Work Text:
Who killed the Hugo awards?
“Not I”, said the 11th Worldcon, “For we thought it would be nice to take something new and give out a physical award, for our traditional ‘best’ voting. We started the Hugo Awards, but we did not kill it.”
“Not I”, said the 12th Worldcon. “For how can you kill something that was meant to be a one-off? We just returned to our normal traditions. We did not kill off the Hugo Awards, because the Hugo awards did not yet live.”
“Not I”, said the next Worldcon. “We thought it was fun so we restarted it, and onwards it went! We did not kill the Hugo Awards.”
But then, who killed the Hugo awards?
“Not I”, said Star Trek Fandom. “Though people accused us of voting in a block, and of making the award meaningless, back in 1974, it still went on strong. We did not kill the Hugo awards.”
"Not I", said Anti-Fan. "My antics entertained, and helped bring WorldCon to Australia. I may have figuratively killed quite a few people, but it was all just for a bit of a laugh, and it was all jake in the end mate. The team that helped make the film, did not kill the Hugo Awards or even the planning committee for AussieCon 1."
“Not I”, said Conspiracy 87. “We figured out a way to stretch the budget, and joked our way out of the hotel that hated us, and No Awarded those Scientologists. We did not kill the Hugo awards.”
But then, who killed the Hugo awards?
“Not I”, said the Sad Puppy. “It moved on without us. We did not kill the Hugo awards.”
“Not I”, said the Rabid Puppy. “We couldn't even get a slate to go through. Our contribution was ultimately a lot of No Awards, but we did not kill the Hugo awards.”
But then, who killed the Hugo awards?
“Not I”, said the science fiction writer. “I just wanted to have a cool party for me and mine. My party did not kill the Hugo Awards, with not letting in the Hugo Losers to the Hugo Loser's party.”
“Not I”, said Ursula Vernon. "I won it twice and gave them a piece of my mind on what they needed to do to survive. I tried to tell them, as did many others, but I did not kill the Hugo awards.”
“Not I”, said the fan writer. “My crowd tried to join in but was told to go away. And so we did. How could we kill the Hugo awards when we were never truly a part of it?”
But then, who killed the Hugo awards?
“What's a Hugo?”, a young fan said from his computer in India, as he finished posting the painting of his rocket ship full of Vanaras on their way to a particular star.
“No idea”, said his friend from Spain as she gleefully kudos'd it.
“Sounds kind of French, like Les Mis or something...”, said their buddy from New Zealand as they shared a gushing link to the work on Tumblr.
“Mom says it’s something to do with a world con.”, said the American moderator of the discord they were in.
“Oh cool!”, said the mostly lurker from Malaysia. “A convention of people from around the world sounds pretty neat.”
“I dunno”, said the moderator. “She said it was kinda grey and joyless.”