SMOF News, volume 3, issue 14
Worldcon and bid news, and news in brief.
Smofcon News Roundup
Smofcon (which has no official relationship to this newsletter) is an annual gathering of volunteer conrunners. Smofcon 40 was held in Providence, Rhode Island last weekend.
Smofcon traditionally includes a Q&A for World Science Fiction Convention bids, seated Worldcons, North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC) bids and seated conventions, and Smofcon bids. Pre-con questionnaires filled out by participating cons and bids are available here.
Worldcon news
Glasgow 2024 will be hosting the Nommo Awards, which are given by the African Speculative Fiction Society to works by African authors. The Nommos have been presented at Worldcon once before, in 2022.
Glasgow also teased that there will be a tie-in to a major gaming anniversary.
The newly seated Seattle Worldcon happening in 2025 and bids for Los Angeles in 2026 and Kampala, Uganda in 2028 were present but had no notable new announcements. No bids for 2027 were present.
Dublin in 2029 (no website yet) will formally launch its bid at Worldcon next year. Exact dates and venues will be announced then. The bid is currently in talks with two venues it hopes to use, the Convention Centre Dublin and the National College of Ireland.
No new Worldcon bids were officially declared, but one for Cleveland, Ohio is said to be in the very early exploratory stages.
Smofcon news
Smofcon 41 will be held in Seattle, Washington, December 6-8, 2024 (held by a different group than the one running the Seattle Worldcon). Some degree of hybrid content is being planned. Memberships are already available.
There is a bid to run Smofcon 42 in Sickla, Sweden, and one for Smofcon 43 at a facility to be determined in Washington, DC.
In Brief
Interfilk has begun offering grants of $500 to people under the age of 35 who need financial assistance to travel to filk music events. Applications are open now, with the first grant to be awarded in April.
The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund has opened nominations for 2024, for a fan in North America to travel to Glasgow for the 2024 Worldcon. Nominations close January 7. Further details in Taffluorescence! (PDF).
The European Fan Fund has also opened nominations for its 2024 campaign, to send a fan living in Europe outside of the Netherlands to the 2024 Eurocon in Rotterdam. Nominations close January 25. Further details at Fandom Rover.
Indiana Comic Convention (Indianapolis, Indiana, March 22-24) has announced its first round of guests will be Anthony Daniels, Zachary Levi, Tom Welling, Wil Wheaton, John Schneider, Lindsay Wagner, and Lee Majors.
ATL Comic Convention (Atlanta, Georgia, February 9-11) has added Michael Cudlitz and Freckled Zelda as guests.
Trek Long Island (Hauppauge, New York, May 31-June 2) has added Melissa Navia and Yetide Badaki as guests.
The membership of SAG-AFTRA has formally ratified its new contract. The contract lasts through June 30, 2026.
Voting details of the 2023 Hugo Awards have been made available (PDF in both English and Chinese). Nomination statistics are still to come.
Event Calendar
Weekend of December 8-10
XXVII Mereth Aderthad (Tolkien), Zaragoza, Spain
Cosplay Expo, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
FURUM 2023: Con Space (anthropomorphic), Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Midwest GameFest, online
Everwinter (miniatures gaming), Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
Cayden’s Ascension 4723 (Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs), online
29 Manga Barcelona (anime), Barcelona, Spain
Yama-Con: 11th Century (anime), Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA
Anime Wonder Festival, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Anime Frontier, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Ocean City Comic Con, Ocean City, Maryland, USA
Maui Comic Con, Wailuku, Hawaii, USA
Comic Con Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Tokyo Comic Con, Tokyo, Japan
Raptor Con 2023 (media), Evansville, Indiana, USA
RADP 28 (Disney theme parks), Walt Disney World, Florida, USA
Weekend of December 15-17
Sac Gamers Expo (video games), Sacramento, California, USA
DreamHack Atlanta 2023 (video games), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Con+Alt+Delete (anime), Rosemont, Illinois, USA
OtakuFest (anime), Miami, Florida, USA
Nashville Anime Day, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
Mahoning Valley Comicon, Boardman, Ohio, USA
Weekend of December 22-24
Winter Furry Fusion, Shanghai, China
Otakukon (anime), Harare, Zimbabwe
Holiday Matsuri (anime), Orlando, Florida, USA
Comic Fiesta 2023, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Weekend of December 29-31
Furvester 5: Mad Science (anthropomorphic), Reutlingen, Germany
Yunyou Island (anthropomorphic), Chengdu, China
New Year’s Furry Ball, Newark, Delaware, USA
Bewhiskered 2023: Furries on the High Seas, Durham, North Carolina, USA
OKiCon (anime), Norman, Oklahoma, USA
Doki’s Winter Fest (anime), Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Comic Market 103 (fan comics), Tokyo, Japan
Weekend of January 5-7
ShadowCon (relaxacon), Memphis, Tennessee, USA
GAFilk 2024 (music), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Anthro Northwest 6 (anthropomorphic), Seattle, Washington, USA
Japan Meeting of Furries, Toyohashi, Japan
Painted Desert Fur Con: The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro!! (anthropomorphic), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Spartacon XXXIII (gaming), DeWitt, Michigan, USA
Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo, Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA
OrcaCon 2024 (gaming), Bellevue, Washington, USA
Animé Los Angeles 19, Long Beach, California, USA
Ichibancon 14 (anime), Concord, North Carolina, USA
SacAnime, Sacramento, California, USA
Taiyou Con (anime), Mesa, Arizona, USA
Anime-ZAP!, East Peoria, Illinois, USA
Fan Expo New Orleans (media), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
St. Pete Comic Con 2024, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
Coda
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