6 thoughts on “2015 TAFF Vote Count

  1. I made the official announcement to Eurosmof this morning: “Yesterday, at 20:30 CET came the result of the 2015 TAFF Race – and the winner is Nina Horvath. Doing a great campaign, she deserved to win. And her victory serves a higher purpose. It is good for Nina, good for Austrian fandom and good for European fandom. The runner-up (me) needs to remain hungry for the sake of TAFF. As a trial-run, without British contenders, this race was NOT a failure. Nina Horvath proved, that non-Brits can gather the sufficient amount of votes. But the many different language fandoms in Europe still need to familiarize themselves with the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund. Voting must be made easier and more fans need to understand that they are eligible for voting. Also, we (European fandom) have more to learn from and to offer American fandom, which receive our candidates so graciously. Who ever gets to go, receives a mind blowing trip. The eastbound American fans on the other hand, have so far “only” seen London and other parts of the UK. Perhaps they would in future also like to visit Sweden, Finland, Germany, Spain, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia or other countries once these options more openly come on the table.” Already having been asked and taking Curt Phillips as a role model for attitude, I say… of course I will run again if health and the global situation allows it. But next step on my agenda, is to sweeten the selection for next year’s eastbound traveler.

  2. Thank you very much to all who have voted and/or supported the TAFF by telling others (thanks for the reports, Mike!) and for Wolf for making such an exciting race possible! I would also like to stay in touch concerning Wolf´s idea of providing more choices for the future North American winners about countries to visit. – But we must not haste that. Fanfunds are of course about fandom, so we must make sure that at least one convention of a reasonable size is attended. The organizers of the event also have to understand what the TAFF is all about and be willing to treat the winner as a special guest, introduce him/her to a lot of interesting people and so on. What should be avoided is that countries are chosen for touristic reasons. Sure every fanfund-winner will do some sight-seeing, but that is not the main purpose of the trip. So the destination should be chosen well, considering the organization level of fandom and if any of the past winners and other fans closly connected to the TAFF actually know how their fandoms works. (And yes, you need to experience, the organization level of fandom is not automatically linked to the size of the country or the income of an average person.) – Offering Eurocon wouldn´t be a problem, it is an event where they are used to fanfund-winners (especially GUFF, this is more or less the same as TAFF, just for Australia/Europe) and I am quite sure if a North American winner wants to go there, it will be possible.
    But you see, this is something to worry about in future (I hope Wolf will nevertheless help me with his experience!), right now I want to enjoy the feeling and plan the trip!

  3. “The eastbound American fans on the other hand, have so far “only” seen London and other parts of the UK. ”

    In 1970, Eliot Shorter went to Heicon, in Heidelberg, Germany, and then did some travelling meeting German fans.

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