Two bases will be chosen, one for
the 2020 Hugo Award and one for the 1945 Retro Hugo Awards. An artist may
submit multiple base designs and could be selected for both bases. The
winner(s) of the base design competition will receive a full (five-day)
Attending membership for CoNZealand, where they will be invited to take part in
the public unveiling of their design at the convention’s Opening Ceremonies,
Retro Hugo Award presentation, and at the Hugo Awards Ceremony. The bases will
also be added to the physical archive of Hugo base designs, and thus be part of
the Hugo History exhibit that travels to each Worldcon.
Detailed specifications can be
found at the link. They expect to need approximately 36 bases for the 2020 Hugo
Awards and 14 for the 1945 Retro Hugo Awards. As a guideline, bases should cost
no more than $250 (NZD) each to fabricate. The committee wants to
receive the bases in June 2020. (The convention starts July 29.)
The contest winner will be selected
by early February 2020.
CoNZealand has announced that 2020 Worldcon members will be able to book selected Wellington, New Zealand accommodations at special rates beginning December 3, 2019 at 9 a.m. (NZ time, UTC+13).
“We have negotiated special rates or discounts for members at 14 hotels in Wellington in close proximity of our venues,” say CoNZealand Co-Chairs Kelly Buehler and Norman Cates.
Details about the hotels and rates are posted at www.conzealand.nz/hotels; however, booking links and discount codes will only be provided beginning December 3 on the CoNZealand website.
The Co-Chairs advise, “Members need to be aware that the process for booking accommodation for CoNZealand is different from other Worldcons. Wellington doesn’t have a housing bureau or any other central booking agency. That means individuals will need to book their own rooms, and these will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.”
Members should also keep in mind that the convention will use two main locations, which are approximately 600 metres (about 4/10 of a mile) apart: The TSB Arena, Shed6 and the Intercontinental Hotel will be used is mostly for panels, workshops, dealers and exhibits during the day, and the Michael Fowler Centre and West Plaza will host large events like Masquerade, Hugo Ceremony, major speeches, dances, parties and the World Science Fiction Society business meeting.
Most hotels will need a credit card to guarantee the reservation, and some may place a charge on the card at the time of booking. Hotels also have different cancellation policies, meaning that after a certain date it will be expensive to change plans.
The individual conditions for each hotel are noted on the CoNZealand website.
“While we’re pleased we’re able to offer members special rates, we also note that visitors’ choice is not limited to the options listed on our website,” Buehler and Cates say. “Wellington boasts a large range of accommodation options, including backpackers and AirBnBs, and visitors are welcome to shop around for housing best suited to their needs and budgets. We look forward to seeing you all here!”
Bookings for people with accessibility needs opened on November 5, with information emailed directly to those who had indicated they had accessibility requirements in their membership registration.
Ahrvid Engholm recently published Dublin 2019’s determination that “We do not consider Jeannette Ng’s speech to be a breach of our Code of Conduct.”
As reported in the August 21 “Storm Over Campbell Award” roundup, Swedish Fan Ahrvid Engholm filed a complaint that Jeanette Ng’s Campbell Award acceptance speech at the Dublin 2019 Hugo Awards ceremony violated the convention’s Code of Conduct. His complaint has since appeared in a letter to Locus, (screenshot at the link). The text of Ng’s speech is here. The award has now been renamed the Astounding Award.
Engholm posted the full text of Dublin 2019’s letter to him along with his own comments in response here.
Dublin 2019’s letter says:
Hi Ahrvid,
Thank you again for reaching out, and apologies for the time it took to get this response to you.
We do not consider Jeannette Ng’s speech to be a breach of our Code of Conduct.
From our perspective Ng was speaking to Campbell’s part in shaping the sci-fi landscape, which was notably exclusionary of minorities, people of colour and women at the time during which he was a part of it and which has had knock on effects to this day. Our Code of Conduct was, in a large part, designed to ensure people who have previously been excluded from fandom were safe and included at our convention – not to punish people who speak out against its exclusionary past.
We do not believe her words were targeted at anyone other than Campbell and his actions. There is no issue with being male or white, and unless a person also identified with Campbell’s more problematic beliefs and actions, they have no reason to feel attacked. Additionally, being a fan of Campbell’s work does not mean you need to stand by his beliefs; it is possible to appreciate his contribution to the community whilst also understanding some of his viewpoints were problematic.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us with your concerns – I hope this helps clarify our position on the situation.
Kind regards,
Sarah Brennan, Listener and Code of Conduct Area Head Dublin 2019
Engholm, in his commentary, says he believes the Code of Conduct has been applied inequitably, whether judged by past precedents, or on its own terms.
