Why add a Best Translated Work Award?

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• It’s the World science fiction award: it should be about the World, not just Anglophone SF.
• There is and has been a lot of great SF created around the world in languages other than English; very little of it recognized by the Hugos to date.
• Translators are a vital part of the world literary scene—part of our thinking for this award is that it will help acknowledge their contributions within science fiction and fantasy around the world.
• We seem to be in a moment where more and more SF is being published and translated around the world, but a huge chunk of it is not from the established major Anglophone commercial SFF publishers. A translated Hugo would help highlight these works, and get them to interested readers.
• A Translated Hugo provides an anchor for more discussions, material, and panels, for more of a global audience, for Worldcon and beyond.
• At a time of rising xenophobia & insularity in the predominant Worldcon host countries, a Translated Hugo is a small but potent gesture toward the world SF community.
• The English-language publishers, editors, translators, reviewers, scholars, and readers who are already tuned in to great SF from around the world represent a big group who would pay more attention to the Hugos & Worldcon if a translated award were featured, potentially injecting more membership and energy.
• Bringing in works from different cultures, nations, languages, and publishing markets can add to our understanding of what speculative fiction is and can do.
• A Translated Hugo encourages more fans from different countries to pay attention to the award and/or attend Worldcon; finalist/winning authors and translators likewise encourage different communities of publishing & readership to look at the Worldcon-and-Hugo SF scene.
• A major award—with the associated press, discussion, and readership—shows publishers that there’s a market for translated SF, which will help future speculative translations come to print!