Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist
The Hugo Awards are presented every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine "Amazing Stories", and was once officially known as the Science Fiction Achievement Award. The award has been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing". The Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist is given each year for artists of works related to science fiction or fantasy which appeared in low- or non-paying publications such as semiprozines or fanzines. A Hugo Award for professional artists is also given. The fan award was first presented in 1967 and has been awarded annually. Beginning in 1996, Retrospective Hugo Awards, or "Retro Hugos", have been available to be awarded for years 50, 75, or 100 years prior in which no awards were given. To date, Retro Hugo awards have been awarded for 1939, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1951, and 1954, although only the 1946 and 1951 Retro Hugos received sufficient nominations for the Fan Artist Hugo to make the ballot.
Ed Emshwiller
Emshwiller won one of the inaugural Hugo Awards in 1953, as the previous year's best "Cover Artist" (a tie with Hannes Bok). Cover artists and interior illustrators were not thereafter distinguished by the Hugo Award for Best Artist under various names; he won four more during the 1960s under the current "Professional Artist" distinction. On June 16, 2007, he became the third artist inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. His paintings of aliens were displayed in the "Alien Encounters" exhibition of the Science Fiction Museum, which houses the hall of fame, at that time (September 10, 2006 to October 30, 2007).