2026 Hugo Award Winners

Posted in News, SteamPunk on August 31st, 2026 by Dr. Warthan
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The 2026 Hugo Award base designed by Scott Lefton, featuring the iconic rocket atop a Southern California-themed base

The rockets have landed. Last night at LAcon V in Anaheim, the 2026 Hugo Awards were handed out at a live ceremony, and the sci-fi/fantasy community has (once again) argued about the results on the internet for approximately twelve consecutive hours. Tradition is beautiful. The full winners list is up on the LAcon V site, so go see who took home the rocket.

The base this year was designed by Scott Lefton, which matters more than people realize: the iconic rocket stays constant, but the base is redesigned every single year to reflect the personality of the hosting convention. Southern California theming on a Hugo trophy. The Doctor approves. The Lodestar Award (that is the Young Adult fiction prize, for those of you not keeping score at home) got its own custom design courtesy of H Emiko Ogasawara. Good job, high-5. And yes, Best Poem is a category again, running for the second year in a row on a trial basis. Poetry at Worldcon. Carlin would have had thoughts.

Look, the Hugos are not a Punk award ceremony. Nobody walked the stage in a top hat and a clockwork monocle (probably). But the community that hands out these rockets is the same community that built every genre we celebrate here, including the Punk genres that keep this blog’s lights on. That makes it worth 30 seconds of your attention. Now go read the winners list and fight with strangers about it. Nothing can beat old age and betrayal.

Via: LAcon V (lacon.org)

2026 ENNIE Award Voting Is Open

Posted in Game, News on July 20th, 2026 by Dr. Warthan
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2026 ENNIE Award nominees page showing tabletop RPG award categories and nominated games

The nominees for the 2026 ENNIE Awards have been announced, and voting is open RIGHT NOW. Go cast your ballot. Winners get announced at Gen Con in Indianapolis at the end of July, so the clock is ticking. This year’s field is legitimately stacked: Daggerheart, Legend in the Mist, Vaesen: City of My Nightmares (yes, please), and the Crooked Moon VTT are all in the mix, plus Call of Cthulhu products showing up in roughly half the categories because Chaosium apparently does not sleep. Good for them.

Also new this year: a dedicated Best Solo Game category, which means the TTRPG community has officially acknowledged that some of us roll dice alone in our laboratories at 2am. The Doctor neither confirms nor denies. The point is: if you play tabletop RPGs and you have opinions (you do), you have until Gen Con to make them count. The ENNIEs are a fan vote, which means the results are only as good as the people who bother to show up. Be the person who bothers to show up. Nothing can beat old age and betrayal, but a well-placed vote comes close.