Lottery Fantasy: Cash Prize for Hugo Awards

What with half-a-billion dollars up for grabs in the MegaMillions draw, one starts to think of things one could do with the money, even if (as I would) you opt for the NPV rather than the annuity.

One of the things I thought of doing was to set up an endowment to fund a cash award for the Hugo Awards, and I don't just mean The Big One. If I did it, all categories would have the same amount associated with them. Say $1,000 or so per category (Yes, even the "fan" categories), probably by specifying $X per year (adjusted for performance of the principle fund whose interest would fund the thing) divided among the categories.

I wonder if having a cash award as well as a shiny trophy associated with winning a Hugo would make the award more prestigious or less? I can certainly see the arguments against additional Hugo categories after such a time: "It would dilute the prize pool!"

Not Struck by Lightning

No Hugo Prize Fund Foundation this time, I'm afraid. Aside from 02 having been a recurring theme in many of the tickets I bought for the draw, nothing else hit — not even a lesser prize like $1 or $2. Back to living in the real world.

Mind you, I don't know what the results of the office pool into which I put $10 are yet. I promised my supervisor that if I won, I'd work out to the end of the current project.

When I made my stop in Colfax, I had an e-mail from a friend outside the country asking if I could buy $20 worth of tickets for him, which I agreed to do. I stopped at Truckee and bought the ticket there. I'm glad I didn't wait until the last-chance place on Nevada Exit 1 (the casino extended their parking lot and build a Lotto shack just over the boundary) because news reports said the queues there were huge, whereas there was only a short wait at the Safeway in Truckee. (Those tickets didn't win, either.) I'll have to remember to collect my $20 at Worldcon.