AO3 Wins 2019 Hugo Award for Best Related Work

Outlines of a man and woman speaking with word bubbles, one of which has the OTW logo and the other which says 'OTW Announcement

The Organization for Transformative Works is excited to announce that the Archive of Our Own has won the 2019 Hugo Award in the category of Best Related Work! This is the first time an OTW project has won — or been a finalist for — a Hugo Award!

The award was given on August 18, 2019, as part of Dublin 2019: an Irish Worldcon, the 77th World Science Fiction Convention. You can check out detailed results for all award categories on the Worldcon website.

Naomi Novik, one of AO3’s founders, gave a speech as she and other OTW personnel accepted the award, and she gave everyone in the AO3 community a well deserved thank you:

All fanwork, from fanfic to vids to fanart to podfic, centers the idea that art happens not in isolation but in community. And that is true of the AO3 itself. We’re up here accepting, but only on behalf of literally thousands of volunteers and millions of users, all of whom have come together and built this thriving home for fandom, a nonprofit and non-commercial community space built entirely by volunteer labor and user donations, on the principle that we needed a place of our own that was not out to exploit its users but to serve them.

Even if I listed every founder, every builder, every tireless support staff member and translator and tag wrangler, if I named every last donor, all our hard work and contributions would mean nothing without the work of the fan creators who share their work freely with other fans, and the fans who read their stories and view their art and comment and share bookmarks and give kudos to encourage them and nourish the community in their turn.

This Hugo will be joining the traveling exhibition that goes to each Worldcon, because it belongs to all of us. I would like to ask that we raise the lights and for all of you who feel a part of our community stand up for a moment and share in this with us.

We were proud and excited to see how many Worldcon attendees stood up to represent AO3 and accept our Hugo Award — and this award belongs to you, too! The AO3 is founded on the love and work of all of our users, and we at the OTW are delighted to share this award with you. Thank you!

2019-08-18 Retired Personnel
Announcement, Archive of Our Own
  1. Janis commented: Who would have thought years ago when the idea was first suggested that a Hugo would eventually be in the offing? Glad to see the archive, and the whole idea of fan-created and fan-run nonprofit communities, gain (a fraction of) the attention it deserves.
  2. Janis commented: BTW, you might find this article interesting: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/19/olivia-laing-splits-james-tait-black-prize-win-with-fellow-shortlistees Literal money quote: Olivia Laing, who this weekend won the £10,000 James Tait Black award for her debut novel Crudo, will not be taking all of her winnings home with her. Instead, the acclaimed author has announced she will be dividing the money between her fellow shortlisted writers, because “competition has no place in art”. Novik et al. shared credit for a prestigious award, and this woman shared the actual money. I'm too old to pretend not to notice that it's WOMEN that are so well able to recognize the community-based aspects of the arts. Feed a man, and you feed one man. Feed a woman, and you feed a family. Indeed.
    • Francesca Coppa commented: Wow, thanks for this link!
      • Janis commented: It would be interesting if we could start some kind of movement where women who win things like this pledge to share the credit/dosh around with other women who are runners-up or something like that. And because I'm one of those mean ol' ball-busting old-school feminists, they'd pledge to share the credit/dosh around with only the other WOMEN who are runners-up, and not with all of the runners-up. But that's just my humorless, hairy-legged side showing. :-)
    • Jorin commented: How can we men show that this isn't true- that feeding us also feeds families?
      • AZ commented: I would love it if people just start to do this kind of amazing things and stop making it about one gender or another. Sure, a lot of men have been conditioned since childhood to be emotionally stunted in the past, but it is not nice to make broad generalizations. Accusing men as a default setting in situations that aren’t even immediately connect with gender is a bit tiring. We need to come together if this world has any chance at all, not apart.
  3. Alessnox commented: Congratulations all!