Sasquan, the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention
GenreScience fiction
Dates19–23 August 2015
VenueSpokane Convention Center
Location(s)Spokane, Washington
CountryUnited States
Organized bySeattle Westercon Organizing Committee
Websitehttp://sasquan.org/

The 73rd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Sasquan, was held on 19–23 August 2015 at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, Washington, United States.[1]

The convention was chaired by Sally Woehrle.[2]

Participants

Guests of Honor

Special Guest Kjell Lindgren.

[3][4]

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren participated from Earth orbit as Sasquan's Special Guest while aboard the International Space Station.[5]

Programming and events

Masquerade

The Sasquan masquerade was held in the First Interstate Center for the Arts (then known as the INB Performing Arts Center), on same campus as the Convention Center, in the evening of Friday, 21 August.[6] There were 45 entrants competing for ten major awards.[6] The Sasquan Masquerade Director was Sharon Sbarsky.[6] Kevin Roche was the master of ceremonies and the judges were Brad W. Foster, David Gerrold, Sandy Pettinger, Kathy Sanders, and Syd Weinstein. The workmanship judges were Tanglwyst de Holloway and Michele Weinstein.[6]

The winners, across four experience-based categories, were:[6][7]

Young Fan division

Novice division

Workmanship awards:

Presentation awards:

Journeyman division

Workmanship awards:

Presentation awards:

Master division

Workmanship awards:

Presentation awards:

Overall

Awards

Main article: Hugo Award

The World Science Fiction Society administers and presents the Hugo Awards,[8] the oldest and most noteworthy award for science fiction. Selection of the recipients is by vote of the Worldcon members. Categories include novels and short fiction, artwork, dramatic presentations, and various professional and fandom activities.[8][9]

Other awards may be presented at Worldcon at the discretion of the individual convention committee. This has often included the national SF awards of the host country, such as the Japanese Seiun Awards as part of Nippon 2007,[10] and the Prix Aurora Awards as part of Anticipation in 2009. The Astounding Award for Best New Writer and the Sidewise Award, though not sponsored by the Worldcon, are usually presented, as well as the Chesley Awards, the Prometheus Award, and others.[10] Of the 2,122 valid nominating ballots, 2,119 were submitted online and 3 on paper.[11] The year's final ballot was dominated by slates organized as the "Sad Puppies" and "Rabid Puppies".[12] The controversy brought international press attention to the awards process and caused several nominees to withdraw from consideration.[13][14] However, only one slate candidate won an award, and in the five categories in which only slate candidates were nominated, no award was given.[15][16][17]

2015 Hugo Awards

Art Show Awards

Other awards

Staff

After the "Spokane in 2015" bid chaired by Alex von Thorn[19] won the site selection vote, Sally Woehrle and Bobbie DuFault were announced as co-chairs of the convention on behalf of the Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee.[20] DuFault died suddenly on the morning of 14 September 2013.[21][22] The convention announced that Sally Woehrle would serve as chair with Glenn Glazer, Pierre Pettinger, and Mike Willmoth as vice-chairs.[2]

Site selection

The location was selected on 31 August 2013, by the members of the 71st World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

Three committees announced bids and qualified to be on the site selection ballot for the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention:

The first contested Worldcon selection since the 2007 vote for the 2009 Worldcon site saw active campaigning and drew celebrity endorsements. Authors George R. R. Martin and Cory Doctorow publicly supported the Helsinki bid and encouraged their fans to vote while artist Phil Foglio declared his support for Spokane's bid[25][26][27] and artist Bob Eggleton declared his support for Orlando.[28]

Spokane won the site selection contest on the third round of ballot counting in Australian-style preferential balloting.[4] Spokane finished with 645 votes, gaining a majority over Helsinki with 610.[29] Orlando was dropped in the second round with 307 votes and "none of the above" had been eliminated in the first round.[30] Boston, Minneapolis, and Locust Grove, Virginia, each received multiple write-in votes with Pyongyang and other hoax sites receiving single write-in votes.[30]

Future site selection

Four committees announced bids to host the 75th World Science Fiction Convention and filed all of the required paperwork by the February 2015 deadline: "Nippon in 2017", "Montréal in 2017", "Helsinki in 2017", and "Washington D.C. in 2017".[31] The 2017 site selected by the voters was announced during the convention's third World Science Fiction Society business meeting, on Saturday, 22 August 2015.[32] With 1363 votes out of 2625 valid ballots, Helsinki won on the first ballot and will operate as "Worldcon 75". DC17 ran second with 878 votes, Montréal third with 228, and Nippon fourth with 120.[33]

