I was thrilled when I belatedly discovered that I had made the long list of nominees for Best Fan Writer in this year’s Hugos. In most recent years I have been ineligible because I was involved with administering the awards. This year, thirteen of you cared enough about my meanderings here and elsewhere to put me on your ballot. I am very grateful. Next year I will even vote for myself!

From the published numbers I can work out a fair bit about my votes. First of all, the total number of points in the system drops by five after I am eliminated, so that means that five of the thirteen votes were for me and no other surviving nominees at that stage. Thank you again!

The other eight votes added up to a total of 2.95 EPH points, and were distributed from me as follows:

0.8 to Örjan Westin
0.72 to James Davis Nicoll
0.5 to Roseanne Pendlebury
0.38 to Cora Buhlert
0.25 to Paul Weimer
0.16 to Jake Casella Brookins
0.08 to Brandon O’Brien
0.05 to Adam Whitehead

That adds to 2.94 rather than 2.95, because of rounding.

We know that those eight votes were worth 0.5, 0.33, 0.25 or 0.2 points each when they sat with me. There is only one combination of eight votes of those values that is worth 2.95 points:

3 votes worth 0.5 each
3 votes worth 0.33 each
1 vote worth 0.25
1 vote worth 0.2

A little bit of squinting and the following becomes clear:

Three votes were for me and one each of Örjan Westin, James David Nicoll and Roseanna Pendlebury. When I was eliminated they gained 0.5 of a point from those votes.

Two votes were shared by me and Cora Buhlert, and one or other of Örjan Westin, James Davis Nicoll, Paul Weimer and Jake Casella Brookins. Another vote was shared by me and the other two of those four. When I was eliminated, Cora gained 0.33 of a point and the other four 0.17 each.

One vote was shared between me, Örjan Westin, Paul Weimer and Brandon O’Brien. When I was eliminated they each gained 0.08 points from that vote.

One vote was shared between me, Örjan Westin, James Davis Nicoll, Cora Buhlert and Adam Whitehead. When I was eliminated they each gained 0.05 points from that vote.

The raw numbers of votes that I shared with other surviving finalists are as follows:

5 – nobody
4 – Örjan Westin
3 – James Davis Nicoll and Cora Buhlert
2 – Paul Weimer
1 – Roseanna Pendlebury, Jake Casella Brookins, Brandon O’Brien and Adam Whitehead

(Strictly, the votes are calculated by multiplying everything by 60, so as not to lose the fractions. The decimal conversion is what is reported, but it is not the actual calculation.)

If I’d had twice as many votes, I’d have been a finalist! (If.)