kevin_standlee | Too Many Hugos?

Over on SF Awards Watch, we have a report about Mike Resnick complaining that there are too many Hugo Award categories. Now, I understand the argument that having "too many" categories somehow cheapens the Award; however, I reject it as currently drawn. The fact that there are Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Set Design doesn't devalue the Oscars for Best Actor and Best Actress. Similarly, I don't think that Hugo Awards for editing and for fan activity make the written fiction categories somehow less worthy.

Now, neither Cheryl nor I have access to the full Resnick article. We are relying on the summary and quotes from it. I freely admit that I may be missing something. But on the strength of what we know, I challenged Mike in my comment on SFAW to (a) come up with his list of Hugo Award categories that he would eliminate were he to have unilateral control over the categories and (b) to come to the WSFS Business Meeting and propose these changes himself. Nobody is stopping him. He's done it before (1994) when a WSFS decision riled him up, so he's familiar with the process.

As it happens, there will be a round-table discussion at SMOFCon this Friday discussing Hugo Award categories. I wonder if Resnick's complaint will be on the table?