This weekend, the nominees for Hugo Awards were announced. There are fewer honors higher than this for Science Fiction and Fantasy, and it looks like the some of the competition is going to be fierce this year.

Every year, the nominations serve as a go to for all science fiction and fantasy fans who may not have been paying attention many of the great written works when the glitz and glamor of Game of Thrones and The Hobbit distract us.

Traditionally, the awards are usually associated with novels, but that is only a small part of what the Hugo Awards stand for. The Hugo Awards include television episodes, short stories, fanzines… really, the list goes on. You name something science fiction and fantasy are a part of, there is a Hugo Award for it.

Mira Grant, the 2010 award winner of the the John W. Campbell Award (best newcomer), is competing for best novel and best novella, though her competition looks to be fierce this year for novels, especially with the Kim Stanley Robinson in the running, who is the winner of several Nebula awards. Robinson’s novel, 2312 has been making all sorts of noise since its release, and even has an article in The Atlantic which features it. Stiff competition doesn’t stop there, though. The other nominees include Lois McMaster Bujold, who is already a four time Hugo award winner, with her book, Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance. The best novel category also has the very much debated Redshirts by John Scalzi, who has been nominated for a Hugo but not yet received one, and the Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of Crescent Moon.

Notably, Doctor Who has swept the Dramatic Presentation, Short Form this year with “Angels in Manhattan”, “Asylum of the Daleks”  and “The Snowmen”, going up against with the widely loved “Letters in Transit” from Fringe, and “Blackwater” from Game of Thrones.

The odds are in Joss Whedon’s favor this year for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, what with Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers in the running. Naturally, The Hunger Games, Looper, and The Hobbit are also in contention.

A full list of the nominations can be found on the Hugo Awards website.

If you haven’t read or seen any of these yet, there is still time to make your picks! The awards ceremony will be at LoneStarCon3 on September 1st, 2013.