Thanks for a reply, even if it took two months…
But the reply is not very satisfying, and I’ll explain why. A basic principle for acceptable ethics is that it applies equally to all. If not, it’s unethical, immoral – in crass terms, evil.
In 2016 Dave Truesdale was kicked out from the Worldcon for talking about “snowflakes” – a rather mild expression – not pointing to any person or ethnic or social group. But in 2019 it seems perfectly OK to accuse a named person for being a follower of one of history’s most evil ideologies, on the worldcon’s biggest stage.
It becomes clear that this does not apply equally to all. You – ie all responsible for the CoC – even openly admit that not being applied equally was what “Our Code of Conduct was…designed to ensure”. Thus the CoC loses its legitimacy. It’s a set of made-up private laws that allows the intimidation it pretends to protect from.
Engholm disagrees with Sarah Brennan’s evaluation of Ng’s speech (“There is no issue with being male or white…”)
As for Ng’s racist slurs, you seem to simply ignore them, the charges about “whites” being “sterile” and “haunt” the genre. You just falsely claim it’s “no issue” – but it is. You can’t even follow your own instructions that “We do not tolerate harassment of convention attendees in ANY FORM”. That’s what it says, but obviously you do tolerate harassment if it is in the form certain people like. People have reason to feel attacked!
“I certainly did. As a white male writer who goes back to the Campbell era I felt directly under attack, as well as being angered by the inaccurate slander being directed at Campbell, and I was so upset by her statements and the obvious audience approval of them that I left the ceremony as soon as I could appropriately get out the door “
That was a a testimony from a well-known longtime sf professional whom I shall not name.
Engholm asserts that what people complain about in Campbell is the byproduct of his “intentionally provoking intellectual style.” He also tells why in his view (and that of Harry Harrison) Campbell was not, politically, a fascist, therefore Ng was mistaken in calling him one. The complete text of Engholm’s commentary is here.
Audience for “Disasters and apocalyptic world
changes.”
Panelists for “Disasters and apocalyptic world changes.” Left to right: Juliana Rew; face obscured, but perhaps Faith Hunter; Anna Gryaznova, LL.M. (National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Moscow, Russia)) , Dr Tad Daley (Citizens for Global Solutions)
Opening
Ceremonies.
The
Famous Ha’Penny Bridge over the River Liffey just a block or so from the WorldCon Dublin Convention Center.
Tad
Daley with Dr. Bradley Lyau, winner of the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award.
Worldcon
panelist and longtime LASFS member Tad Daley with his wife Kitty Felde, www.bookclubforkids.org,
standing over the River Liffey just a few blocks from Worldcon HQ at the Dublin
Convention Center.
Thanks to Tad Daley for this fine series of photos of the Rotsler Award exhibit at Dublin 2019. The rest of them follow the jump.
The Rotsler Award is for long-time wonder-working with graphic art in amateur publications of the science fiction community. The current judges are Sue Mason, Mike Glyer, and John Hertz. It’s named for Bill Rotsler (1926-1997), a long-time wonder-worker. The annual award is ordinarily announced at Loscon.
Dublin 2019 distributed a goodbye newsletter to members today with
links to some interesting items.
The Souvenir Book.
A downloadable PDF of the souvenir book is now available as a free download. (Dropbox link, 21MB file)
Queue Survey Results. This is entertaining.
On Saturday and Sunday of the convention, 257 members participated in our queue survey. The results are summarized in our paper Revealed Preference Representations of Science-Fiction Fans Arrayed in Upright Linear Social Structures, which can be downloaded here.
The Art and Artistry of Dublin 2019. Dublin 2019 is also calling for help on a project –
Sara Felix, Iain Clarke and James Bacon are working on a post con publication, entitled ‘The Art and Artistry of Dublin 2019’ which will be made available as a PDF to download. With so much art created for the convention, bringing it together and talking to the artists seemed like a superb idea.
Many members may have also created, crafted or made art specifically for Dublin 2019, and we welcome hearing from anyone who has some art that could be considered for inclusion. Please email sara.felix@dublin2019.com for further information.
By JJ: To assist Hugo nominators, listed below are the series believed to be eligible as of this writing for the 2020 Best Series Hugo next year *†.
Each series name is followed by the main author name(s) and the 2019-published work(s).
Feel free to add missing series and the name of the 2019-eligible work in the comments, and I will get them included in the main post.
