SwanCon Progress Report 2: miscellaneous

Pages five and six of the SwanCon 16 progress report have an assortment of shorter pieces, all of which are replicated here. The only deliberate change is converting titles from SHOUTY CAPS

Short story competition and writers’ toolkit

Those of you who attended Swancon XV may remember the little booklet of short stories distributed (free) with your Programme Book. Well, HERE COMES ANOTHER ONE! The SwanCon 16 Short Story Competition offers participants the chance to have their work read by everyone attending the con, and discussed at the Writers’ Toolkit. There will also be cash prizes for the three stories considered best by the panel of judges (Which will include both Guests of Honour).

Knowing that someone is sure to vituperatively accuse us of trying to maintain a tradition merely because many of SwanCon XV’s attendees enjoyed it, I would like to propose one change. SwanCon XV received a total of eight stories from five writers, two of them collaborators. For SwanCon 16, we would like more. Many more. PLEASE?

Word limit: 5000 words. Maximum of three stories per writer.
Format: Typed and double-spaced, with title and author’s name on separate cover sheet, title only on story.
Closing Date: January 17th, 1991

Winners will be announced and prizes awarded at the Awards Ceremony. The winners of the SwanCon XV Competition, incidentally, were Chris Stronach, Guy Blackman and Jeremy Byrne.


The Auction

The SwanCon 16 Auction is to be held on the Sunday afternoon (3.30 onwards) in the Fan Lounge. The following measures have been proposed as ways of hastening the proceedings and reducing the amount of material passed in, while giving attendees a better chance to get what they want.

Firstly, SwanCon 16’s cut from the sale of any item will be 20%, rounded up to the nearest dollar (but not exceeding the actual sale price). This does NOT apply to items being auctioned for a recognised fannish fund (e.g. DUFF, GUFF, another con, etc.), where SwanCon 16’s cut is 0.0% Please note that ‘item’, in this case, can include a job lot: ergo, if you wish to auction your collection of gourmet jelly beans, you may make more offering them by the jar-full than individual (don’t laugh; this has actually happened).

Secondly, consortia should contain no more than five members apiece (organisations such as the C.I.A. or UniSFA are not considered as consortia).

Finally, all items to be auctioned should be handed in at the registration by 12 noon on Saturday. A written list of these items will then be made available to the attendees, and the highest priority will be given to the items which arouse the most interest. Items which attract no pre-bids – including those handed in after the deadline for the list – will be prioritised at the auctioneer’s discretion. A low priority item may be offered late in the auction in supersonic haste, as part of a job lot with five Gor novels, or to a near-empty room.


Awards

All SwanCon 16 members are entitled to nominate and vote for the Tin Duck awards (for Best Fanzine, Best Fan Writer and Best Fan Artist). They will also be able to nominate and vote for the first Margaret Hughes Memorial Prize, for services rendered to Western Australia Fandom. The deadline for nominations for all awards is January 2nd, 1991 (write-ins will be permitted).

The Tin Ducks, the Margaret Hughes Memorial Prize, the Masquerade and Short Story Competition prizes and the Chairbeing’s Award(s) will all be presented at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *