I adore M J Locke aka Laura J Mixon. I adore her writing, her books and the way her mind works. I like what she writes. I agree with her. I am educated by her. I am better for her. I wish her blog had been submitted as related work. She writes about fandom and meta issues. Am I being unfairly focused? Is my definition too strict? It’s harder to tell with someone whose politics align with my own. Still, for me, one of my favorite writers will not be best fan writer. She did not improve my understanding or love of works in the sf/f realm. I’m sticking to my definition. And feeling sad.
Rebekah Golden 
Fandom, meta-issues, and only tangentially-related topics are the traditional stuff of the Best Fan Writer Hugo. David Langford’s string of wins were largely for his monthly newszine, Ansible. Harry Warner, Jr. won mostly on the strength of his histories of Fandom. I reckon Mike Glyer’s wins are also largely for his newszine, File 770. Fred Pohl won largely on the strength of his reminiscences of early Fandom. Claire Brialey’s writing ranges over a wide variety of topics, only sometimes about SF itself. Cheryl Morgan also covers a wide range of topics in her fanwriting, may of them about Fandom and meta-issues.
So don’t disregard Mixon on the grounds of her subject matter — it’s very much the king of stuff the category exists for.
Nifty! I really wasn’t sure what the category was supposed to encompass. I still haven’t found time to read past winners (between my day job and slogging through Skin Game) so I’m still in contemplation land on this one.
I suspect that before I finalize my ballot I will go through even more extensive existential debate with myself in full view of the horrified eyes of onlookers.