LoneStarCon 3 News Roundup

The 2013 Worldcon program is now available through an interactive program guide with details of all 945 program items, or in PDF format from the publications page.

LoneStarCon 3 has also announced that the 2013 Hugo Award Ceremony will be broadcast live on Sunday, September 1 via Ustream at www.ustream.tv/hugo-awards.

The ceremony will start at 8 p.m. Central Time (9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific). The evening will be hosted by LoneStarCon 3 Toastmaster Paul Cornell.

The full press release follows the jump.

Press Release #31

LONESTARCON 3 PARTNERS WITH USTREAM TO BROADCAST 2013 HUGO AWARD CEREMONY

LoneStarCon 3, The 71st World Science Fiction Convention
San Antonio, Texas
August 29 – September 2, 2013

[email protected]
www.LoneStarCon3.org

Postal queries to: P.O. Box 27277, Austin, TX 78755

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – LoneStarCon 3, the 71st World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”), is delighted to announce that the 2013 Hugo Award Ceremony will be broadcast live around the world when the event takes place in San Antonio on Sunday, September 1. LoneStarCon 3 has partnered with Ustream, the leading video technology platform for live business communications, to provide this exclusive, ad-free broadcast, enabling science fiction fans around the world to participate in this prestigious event.

The ceremony will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Rivercenter hotel in downtown San Antonio, starting at 8 p.m. Central Time (9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific). The evening will be hosted by LoneStarCon 3 Toastmaster Paul Cornell, himself a Hugo Award winner and multiple Hugo Award nominee.

The event will be broadcast live via Ustream at www.ustream.tv/hugo-awards. In addition, the official Hugo Awards site (www.TheHugoAwards.org) will provide live text coverage via CoverItLive. As in previous years, the CoverItLive broadcast will be hosted by former Worldcon Co-Chairman Kevin Standlee and two-time Campbell Award Nominee Mur Lafferty.

LoneStarCon 3 has also confirmed that 1,848 valid final ballots were received for this year’s awards, representing a 42.1% turnout. The figure of 1,848 is the third highest ballot count in history after Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon, and Chicon 7, the 2012 Worldcon. LoneStarCon 3 previously announced an all-time record of 1,343 nominating ballots, highlighting the ever-increasing interest and support for the Hugo Awards.

It is a Worldcon tradition that while the Hugo trophy itself always takes the form of a silver rocket, the base on which it stands is unique to each year. The 2013 Hugo Award base has been designed by Texan sculptor Vincent Villafranca, and will be revealed to the public for the first time at the convention’s Opening Ceremony on Thursday, August 29.

The Hugo Awards are the premier award in the science fiction genre, honoring science fiction and fantasy literature and media as well as the genre’s fans. The awards were first presented at the 1953 World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”) in Philadelphia (Philcon II), and Worldcons have continued to present the awards annually for nearly 60 years.

More information about the Hugo Awards is available at www.LoneStarCon3.org/hugo-awards/.

ABOUT USTREAM

Ustream is the leading video technology platform for live business communications, powered by the company’s proprietary Ustream Cloud Platform. The company was founded in 2007 with a vision to bring live online broadcasting technology to the mainstream; Ustream was originally created to connect military service members to family and friends across the world. Since then, the company has established itself as a socially-fueled video platform for broadcasters of any size to easily reach an infinite audience and share experiences in real-time. Our mission is to empower anyone around the world to reach new audiences through the power of live experiences.

The core of the Ustream Cloud Platform centers on the company’s proprietary Ustream Content Delivery Network (UCDN), Ustream Media Server (UMS) and Ustream TCP Congestion Control Algorithm (UTCP). Together, this advanced technology stack provides users with unmatched redundancy, resiliency, and reliability to broadcast quality live video streams. Founded in 2007, Ustream is a San Francisco-based company that has grown to more than 250 employees within their San Francisco, Los Angeles, Budapest, Tokyo, and Seoul offices. Company customers and partners include Dell, Sony, Georgetown University, Panasonic, Samsung, CBSi, and Viacom.