I just ask that suggesters (1) first do a Find on author surname on this page, to check whether the series is already on the list, and (2) then make an effort to verify that a series does indeed have 3 volumes, that it has a 2019-published work, and that it has likely met the 240,000 word threshold; in the past I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to verify suggested series, only to discover that they had fewer than 3 volumes, or nothing published in the current year, or weren’t anything close to 240,000 words (e.g., children’s books). Self-published works may or may not be added to the list at my discretion.
Note that the 2017 Hugo Administrator ruled that nominations for a series and one of its subseries will not be combined. Therefore, when nominating a subseries work, think carefully under which series name it should be nominated. If the subseries does not yet meet the 3-volume, 240,000 word count threshold, then the main series name should be nominated. If the subseries does meet that threshold, then the subseries name should probably be nominated. This will ensure that another subseries in the same universe, or the main series itself, would still be eligible next year if this subseries is a finalist this year.
The 2018 and 2019 Hugo Administrators ruled that the 2017 Best Series Finalists, although the result of a one-time category, were subject to the same re-qualification requirements as the 2018 Best Series Finalists, and it is likely this will be the rule going forward; bear that in mind when making your nominations.
Co-chairs Norman Cates and Kelly Buehler have announced that CoNZealand, the 2020 Worldcon, will present Retro Hugo Awards for 1945, acknowledging notable works published in 1944.
The Hugos are the most prestigious award in the science fiction and fantasy genres. First presented in 1953, they honor literature, media and fan activities, and have become the key event held during the annual World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).
Since 1996, Worldcon committees also have had the option of presenting Retrospective (Retro) awards to honor works published in the earlier years of Worldcon when no Hugos were awarded. No Hugo Awards were given out in 1945, when Worldcon was on hiatus due to World War II, and CoNZealand will take place 75 years after the awards would have occurred.
The 2019 Irish Worldcon, held in Dublin last month, presented the 1944 Retro Hugos for the 1943 calendar year; Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Ray Bradbury were amongst the winners.
“Some of the works created during the World War II years have become classics and it is a great opportunity to be able to formally celebrate them,” said Cates and Buehler.
Nominations for the 1945 Retro Hugos will open at the same time as the 2020 Hugo Award nominations.
In addition to the Hugos and Retro Hugos, CoNZealand will host the Sir Julius Vogel Awards, which recognize excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents.
By Cora Buhlert: Here are my
pics of the Raksura Colony Tree project at the Dublin 2019 Worldcon.
The pictures are mostly pretty self-explanatory. There is a before
picture, several pictures of people working on the tree in the craft area, a
photo of the table where the finished components were collected and finally the
finished tree from several angles.
There is also a group photo of many of the people who contributed
to the tree. The lady with the short hair in the Dublin volunteer t-shirt
standing to the left of the model is Constanze Hofmann, display area head for
Dublin 2019 and the person who initiated the project. The first person from the
right kneeling in the front row and wearing a Dublin 2019 t-shirt is Jan Bass,
wife of Filer David Wallace. I’m in the back row, the third person from the
right.
I’ve also included a photo of a Bayeux style tapestry with added
TARDIS that was displayed in the Warehouse at the Point at Dublin 2019, simply
because it’s very cool.
[Editor’s Introduction: Cora Buhlert shares her photos from the Hugo Losers Party at Dublin 2019.]
By Cora Buhlert:
At the Hugo Losers Party at approx. 11:20 PM. Doesn’t look very busy yet
This must be the infamous “old guard” partying that we’ve heard so much about. (I have no idea who these people are, but they sat at the same table all night. I think Greg Hullender chatted with them, so he might know).
So what do you do at the coolest party in town? Check out Hugo longlists and statistics, of course.
George R.R. Martin speaking
George R.R. Martin handing out Alfie Awards to Jane Johnson and Malcolm Edwards
Jo Van and I line up for our mugshots
A look across the atrium of the Guinness Storehouse at the Hugo Losers Party, which has spilled out onto the mezzanine. The function room, where the party took place, is named after William Arrol, a Scottish engineer/architect who designed the steel construction of the Guinness Storehouse as well as the Tower Bridge in London and several other bridges around the UK and the gantry crane used to build the Titanic.
A look at William Arrol’s steel construction at the Guinness Storehouse. Yes, I’m weird and go to the coolest party in town to take pictures of the architecture.
Another look at the mezzanine and atrium at the Guinness Storehouse
A downward look at the atrium of the Guinness Storehouse and William Arrol’s steel construction.
A tank, pipes and valves at the Guinness Storehouse. Like I said, I’m weird and took photos of the architecture.
