Chengdu Worldcon has finally given us an update on the Hugo shortlist announcement in the above quote tweet, though I would be surprised if there was any particularly “riveting drama” involved in the delay. Much of the frustration expressed here by Philip (and by many others) is the result of delays in this year’s voting process at the onset, coupled with the infrequency of updates from Worldcon itself. The opening of the nominating phase started much later than US and UK members are used to, with only roughly estimated target dates (much like the “early June” announcement Philip alludes to) to go on, which then passed by without any additional explanation from the committee. I’m sure Chengdu is just as frustrated by the delays as those of us in the states. In this new tweet, at least, there is some clue as to the cause of the delay.

The “amount and complexity of this year’s nominations” indicates that there may be a considerable number of Chinese works, authors and artists included on this year’s shortlist (I alluded to this possibility when making my predictions for the fiction finalists this year). It’s no secret that Chengdu Worldcon has made a concerted effort to encourage participation from Chinese fans in the nominating phase. The delays in the start of nominations was likely due to producing a unified system that accounted for the needs of both English-speaking and Chinese-speaking voters. I imagine similar issues plague the committee now. In particular, the requirements for the fiction differ somewhat in China from those in the English-speaking world so perhaps there is a need for greater scrutiny of eligibility, with more votes than usual needing to be moved from one category to another. It is also possible that there is some confusion in the eligibility requirements for the fan and professional categories. At the very least, getting the shortlist right and tailoring the announcement to both English-speaking and Chinese-speaking fans would necessitate additional time and resources. This is all speculation, as I don’t have any inside information on the matter, but my best guess is that all the “riveting drama” Philip jokingly imagines taking place is more likely just a bunch of extra headaches the committee is dealing with this year.

I sincerely hope these delays mean that there will be a number of Chinese authors and works on the shortlist. I have long hoped for greater participation in the Hugo process from non-US fans. There is a large enough contingent of UK-based fans participating from year-to-year to get some (but not many) UK authors on the ballot. African authors, in particular Nigerian authors, have begun appearing on Hugo and other shortlists, but have done so in part because they write primarily in English, and have one less barrier (among many, to be clear) when breaking into American markets than authors who need to have their works translated to English to find a publisher.

Maybe, if it does turn out that several Chinese-language works end up on the Hugo shortlist, it will jump start a trend of more international participation in Worldcon and the Hugo awards. Or maybe it will just be a one-off and things will go back to normal next year. Either way, I’m more excited to see this year’s shortlist than I have been in awhile. I’ll just have to wait until sometime next week. Possibly. Fingers crossed.