The Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo category has a long and complicated history. Fittingly enough, it was first awarded in 1958 at the Solacon where it was called the Outstanding Movie category. In 1959, the Detention followed up by awarding a Best SF or Fantasy Movie Hugo. Starting in 1960 at Pittcon, it got its long-term title of Best Dramatic Presentation.
The "BDP" category has failed to appear on the final ballot three times due to insufficient nominations: 1964, 1966, and in the 1946 Retro Hugos. It has also had more No Awards than any other category.
In 2004, the Best Dramatic Presentation category was split into Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form and Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form with the dividing line being a running time of 90 minutes. See Hugo category boundaries for a discussion of some of the finer points of defining Hugo categories.
See also the Hugo Awards and List of Hugo Categories.
Click on the year for detailed results.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 1946 | The Picture of Dorian Gray |
| 1951 | Destination Moon |
| 1954 | Retro Hugo: There were insufficient nominations and the category was not include on the final ballot. |
| 1958 | The Incredible Shrinking Man (the category was called "Outstanding Movie" this year) |
| 1959 | No Award (the category was called "SF or Fantasy Movie" this year) |
| 1960 | The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling |
| 1961 | The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling |
| 1962 | The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling |
| 1963 | No Award |
| 1964 | No Award |
| 1965 | Dr. Strangelove |
| 1966 | No Award |
| 1967 | Star Trek - "The Menagerie" |
| 1968 | Star Trek - "The City on the Edge of Forever" |
| 1969 | 2001 -- A Space Odyssey |
| 1970 | TV Coverage of Apollo XI |
| 1971 | No Award |
| 1972 | A Clockwork Orange |
| 1973 | Slaughterhouse-Five |
| 1974 | Sleeper |
| 1975 | Young Frankenstein |
| 1976 | A Boy and His Dog |
| 1977 | No Award |
| 1978 | Star Wars |
| 1979 | Superman |
| 1980 | Alien |
| 1981 | The Empire Strikes Back |
| 1982 | Raiders of the Lost Ark |
| 1983 | Blade Runner |
| 1984 | Return of the Jedi |
| 1985 | 2010: Odyssey Two |
| 1986 | Back to the Future |
| 1987 | Aliens |
| 1988 | The Princess Bride |
| 1989 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit? |
| 1990 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade |
| 1991 | Edward Scissorhands |
| 1992 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day |
| 1993 | Star Trek: The Next Generation - "The Inner Light" |
| 1994 | Jurassic Park |
| 1995 | Star Trek: The Next Generation - "All Good Things…" |
| 1996 | Babylon 5 - "The Coming of Shadows" |
| 1997 | Babylon 5 - "Severed Dreams" |
| 1998 | Contact |
| 1999 | The Truman Show |
| 2000 | Galaxy Quest |
| 2001 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon |
| 2002 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
| (starting here, the category becomes "Dramatic Presentation, Long Form" with a separate Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form category) | |
| 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers |
| 2004 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
| 2005 | The Incredibles |
| 2006 | Serenity |
| 2007 | Pan's Labyrinth |
| 2008 | Stardust |
| 2009 | WALL-E |
| 2010 | Moon |
| 2011 | Inception |
