| Worldcon World Science Fiction Convention | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Science fiction,fantasyconvention |
| Location | Convention location changes every year |
| Country | Several, though mainly theUnited States |
| Inaugurated | July 2, 1939 |
| Filing status | Non-profit,unincorporated association |
| Website | worldcon |
TheWorld Science Fiction Convention, branded asWorldcon, is ascience fiction convention and the annual convention of theWorld Science Fiction Society (WSFS). It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, duringWorld War II).[1] The members of each Worldcon are the members of WSFS, and vote both to select the site of the Worldcon two years later, and to select the winners of the annualHugo Awards, which are presented at each convention.
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Activities and events at the convention typically include:
The World Science Fiction Society administers and presents theHugo Awards,[6] 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 andfandom activities.[6][7]
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 JapaneseSeiun Awards as part ofNippon 2007,[8] and thePrix Aurora Awards as part ofAnticipation in 2009. TheAstounding Award for Best New Writer and theSidewise Award, though not sponsored by the Worldcon, are usually presented, as well as theChesley Awards, thePrometheus Award, and others.[8]
Each Worldcon committee selects a number of guests of honor (or "GoHs") for the convention. Typically there is an author (aka "Writer" or "Pro") and afan guest of honor. Many conventions also have artist, editor, and science guests, and most have atoastmaster for major events, such as the opening and closing ceremonies and the Hugo award ceremony. A few conventions have had two or even three author guests.[1]
While other conventions may select guests on the basis of current popularity, Worldcons typically select guests of honor as an acknowledgement of significant lifetime contribution to the field; while these are often well-known figures, some committees choose lesser-known figures precisely because the committee feels the guest's accomplishments deserve more recognition from the community. Selection is treated by authors, fans, and others as a recognition of lifetime achievement. As such, the tradition is to award it only to those who have been making significant contributions for at least 20 years.[citation needed] Guests of honor generally receive travel expenses, membership, and a smallper diem from the convention, but no speaking fees.
In order to announce guests immediately aftersite selection, Worldcon bid committees select one or more guestsbefore the site selection vote. Fans consider it inappropriate for bids to compete on the basis of their chosen guests (so as to avoid having someone chosen by a losing bid feeling that fandom had voted against them personally), so bids do not reveal who their guests are until after the vote, and losing bids generally never reveal who they invited. This is usually treated with the same discretion as the Hugo Awards, where only a few people might know in advance who the guests will be.
The name "Worldcon" is owned by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), an unincorporatedliterary society whose purpose is to promote interest in science fiction.[9] WSFS has no standing officers, only smallstanding committees, and a large membership composed of the members of the current Worldcon. Its main activities are running the selection (voting) process for the annual convention and various awards. The conventions themselves are run by non-profit, volunteer fan organizations, who bid to host the event.
The WSFS constitution itself is discussed and amended by the annual general meeting, known as the "business meeting", held at the Worldcon, usually as three morning sessions on successive days.[10] All attending members of the Worldcon may attend, participate, and vote at the Business Meeting, although in practice only a small number of the members actually do so. The WSFS constitution includes rules for site selection, for the Hugo Awards, and for amending itself. The business meeting also empanels a number ofad hoc committees to deal with review of amendments and with certain administrative functions.
The only permanent ("standing") committee of WSFS (as opposed to the Business Meeting) is the Mark Protection Committee (MPC), which is responsible for maintaining the society'strademarks anddomain names.[11]
Historically, most Worldcons were held in the United States; however, beginning in the later part of the 20th century an increasing number of them have been hosted in other countries. In 2017, the75th World Science Fiction Convention ("Worldcon 75")[12] was held inHelsinki, Finland; the 2018 Worldcon was held inSan Jose, California, and the 2019 Worldcon was held inDublin, Ireland. The 2020 Worldcon was scheduled to be inNew Zealand;[13] however, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, it was a virtual event (accessed by internet only).
The first Worldcon to be held outside the US was thesixth, in 1948 inToronto, Ontario, Canada, and the first outside North America was the15th World Science Fiction Convention, in 1957 inBayswater, London. The first held in a country where English was not the primary language was the Heicon '70, the28th World Science Fiction Convention held inHeidelberg, West Germany. The2007 Worldcon inYokohama, Japan, was the first to be held inAsia. Other non-US Worldcons held in the 21st century have included: the2003 Worldcon in Toronto, Ontario, Canada;[14] the2005 Worldcon, held inGlasgow, Scotland;[15] the2009 Worldcon, inMontreal,Quebec, Canada; the2010 Worldcon, inMelbourne, Australia;[16] the2014 Worldcon, inLondon, United Kingdom; the2017 Worldcon, inHelsinki, Finland; the2023 Worldcon, inChengdu, China; and the2024 Worldcon, inGlasgow, Scotland.
