Hugo Trophy Designs
The earliest Hugo Award trophy used a rocket designed by Jack McKnight and Ben Jason based upon the hood ornament from a 1950s American automobile; however, the shape of the rocket changed over the years as individual committees reinterpreted the design. The current design of the trophy rocket, which is now considered definitive, has been the same since British fan Peter Weston’s refinement of the design debuted in 1984. Since then, every Hugo Award trophy rocket (except those used in 1991) has been literally cast from the same mold by Ashwater Foundry in England.
Each Worldcon Committee designs a base for the trophy. Some have been fairly plain; others have moved toward the fanciful and whimsical. The 1992 Hugo Award, presented by MagiCon, included pieces of an actual gantry from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, while the 1994 Hugo Award, presented by ConAdian, contained pieces of “space metal” — pieces of Canadian sounding rockets that had actually been in space.
A full archive of all historic Hugo designs can be found in the trophy gallery on the official Hugo Awards website.
There is also an article by Peter Weston describing how the rockets are actually made.
2024 Trophy Designs
The Glasgow 2024 Hugo Award Base will be designed by Iain J. Clark. The trophy for the 2024 Lodestar Award for Best YA Book will be designed by Sara Felix.
Glasgow 2024 is in awe of the amazing work of these two phenomenal mixed media artists. They have tirelessly supported Glasgow 2024 through their creativity and generosity, and we could not imagine a better tribute to the convention, and their own strengths as artists, than having them design these iconic works.
We are excited to see them revealed during the Opening Ceremony on the 8th August in Glasgow – we bet you are too!
The 2024 Hugo Award Base
Every year the iconic Hugo rocket is given a unique base design. This timeless icon of Science Fiction’s highest accolade is designed to reflect the personality of the hosting Worldcon. This year’s designer, Iain J. Clark, has been working with Glasgow 2024 since 2019.
Iain: “I’ve known about the Hugo Awards for most of my adult life (I vividly remember Babylon 5 winning Best Dramatic Presentation in 1996) but the idea that I could design a base for the iconic trophy never entered my head. You might as well have told me I’d design an Oscar. And then Glasgow asked me,and I was stunned – so naturally I panicked and said yes. It’s a huge honour, a huge responsibility, and I take it very seriously. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
Iain works in a variety of materials, primarily acrylics. He has twice won the BSFA Best Artwork Award award (for “Shipbuilding Over The Clyde” in 2020, and for “Glasgow Green Woman” in 2021); both pieces were created for the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon. He has been a finalist for the Best Fan Artist Hugo Award in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
For the Dublin 2019 Worldcon he created artworks including the cover of the Souvenir Book, and for Glasgow 2024 his art is appearing on banners, adverts, postcards, campaigns and t-shirts.
He can be found at iainjclarkart.com.
The 2024 Lodestar Award
The Lodestar Award was first given in 2018, and since its inception has been celebrating the beauty of YA fiction. The first Lodestar award was designed by Sara Felix whose iconic style began a trend of trophies that honour the very best in YA Science Fiction and Fantasy!
According to Sara: “I was happy to be asked to design the Lodestar Award as it is one of my favourite awards at the Hugos. In all my projects with Glasgow I hope the award is as fantastic as the finalists and the winners in this category!”
Sara is a mixed media artist who has designed two Hugos in 2016, and 2018 (co-designed with Vincent Villafranca). She has designed multiple Lodestar awards and other special awards for Worldcons in the past. She is the designer of the Glasgow 2024 logo and much of the art used by the convention. Her space art and tiaras can be seen at multiple conventions around the US and UK throughout each year.
Previous Glasgow Worldcons
The 1995 (Intersection) Hugo Award base was designed by Sylvia Starshine. The design comprised layers of granite, steel, and glass to reflect Glasgow’s engineering and technology history.
The 2005 (Interaction) Hugo Award base was designed by Deb Kosiba. Following from the visual branding used in the convention’s promotional campaigns, it was inspired by the works of Glasgow designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
