This fall, we received the spectacular news that Haley Pak '19 won the Hugo Award in the best novelette category for their piece titled "Never Eaten Vegetables," published in Clarkesworld science fiction and fantasy magazine. Pak, who writes under the pen name H.H. Pak, is the youngest winner in a serious prose category since none other than George R. R. Martin (who you may recognize as the author of the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, which inspired the TV show Game of Thrones!) in 1974.

Check out their acceptance speech here. (You may hear a mention of a certain Westridge Middle School English teacher—John Cross!—in the speech.) Pak was also named a finalist in the best novelette category at the Nebula Awards (presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association) and a finalist in the outstanding novelette category at the 2026 Ignyte Awards, hosted for speculative fiction.

Pak, a self-described "medical student by daylight and a writer by moonlight," graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2023 with a bachelor's in biology and English and currently attends the Frank H. Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University.

They had this to share with current students: "I'm really hoping this news inspires other young writers at Westridge to keep pursuing their craft even if they go into other careers, because I can testify that it's very possible to retain your creativity even if your aspirations lie elsewhere. We really need fresh young voices in the speculative fiction genre!"

Congratulations, Tiger!

Curious what a novelette is? It is a work of fiction roughly between 7,500 and 17,500 words, so longer than a short story but shorter than a novella.