Re:publicity stunt (Score 1)

The Hugos aren't organized in a way that would make that possible.

Some hundreds of people, who either wanted to attend Worldcon or cared enough to buy a supporting membership, voted for the books, and short stories, and movies, and artists, and editors we thought were best this year. It's an instant-runoff ballot, ranking candidates from one to five, rather than a vote for only one choice, and I'd be surprised if any two ballots had been identical.

If it were a publicity stunt, someone would have arranged for Rowling to send a representative to make a thank-you speech. The con committee is happy to step in when asked--the person who presented the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation also read Ang Lee's thank-you letter to the audience--so it didn't matter whether she knew anyone who was going to be in Philadelphia.

The Harry Potter book really is what enough voters preferred. I didn't vote for it myself--my first choice was Ken MacLeod's The Sky Road--but I have no reason to doubt the honesty of the people who did. Their judgment, perhaps: it's easy to question people whose preferences don't match my own. But not their sincerity.