The closing date
for nominations for the prestigious 2013 Hugo Awards is tomorrow! Get your
nominations in by March 10, 2013. LoneStarCon 3, this year’s Worldcon, must receive
your ballot by Sunday, March 10, 2013, 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
The Hugo Awards
are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and
achievements of the previous year. They are named after Hugo Gernsback, the
founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories (recently
resurrected by Steve Davidson et al. at The Experimenter Publishing Company—and
itself worthy of a Hugo nomination).
Organized and
overseen by the World Science Fiction Society, the awards are given each year
at the annual World
Science Fiction Convention as the central focus of the event.
They were first given in 1953, at the 11th World Science Fiction Convention, and have
been awarded every year since 1955. Over the years that the award has been
given, the categories presented have changed; currently Hugo Awards are given
in more than a dozen categories, and include both written and dramatic works of
various types.
Like the
Canadian Aurora Awards, the Hugo Award winners are selected through a process
of initial nominations to determine a short list from which voters then choose
the winner. This makes the initial nomination stage critical. Eligible works
must receive sufficient nominations to be considered “nominated” and to warrant
being on the voting ballet.
This year,
voters should consider a wonderful new fanzine out of Europe dedicated to the
European science fiction community: Europa SF, the European Science Fiction
portal.
Europa SF
appeared online in October 2012 and has already attracted worldwide attention.
Here’s what Marian Truta said in the first editorial:
“The
website is the successful outcome of the discussions I have had with several SF
writers, translators and fans. So it is but fair to say that the idea of
creating an informative site whose purpose is to cover the activities going on
in the European fandom does not belong to a certain person. It is a collective
idea. Through this portal, science fiction lovers can keep in touch with one
another and members of the national fandoms will get the feeling that they
belong to a larger, continental community with a common but diverse cultural
basis.
To
analyse our activity so far would be too soon. Yet, judging by the reactions
and the messages we have received in the past month, I am convinced that in
time, with help from both fans and professionals, this portal will become
increasingly important and will provide as much info as possible about the
European fandom. It will also facilitate information exchanges between fans,
artists, writers and editors, giving us all the chance to discover one
another.”
“We believe it’s high time things started changing. Diversity is a quality of European science fiction... European SF writers provide a cultural reservoir that is not exploited enough on a continental scale. We believe it’s high time European authors had the courage to cross frontiers and meet one another. We believe it’s high time European editors had the courage to publish more authors from Europe than they have so far. We believe it’s high time we knew and appreciated one another. This is what Europa SF wants. And any of you reading these lines can make it possible.”
The site contains a monthly editorial, films and book reviews, On the Spot feature articles about science fiction and fantasy events and interests throughout Europe, news about authors, publishers and magazine and the latest news updates.
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