Loading AI tools
73rd Worldcon (2015) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 73rd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Sasquan, was held on August 19–23, 2015 at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, Washington, United States.[1]
Sasquan, the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Genre | Science fiction |
Dates | August 19-23, 2015 |
Venue | Spokane Convention Center |
Location(s) | Spokane, Washington |
Country | United States |
Organized by | Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee |
Website | http://sasquan.org/ |
The convention was chaired by Sally Woehrle.[2]
NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren participated from Earth orbit as Sasquan's Special Guest while aboard the International Space Station.[5]
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, August 21.[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]
Workmanship awards:
Presentation awards:
Workmanship awards:
Presentation awards:
Workmanship awards:
Presentation awards:
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]
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 September 14, 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]
The location was selected on August 31, 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]
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, August 22, 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]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.