Carl is outside in his boxers trying to get his girlfriend’s cat out of a tree when everything with a roof on the planet is destroyed and the smaller number of survivors are made to compete in an intergalactic dungeon game similar to D&D. If this sounds kind of dumb, I described it correctly; it’s kind of dumb. It’s also fairly entertaining and has a good amount of heart. People who have played any sort of role playing game, like World Of Warcraft, will probably be extra amused.
Yes I covered that in another comment, but it’s more on the fantasy side of the spectrum than science fiction.
The rewards are clumped together, because separate there isn’t enough to warrant the spectacle or the “celebration”. They did try separating them, didn’t last long before they combined them again. It’s why they are separate categories and don’t compete against each other in that sense. It’s not the best sci-fi and fantasy book. There’s one of each.
The Locus awards have separate categories, but the Hugo awards do not, just best novel.