Literary award · United States · since 1955

Hugo Award for Best Short Story

Literary award for science fiction or fantasy stories in English. Established 1955 in United States.

About Hugo Award for Best Short Story

The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of fewer than 7,500 words; awards are also given out for pieces of longer lengths in the novelette, novella, and novel categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing". The Hugo Award for Best Short Story has been awarded annually since 1955, except in 1957. The award was titled "Best Short Fiction" rather than "Best Short Story" in 1960–1966.

From the Wikipedia article “Hugo Award for Best Short Story”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Recent winners

YearWinnerWinning work
2026Thomas HaIn My Country
2025Nghi VoStitched to Skin Like Family Is
2024Naomi KritzerBetter Living Through Algorithms
2023Samantha MillsRabbit Test
2022Sarah PinskerWhere Oaken Hearts Do Gather
2021Ursula VernonMetal Like Blood in the Dark
2020S. L. HuangNone
2019Alix E. HarrowA Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies

From Wikidata; the list may be incomplete for some years.

Eligibility and entering

Check the official rules of the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.

If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.

Sources & data