Press Release #36

CONJOSE MAILS 2003 HUGO AWARDS NOMINATING BALLOT TO MEMBERS

CONJOSE, THE 60TH WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION
PO Box 61363, Sunnyvale CA 94088-1363 USA

info@conjose.org

http://www.conjose.org/

For immediate release: Thursday, March 6, 2003, 3 PM Pacific Standard Time

CONJOSE MAILS 2003 HUGO AWARDS NOMINATING BALLOT TO MEMBERS

ConJose, the 2002 World Science Fiction Convention, mailed nominating ballots for the 2003 Hugo Awards to their members during the week of March 3, 2003.

"We were happy to be able to send nominating ballots to our supporting and attending members," said Co-Chairman Kevin Standlee. "Many of ConJose's members may be unaware that their Worldcon membership includes the right to participate in the 2003 Hugo Awards. We hope that by sending them the nominating ballot with a notice that they are eligible, we will increase participation in the Hugo Awards."

The 2003 Hugo Awards are being administered by Torcon 3, the 2003 Worldcon (http://www.torcon3.on.ca/).

Members of both Torcon 3 and ConJose as of January 31, 2003 are eligible to nominate for the 2003 Hugo Awards. Only members of Torcon 3 may vote in the final Hugo Awards ballot to be announced later this year.
The deadline for casting a nominating ballot is March 31, 2003. Ballots may be cast by paper mail only. There is no electronic balloting this year.

2003 is the first year that there will be two Dramatic Presentation Hugo Awards (Long Form and Short Form). The World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting at ConJose ratified a change to the WSFS Constitution splitting the existing Dramatic Presentation Award by length.

The 2002 WSFS Business Meeting passed a special eligibility extension provision for works published outside the USA. Works in the categories for written fiction, plus Best Related Book and both Best Dramatic Presentation categories, if first published or performed outside of the USA in 2001 and not published in the USA by January 31, 2002, are eligible for Hugo Awards at Torcon 3.

ConJose mailed ballots to their attending and supporting members (single-day admissions, children, infants, and assorted non-revenue membership types did not receive voting rights) in batches on March 4, 5, and 6. Ballots to US addresses were sent by first-class mail. Ballots to non-US addresses were sent by airmail.

No attempt was made to merge the Torcon and ConJose databases, so people who are members of both conventions should receive ballots from both conventions. However, each person may cast only one nominating ballot.

Members of Worldcon automatically are members of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), and among the various membership rights spelled out in the WSFS Constitution is the right to nominate in the following year's Hugo Awards. However, there is no requirement that anyone send them the nominating ballot for the subsequent year's Awards, only that the subsequent year's Worldcon accept ballots from them.

For more information about the Hugo Award, see the World Science Fiction Society's web page at http://www.wsfs.org/.

Contact:
Kevin Standlee info@conjose.org

The 2002 Worldcon, known as ConJosé, took place at the McEnery Convention Center, San José, California from 29 August through 2 September 2002. More information about ConJosé is available from its web site (http://www.conjose.org/) or by writing to info@conjose.org.

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"ConJosé" is a service mark of San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc., a California non-profit corporation recognized as tax exempt under IRC 501(c)(3).

"WSFS", "Worldcon", "World Science Fiction Convention" and "Hugo Award" are registered service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.

"ConJosé" is a service mark of San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (SFSFC), a California non-profit corporation recognized as tax-exempt under IRC 501(c)(3). The ConJosé logo was created by and is © 2001 David Cherry, and is a service mark of SFSFC. This web site is © 2002 SFSFC except where otherwise noted. "Worldcon," "World Science Fiction Convention," "WSFS," "World Science Fiction Society," "NASFiC," and "Hugo Award" are registered service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.    ConJosé Privacy Policy