I have been irritated enough by discussions as to why more people under 30 40 haven't won Hugos, that I have spent a few hours composing a list of people who you might think had won Hugos, or perhaps ought to have won a Hugo or two, or are just plain pretty good writers —— but haven't won a Hugo. There are bestselling writers here, hall-of-famers, and at least one person who turned down the Nebula.
Looking over this list, I think it's fair to say that most good writers in the science fiction and fantasy field have never won a Hugo Award.
Eleanor Arnasen
Catherine Asaro
Kage Baker
Iain M. Banks
John Barnes
Stephen Barnes
Stephen Baxter
Gregory Benford
Michael Bishop
James P. Blaylock
Ray Bradbury
Damien Broderick
Edward Bryant
Emma Bull
Pat Cadigan
Jonathan Carroll
Storm Constantine
Jon Courtenay Grimwood
John Crowley
Jack Dann
Charles DeLint
Stephen Dedman
Bradley Denton
Paul DiFilippo
Cory Doctorow
Candas Jane Dorsey
Sarah Douglass
Terry Dowling
David Drake
Andy Duncan
Carol Emschwiller
Michael Flynn
Jeffrey Ford
John M. Ford
Karen Joy Fowler
R. Garcia y Roberston
Mary Gentle
Lisa Goldstein
Kathleen Ann Goonan
Stephen Gould
Nicola Griffith
Eileen Gunn
Barbara Hambly
Elizabeth Hand
Harry Harrison
M. John Harrison
Robin Hobb aka Megan Lindholm
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Robert Holdstock
Nalo Hopkinson
Alexander Jablokov
Kij Johnson
Diana Wynne Jones
Gwyneth Jones
Graham Joyce
Guy Gavriel Kay
John Kessel
Donald Kingsbury
Ellen Klages
Ellen Kushner
Tannith Lee
Jonathan Lethem
Paul Levinson
Elizabeth A. Lynn
Ian R. MacLeod
Ken MacLeod
Barry N. Malzberg
Richard Matheson
Paul J. McAuley
Wil McCarthy
Jack McDevitt
Patricia A. McKillip
Robin McKinley
Sean McMullen
China Miéville
L. E. Modesitt
Judith Moffett
Elizabeth Moon
Michael Moorcock
James Morrow
Pat Murphy
Linda Nagata
Kim Newman
Garth Nix
G. David Nordley
Jerry Oltion
Susan Palwick
Paul Park
Steven Popkes
Jerry Pounelle
Tim Powers
Terry Pratchett
Christopher Priest
Kit Reed
Alastair Reynolds
Mary Rosenblum
Rudy Rucker
Geoff Ryman
Pamela Sargent
Karl Schroeder
Melissa Scott
Deliah Sherman
Joan Slonczewski
Norman Spinrad
Brian Stableford
Sean Stewart
William Tenn
Mary Turzillo
Lisa Tuttle
James Van Pelt
Jeff VanderMeer
Élisabeth Vonarburg
Howard Waldrop
Peter Watts
Scott Westerfeld
Liz Williams
Sean Williams
Walter Jon Williams
Gene Wolfe
Jack Womack
Jane Yolen
George Zebrowski
Sarah Zettel
This is a loose & sloppy list probably full of typoes and with glaring omissions. Nearly of the writers on this list have been nominated for some award at some point. No particular age cut-off was used, just my sense of who has an established enough career to be interesting on such a list.
(Later, I will go through my years' best notes and compile a list of pretty good writers who have never been nominated for any award tracked by Locus. But not today.)
CHALLENGE QUESTION: What commercially and/or critically successful writers in the field have never been nominated for a Hugo, or perhaps even for any awards in the field? We can start with L. E. Modesitt. Who else?
