The Hugo Award nominees are all pretty good. Winning isn't any more significant than getting shortlisted. For a short while I thought it was dropping in quality but a discussion here led to my changing my mind: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929545
ever since i was a teenager i always read all the booker prize nominees and nothing else. But they've seemed to have jumped onto social justice bandwagon and are nominating books with an agenda. i have no problem with social justice and belive in mission 100 percent but for some reason my heart doesnt agree with books slected for an agenda.
The article you list which is referred to reads to me like the books she is judging are not standing out on their own enough to instill in the reader a sense of their "greatness" as a work. Old school book awards were obvious then, and are obvious now. You know when you put one of those puppies down that you've done something that has re-arranged how you process life.
I'm not clear what in the convo changed your mind?