
1975	The Mote in God’s Eye	Niven, Larry	Male	American
1975	The Mote in God’s Eye	Pournelle, Jerry	Male	American
1975	The Inverted World	Priest, Christopher	Male	British
1974	The People of the Wind	Anderson, Poul	Male	American
1974	Rendezvous with Rama	Clarke, Arthur C	Male	British
1974	The Man Who Folded Himself	Gerrold, David	Male	American
1974	Time Enough for Love	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1974	Protector	Niven, Larry	Male	American
1973	There Will Be Time	Anderson, Poul	Male	American
1973	The Gods Themselves	Asimov, Isaac	Male	American
1973	When Harlie Was One	Gerrold, David	Male	American
1973	Dying Inside	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1973	The Book of Skulls	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1973	A Choice of Gods	Simak, Clifford D	Male	American
1972	To Your Scattered Bodies Go	Farmer, Philip José	Male	American
1972	The Lathe of Heaven	Le Guin, Ursula K	Female	American
1972	Dragonquest	McCaffrey, Anne	Female	Irish
1972	A Time of Changes	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1972	Jack of Shadows	Zelazny, Roger	Male	American
1971	Tau Zero	Anderson, Poul	Male	American
1971	Star Light	Clement, Hal	Male	American
1971	Ringworld	Niven, Larry	Male	American
1971	Tower of Glass	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1971	The Year of the Quiet Sun	Tucker, Wilson	Male	American
1970	Macroscope	Anthony, Piers	Male	American
1970	The Left Hand of Darkness	Le Guin, Ursula K	Female	American
1970	Up the Line	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1970	Bug Jack Barron	Spinrad, Norman	Male	American
1970	Slaughterhouse-Five	Vonnegut, Kurt	Male	American
1969	Stand on Zanzibar	Brunner, John	Male	British
1969	Nova	Delany, Samuel R	Male	American
1969	Past Master	Lafferty, R A	Male	American
1969	Rite of Passage	Panshin, Alexei	Male	American
1969	The Goblin Reservation	Simak, Clifford D	Male	American
1968	The Butterfly Kid	Anderson, Chester	Male	American
1968	Chthon	Anthony, Piers	Male	American
1968	The Einstein Intersection	Delany, Samuel R	Male	American
1968	Thorns	Silverberg, Robert	Male	American
1968	Lord of Light	Zelazny, Roger	Male	American
1967	Babel-17	Delany, Samuel R	Male	American
1967	Too Many Magicians	Garrett, Randall	Male	American
1967	The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1967	Flowers for Algernon	Keyes, Daniel	Male	American
1967	The Witches of Karres	Schmitz, James H	Male	American
1967	Day of the Minotaur	Swann, Thomas Burnett	Male	American
1966	The Squares of the City	Brunner, John	Male	British
1966	Dune	Herbert, Frank	Male	American
1966	Skylark DuQuesne	Smith, Edward E	Male	American
1966	…And Call Me Conrad (also known as This Immortal)	Zelazny, Roger	Male	American
1965	The Foundation Series	Asimov, Isaac	Male	American
1965	The Whole Man	Brunner, John	Male	British
1965	The Wanderer	Leiber, Fritz	Male	American
1965	Davy	Pangborn, Edgar	Male	American
1965	The Planet Buyer (also known as The Boy Who Bought Old Earth)	Smith, Cordwainer	Male	American
1964	Glory Road	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1964	Dune World	Herbert, Frank	Male	American
1964	Witch World	Norton, Andre	Female	American
1964	Here Gather the Stars (also known as Way Station)	Simak, Clifford D	Male	American
1964	Cat’s Cradle	Vonnegut, Kurt	Male	American
1963	Sylva	Bruller, Jean	Male	French
1963	A Fall of Moondust	Clarke, Arthur C	Male	British
1963	The Man in the High Castle	Dick, Philip K	Male	American
1963	Little Fuzzy	Piper, H Beam	Male	American
1963	The Sword of Aldones	Zimmer Bradley, Marion	Female	American
1962	Dark Universe	Galouye, Daniel F	Male	American
1962	Sense of Obligation (also known as Planet of the Damned)	Harrison, Harry	Male	American
1962	Stranger in a Strange Land	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1962	The Fisherman (also known as Time Is the Simplest Thing)	Simak, Clifford D	Male	American
1962	Second Ending	White, James	Male	British
1961	The High Crusade	Anderson, Poul	Male	American
1961	Rogue Moon	Budrys, Algis	Male	American
1961	Deathworld	Harrison, Harry	Male	American
1961	A Canticle for Leibowitz	Miller Jr, Walter M	Male	American
1961	Venus Plus X	Sturgeon, Theodore	Male	American
1960	Dorsai! (also known as The Genetic General)	Dickson, Gordon R	Male	American
1960	Starship Troopers	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1960	The Pirates of Ersatz (also known as The Pirates of Zan)	Leinster, Murray	Male	American
1960	That Sweet Little Old Lady (also known as Brain Twister)	Phillips, Mark (Laurence M. Janifer)	Male	American
1960	That Sweet Little Old Lady (also known as Brain Twister)	Phillips, Mark (Randall Garrett)	Male	American
1960	The Sirens of Titan	Vonnegut, Kurt	Male	American
1959	We Have Fed Our Sea (also known as The Enemy Stars)	Anderson, Poul	Male	American
1959	A Case of Conscience	Blish, James	Male	American
1959	Who?	Budrys, Algis	Male	American
1959	Have Space Suit — Will Travel	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1959	Time Killer (also known as Immortality, Inc.)	Sheckley, Robert	Male	American
1958	The Big Time	Leiber, Fritz	Male	American
1956	Double Star	Heinlein, Robert A	Male	American
1955	They’d Rather Be Right (also known as The Forever Machine)	Clifton, Mark	Male	American
1955	They’d Rather Be Right (also known as The Forever Machine)	Riley, Frank	Male	American
1953	The Demolished Man	Bester, Alfred	Male	American