I made a post about the Hugos a while back. It turns out that Donato Giancola has a very elegant and simple proposal to amend the Hugo rules that may address those issues.
Again, this is not to discredit the few people that have won the award in the past, it is just an acknowledgment that there have been others that have deserved it and have gone overlooked. Donato's proposal is simply a means to have voters take a little extra time when they consider who they are voting for.
(As an aside: About a month and half ago I wrote the World Fantasy Committee and proposed that they create a separate jury for their artist award -- a jury that consists of artists and art directors rather than authors and editors. As of yet I have not heard back from them. I'll report back once I do.)
Either Donato or I (since Donato may not be able to attend this year's World Con) will present the following at this year's business meeting.
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(Updated with final wording..)
Short Title: Artist Hugo
Moved, To amend the WSFS Constitution to require that nominations for the Best Artist Hugo Award include one citation of a specific work created by the nominee during the year of eligibility, by adding additional wording as follows:
Add to Section 3.7: Nominations
3.7.4: Nominations for the categories of Best Professional Artist or Best Fan Artist must include, in addition to the nominated artist's name, the title of a specific work by the nominated artist or the name of a publication within which the nominated artist's work appeared, either of which must have first appeared in the year for which the artist is being nominated.
Add to Section 3.8: Tallying of Nominations
3.8.8: Nominations for the categories of Best Professional Artist or Best Fan Artist shall be tallied only by the artist’s name and not by the title of any specific cited work or publication within which the nominated artist's work appeared. Nominations for these categories that do not include the information required in section 3.7.4 shall not be counted.
Submitted by: Donato Giancola, Irene Gallo
Makers' Argument:
While no single work is voted upon for the final Artist Hugo balloting, the inclusion of naming works from an eligible year in the nomination process will insure that only eligible works are those which the nominator is considering the artist for, rather than relying upon name and reputation recognition. This will help clarify and enforce the rules as per the World Science Fiction Society Constitution, specifically Section 3.2: General, and 3.2.1: "Unless otherwise specified, Hugo Awards are given for work in the field of science fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year."
In the past, sheer name recognition has propelled nominations forward without any verifiable check that those artists had contributed any new work to the field of Science Fiction in the eligible, and required, years. I believe these amendments will bring an end to the ‘blind’ nomination process and restore credibility to the Award.