See also

References

  1. ^ Sowa, Tom (November 21, 2014). "Spokane to host 2015 World Science Fiction Convention". The Seattle Times. Seattle, WA. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Woehrle, Sally (September 15, 2013). "On Bobbie and Going Forward". sasquan.org. Retrieved September 16, 2013.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Silver, Steven H (September 1, 2013). "Sasquan: 73rd Worldcon". SF Site. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Mitchell, Petrea (September 1, 2013). "Spokane Gets 2015 Worldcon". Con-News.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  5. ^ Glyer, Mike (March 14, 2015). "NASA Astronaut Named Sasquan Special Guest". File 770. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d e Hertz, John (September 13, 2015). "2015 Worldcon Masquerade Results". File 770.
  7. ^ "Worldcon—Other Awards" (PDF). NASFA Shuttle. North Alabama Science Fiction Association: 5–6.
  8. ^ a b "Article 3: Hugo Awards". WSFS Constitution. World Science Fiction Society. 2008. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  9. ^ Franklin, Jon (October 30, 1977). "Star roars: this year's champs in science fiction". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, MD. p. D5. Archived from the original on March 8, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  10. ^ a b "Awards". Nippon2007: 65th World Science Fiction Convention. Archived from the original on August 2, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2009.
  11. ^ "2015 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award Nominations". Sasquan. April 4, 2015. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  12. ^ Waldman, Katy (April 8, 2015). "How Sci-Fi's Hugo Awards Got Their Own Full-Blown Gamergate". Slate. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  13. ^ "Hugo Award nominations spark criticism over diversity in sci-fi: Sci-fi awards have been roped into a furore". The Daily Telegraph. April 8, 2015. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  14. ^ Standlee, Kevin (April 27, 2015). "Edmund Schubert Withdraws from 2015 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  15. ^ Rapoport, Michael (August 23, 2015). "No 'Puppy' Love at Science Fiction's Hugo Awards". The Wall Street Journal. New York, NY: News Corp. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  16. ^ Dwyer, Colin (August 23, 2015). "Amid A Hubbub At The Hugos, 'Puppies' See Little Success". Washington, D.C.: NPR. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  17. ^ Wallace, Amy (August 23, 2015). "Who Won Science Fiction's Hugo Awards, and Why It Matters". Wired. San Francisco, CA: Condé Nast. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  18. ^ "Sasquatch: Issue 7" (PDF). sasquan.org. August 22, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  19. ^ a b Glyer, Mike (October 30, 2011). "Future Worldcon Bids". File 770. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  20. ^ Glyer, Mike (September 1, 2013). "Spokane Worldcon Announcement". File 770. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  21. ^ Glazer, Glenn (September 14, 2013). "Bobbie DuFault". sasquan.org. Retrieved September 14, 2013.[permanent dead link]
  22. ^ Glyer, Mike (September 14, 2013). "Bobbie DuFault Dies". File 770. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
  23. ^ Fox, Rose (September 3, 2012). "Worldcon Breaking News". Genreville. Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on September 26, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  24. ^ "WorldCon Site Selection". San Antonio, TX: LoneStarCon 3. July 9, 2013. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  25. ^ Martin, George R.R. (August 13, 2013). "Finland, Finland, Finland". Not A Blog. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
  26. ^ Doctorow, Cory (August 16, 2013). "Why vote for Helsinki in 2015 & come to Finland". YouTube. Retrieved August 18, 2013.
  27. ^ Foglio, Phil (August 13, 2013). "And Again We Are Back". Hey. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  28. ^ "August 27 at 7:36am". Orlando in 2015. August 27, 2013. Retrieved April 4, 2015 – via Twitter.
  29. ^ Glyer, Mike (August 31, 2013). "It's Spokane in 2015". File 770. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
  30. ^ a b "Spokane Wins 2015 Worldcon On Third Ballot; Detroit Wins 2014 NASFiC On First Round" (PDF). La Estrella Solitaria. San Antonio, TX: LoneStarCon 3. September 1, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 24, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  31. ^ "Site Selection". Sasquan. February 19, 2015. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  32. ^ "Worldcon and NASFiC Bids". Worldcon.org. February 16, 2015. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  33. ^ "2017 Site Selection Results" (PDF). Sasq-Watch. No. 7. 73rd World Science Fiction Convention. August 22, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.

External links

Preceded by72nd World Science Fiction ConventionLoncon 3 in London, UK (2014) List of Worldcons 73rd World Science Fiction ConventionSasquan in Spokane, Washington, United States (2015) Succeeded by74th World Science Fiction ConventionMidAmericon II in Kansas City, Missouri, United States (2016)
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