Story · 1980–2026

The Hugo–Nebula split

Winners of one award that the other never even shortlisted. The Hugo is voted by the members of a convention, the Nebula by science fiction's writers, and these are the books that landed with only one.

From 1980 to 2026, 15 novels won the Hugo without appearing on the Nebula ballot, and 17 won the Nebula without appearing on the Hugo's. In the same years, 18 won both.

From 1980 because that is the first year from which the source, the ISFDB, holds both awards' full shortlists; before it, a missing ballot would look like a snub.

Hugo, never on the Nebula ballot

  • Downbelow Station — C. J. Cherryh (1982)
  • Cyteen — C. J. Cherryh (1989)
  • Hyperion — Dan Simmons (1990)
  • The Vor Game — Lois McMaster Bujold (1991)
  • Mirror Dance — Lois McMaster Bujold (1995)
  • Blue Mars — Kim Stanley Robinson (1997)
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — J. K. Rowling (2001)
  • Hominids — Robert J. Sawyer (2003)
  • Spin — Robert Charles Wilson (2006)
  • Rainbows End — Vernor Vinge (2007)
  • The Graveyard Book — Neil Gaiman (2009)
  • Redshirts — John Scalzi (2013)
  • Some Desperate Glory — Emily Tesh (2024)
  • The Tainted Cup — Robert Jackson Bennett (2025)
  • The Everlasting — Alix E. Harrow (2026)

Nebula, never on the Hugo ballot

  • Timescape — Gregory Benford (1981)
  • No Enemy But Time — Michael Bishop (1983)
  • The Falling Woman — Pat Murphy (1988)
  • The Healer's War — Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1990)
  • Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea — Ursula K. Le Guin (1991)
  • Slow River — Nicola Griffith (1997)
  • The Moon and the Sun — Vonda N. McIntyre (1998)
  • Parable of the Talents — Octavia E. Butler (2000)
  • The Quantum Rose — Catherine Asaro (2002)
  • The Speed of Dark — Elizabeth Moon (2004)
  • Camouflage — Joe Haldeman (2006)
  • Seeker — Jack McDevitt (2007)
  • Powers — Ursula K. Le Guin (2009)
  • Annihilation — Jeff VanderMeer (2015)
  • A Song for a New Day — Sarah Pinsker (2020)
  • Babel, or, The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution — R. F. Kuang (2023)
  • The Buffalo Hunter Hunter — Stephen Graham Jones (2026)