The Hugo Awards Bends the Knee to Chinese Censorship

Because of course they did. Science fiction awards held in China under fire for excluding authors | Hugo awards | The Guardian

Why would you hold a literary awards ceremony in a bastion of censorship?

A prestigious literary award for science fiction, which was hosted in China for the first time, has come under fire for excluding several authors from the 2023 awards, raising concerns about interference or censorship in the awards process.

The New York Times bestseller Babel by RF Kuang, an episode of the Netflix drama The Sandman and the author Xiran Jay Zhao were among the works and authors excluded from the 2023 Hugo awards, which were administered by the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Chengdu in October.

You can read the whole thing, but you know what they did. They exculded authors and stories that the Chinese government didn't like.

“I can only guess to why I was excluded, but it probably has something to do with my critical comments about the Chinese government in the past,” said Zhao. “You would think that as a big, powerful country, China would be graceful about criticisms, but they in fact take it very personally, and doubly so when it’s from Chinese diaspora.”

Hat tip to Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony. Daily News Stuff 26 January 2024: Australia Dayn't Edition

The head of the awards jury, Dave McCarty issued a particularly blatant non-denial:

There was no communication between the Hugo administration team and the Chinese government in any official manner.

But unofficially...

"After reviewing the constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible." He declined to elaborate on what the rules were.

The rules that let us get out of the country with our kneecaps.