Ustream is a privately-owned company. For more information on Ustream, visit Ustream.tv, Twitter.com/Ustream, or Facebook.com/Ustream.

ABOUT THE WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION

Founded in 1939, the World Science Fiction Convention is one of the largest international gatherings of authors, artists, editors, publishers, and fans of science fiction and fantasy. The annual Hugo Awards, the leading award for excellence in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, are voted on by Worldcon membership and presented during the convention.

LoneStarCon 3 is sponsored by ALAMO, Inc., (Alamo Literary Arts Maintenance Organization), a 501(c)(3) organization. For information about memberships or hotel accommodation, please visit our website at www.LoneStarCon3.org. Please send press questions, or requests to be removed from the LoneStarCon 3 press release mailing list, to [email protected], and send general queries to [email protected].

“World Science Fiction Society,” “WSFS,” “World Science Fiction Convention,” “Worldcon,” “NASFiC,” “Hugo Award,” and the distinctive design of the Hugo Award Rocket are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.

PRESS INFORMATION FOR LONESTARCON 3

Please visit our Media Center Page at www.LoneStarCon3.org/media/ for full information about covering LoneStarCon 3. Our Press/Photography policy is available at www.LoneStarCon3.org/media/press-policy.shtml. We will have reserved seating for some events and will be holding a press conference on Thursday, August 29.

If you are interested in covering LoneStarCon 3, please complete the Request for Press Credentials which can be found at www.lonestarcon3.org/media/requestforpresscredentials.shtml.

Direct queries to Laurie Mann, Press Office Head, at [email protected]

6 thoughts on “LoneStarCon 3 News Roundup

  1. I find it interesting that the press release doesn’t have even the faintest acknowledgment that Ustream is the company that provided streaming coverage of the first part of last year’s Hugo ceremony, up until the point that their software cut off the feed because of (incorrectly) perceived copyright violations. Nor is there any indication that there are any plans in effect to make sure that a similar screwup doesn’t happen again this year.
    If I were planning to watch the Hugos online (rather than having been s/h/a/n/g/h/a/i/e/d recruited to work at the ceremony), I’d be concerned.

  2. Morris: As a matter of fact, the announcement DID say something about it, but it was subtle: that’s what the “partnering with” language in the press release means. (“Partnering” is not the same thing as using the free, ad-supported, copyright-bot patrolled system that Chicon 7 used.) And because LSC3 is partnering with Ustream, it really doesn’t do any good to go rubbishing your partner in your press release. If you need it said more explicitly — and apparently some people really need to be hit over the head with it — the version of the announcement on The Hugo Awards web site says it somewhat more plainly.

    To summarize: Ustream screwed up last year in a way that made them look bad, and they didn’t want a repeat of that this year, so they worked with LSC3 to make sure that the Hugo Awards broadcast is “whitelisted” and won’t be hit by automated copyright ‘bots.

  3. Kevin, I suspect that “partnering with” is so subtle that it would be meaningless to anyone except the person who wrote the press release. The plainly-worded version that you linked to seems to say it reasonably well, without “rubbishing” Ustream. Even something as simple as “we know there were problems last year, and we promise that they won’t happen again”, perhaps worded more prettily, would have made the press release more reassuring.

    As I said, it doesn’t matter to me personally; if I weren’t working at the ceremony, I wouldn’t be bothering to watch it — reading a list of winners later is good enough for me

  4. Kevin Standlee, Colin Harris, and anyone else who participated, *THANK_YOU* for making the partnership happen in this cooperative fashion which assures those of us who cannot attend to be able to watch the ceremony.

  5. Kevin, I thought the Hugos were whitelisted last year, and that’s why it was such a rude shock when the streamcast was stopped: This Was Not Supposed To Happen.

    But at any rate, it’s a good thing that the Hugos are getting the “corporate grade” whitelisting this year, although it’s unfortunate that ustream is still being so pissy about last year’s mistake.

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