Three Hugo Nominations for Doctor Who

Doctor Who has been nominated for three prestigious Hugo Awards this year, according to an announcement made yesterday by the award's administrators and the 64th World Science Fiction Convention, L.A. Con IV. Taking three of seven slots in the "Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form" category are the Doctor Who episodes Dalek written by Robert Shearman,Father's Day written by Paul Cornell, and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, written by Steven Moffat. The three are running against an episode of the new "Battlestar Galactica" series, the Pixar animated short "Jack Jack Attack," and two live events, the stage play "Lucas Back in Anger" and the "Prix Victor Hugo Awards Ceremony," both performed at last year's World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, Scotland. (The latter was written by writers Paul McAuley and Kim Newman, both of whom have, coincidentally, written for Telos Publishing's Doctor Who novella range). The "Short Form" category was created out of the "Best Dramatic Presentation" category in 2003 to distinguish between films and television episodes, and describes a presentation lasting ninety minutes or less. The Hugo Awards, named for science fiction pioneer Hugo Gernsback, are the science fiction community's most prestigious awards, given out each year since the early 1950's; they will be presented at the Worldcon convention taking place this year in in Anaheim, California on August 26, with several of the writers expected to be in attendance.