Sites for future Worldcons are determined by voting of the Worldcon membership.[17] Worldcons through 1970 were selected one year in advance, from 1971 through 1986 two years in advance, from 1987 to 2007, three years in advance, then from 2008 to the present, two years in advance again. For example, during the 2011 Worldcon inReno,San Antonio was selected to host the 2013 Worldcon. The rules changes to lengthen or shorten the period were implemented by selecting two future Worldcons at the 1969 and 1984 conventions and by having the 2005 convention not select any.
To ensure that the Worldcon is relocated to different locations, the WSFS constitution requires that the proposed sites must all be at least 500 miles (800 km) away from the site of the convention at which the selection vote happens.[18]
When a Worldcon is held outside of North America, aNorth American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC) may also be held within North America that same year. Since 1975, whenever a Worldcon site outside North America is selected, WSFS administers a parallel site selection process for the NASFiC, voted on by WSFS members at the Worldcon (or NASFiC if there is one) held one year prior to the prospective NASFiC.[17] With the2014 Worldcon being held in the United Kingdom, members at the 2013 Worldcon inSan Antonio choseDetroit to be the site of the2014 NASFiC and Spokane, Washington, as the site of the2015 Worldcon.[19]
In 2020, The78th Worldcon was held inWellington, New Zealand. However, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, organizers announced during March 2020 that it would be a "virtual" con with attendees and panelists using video technologies to participate.
In 2021, The79th Worldcon took place in Washington, D.C. In 2022, the80th Worldcon would be held in Chicago, Illinois. This was announced at the 2020 Worldcon, chosen by the members of the 78th Worldcon.Jeddah,Saudi Arabia was the other competing site. A group of writers and officers of the Worldcon have signed an open letter against Saudi Arabia's bid to host the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention, citinghuman rights abuses and discriminatory laws.[20]
Chengdu, China hosted the81st Worldcon in 2023. It was the second Worldcon to be held in Asia after the65th Worldcon in Japan in 2007. Over 100 authors, including Hugo winners andUyghur writers, signed an open letter calling for the hosting to be reconsidered due to ongoinghuman rights violations in the Uyghur region.[21] The choice of location was also criticized due to the effects of theChinese government's censorship regime and the exclusion of authors publicly critical ofhuman rights in China such asR. F. Kuang,Xiran Jay Zhao, andNeil Gaiman.[22]
The82nd Worldcon was held inGlasgow, Scotland in 2024. The83rd Worldcon was held inSeattle, Washington in 2025. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia reasserted its bid for 2026, but the bid was replaced by one forCairo, Egypt;[citation needed] the site ultimately chosen wasAnaheim, California, which was the only official bid at the time of voting.[23]Montreal andTel Aviv both submitted bids for 2027, but Tel Aviv later suspended their bid "due to thesituation in Israel".[24]
As WSFS itself is an unincorporated society, each Worldcon is organized by a separate committee (usually) legally incorporated in the local jurisdiction; in the United States, these are usually organized as501(c)(3) non-profit corporations, while in the United Kingdom, they are usually operated bycompanies limited by guarantee. The local organizers may be standalone, one-time committees (organized to hold the one event and then disbanded afterwards), or they may be organized by an existing local group. A few groups, such asMCFI in Boston, SFSFC (San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc.)[25] in northern California, and SCIFI (Southern California Institute for Fan Interests Inc.)[26] in southern California are permanent corporations established to manage Worldcons (or other one-off or rotating conventions) in different years in the same geographical area.
Like most non-media science fiction conventions, all Worldcons are managed entirely by volunteers, with no paid staff. Senior committee members typically devote hundreds of hours (not to mention thousands of dollars in travel expenses in some cases) in preparation for a particular convention. While each convention is managed separately by the local committee, an informal and self-selected group of volunteers constitute the "Permanent Floating Worldcon Committee" who volunteer for many Worldcons in different years; this group offers a measure ofinstitutional continuity to otherwise disparate legal organizations.
Recent Worldcons have had budgets running in excess of a million dollars.[27] The main source of revenue is convention membership, but Worldcons also collect fees from exhibiting dealers and artists and advertisers in publications, and some conventions manage to attract sponsorships of as much as 5% of total income. The main expenses arefacilities rental and related costs, then (if possible) membership reimbursements to program participants and volunteers, then publications,audiovisual equipment rental, andhospitality. Traditionally, all members (except for guests of honor) must pay for their membership; if the convention makes an adequate surplus after covering operating expenses, full or partial membership reimbursements are paid back to volunteers after the convention. Most Worldcons have a small surplus, which the rules of WSFS suggest be disbursed "for the benefit of WSFS as a whole;"[28] typically at least half of any surplus is donated to future Worldcons, a tradition termed "pass-along funds".
Because of their size, Worldcons have two layers of management between the chairperson and the staff. "Departments" operate a specific convention function, while "divisions" coordinate the work of several departments. Department heads (sometimes called "area heads") have one or more deputies plus a large staff, or they may have no staff at all. Most Worldcons have between five and twelve division heads who form the convention executive group.
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