Since 1981, one meeting each year has featured a Hugo Panel. Usually held in July, several days before the deadline for voting on the Hugos, this event is designed to help PSFS members who may be voting for winners of the Hugo Awards to make decisions on entries they may not have been able to read or watch.
The panel is made up of five members and a varying number of alternates. Each year, five panelists and two alternates commit to reading all the nominees for the Hugo Awards in the categories of Short Story, Novella, Novelette, Novel, and comics/graphic novels, and to watching all nominees for long-form and short-form Dramatic Presentations.
Each panelist offers a quick summary of all the nominees in one of the categories, with the other panelists offering comments. Then they vote their preference for each nominee, ranking them, and their votes are averaged—giving a snapshot of which work may be likely to win an actual Hugo.