What you can do to help…

I’ve recently received several emails from people who want to know how they can help. I’m repeating some of what I said here in hopes of interesting others to get involved.

If you want to help save the Semiprozine Hugo:

  • Be familiar with the facts and opinions involved. To understand why this is happening, it’s best to start with the videos from last year’s business meeting: technical debate and substantive debate.
    • If you disagree with their reasoning, please make sure you attend the business meeting at Anticipation in Montreal this August. Only people present at the business meeting can vote. (See this post for details about the meeting process.) If you can’t attend, but know someone who can, let them know what is going on. Send them here for details.
    • If you agree with the motion to eliminate the semiprozine Hugo as it stands, please talk to us or at least keep an eye on this site. We may not change one another’s minds, but a good discussion could help us at least understand one another. (Yes, that matters. For some reason, emotions seem to run high on this issue.)
    • Undecided? Glad to help, if we can.
  • Read. Check out semiprozines and let people know what you think of them. Even if we lose, you’re still doing something of value to the publications and their contributors.
  • Click on “Promotional Materials” in the menu bar above. You can use anything we put there on your website, Facebook account, or blog.

If you also want to help semiprozines in general:

  • Tell a friend. Buy or share a copy. Send them a link.
  • Submit semiprozine websites (individual stories/articles when online) to sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, etc.
  • Buy a subscription or make a donation.
  • Review new issues on your blog or link to their websites in your sidebar.
  • Authors: Mention them during appropriate panels at conventions.
  • Authors: Submit a story.
  • Offer to write an article for this site or comment on what others say.
  • Offer to take postcards or flyers from your favorite semiprozines to a convention.

There are dozens of other things you can do as well. Feel free to toss in other ideas in the comments to this post. For that matter, let us know what things we (semiprozines or this site) can do to help spread the word as well.

The Vote to Eliminate Semiprozine

The fate of the Best Semiprozine Hugo will be determined during the WSFS business meeting at Anticipation this August. I’ve invited Kevin Standlee, WSFS Business Meeting Chair, to give us an overview of how the process will work. Here’s his response:

Short Version

The proposal to eliminate the Semiprozine Hugo Award and make existing semiprozines ineligible passed at the 2008 WSFS Business Meeting in Denver. If the proposal is ratified at the 2009 WSFS Business Meeting in Montreal, the Semiprozine Hugo ceases to exist at the end of Anticipation, and no Semiprozine Hugo will be presented in 2010 or thereafter.

Every attending member of the 2009 Worldcon may attend the Business Meeting and vote on the ratification. The debate and vote are expected to happen sometime after 10 AM on Saturday of the convention. If you want to vote on this proposal, you must be present in person at the time of the vote. Voting takes place only in person, not by mail, ballot, or by proxy.

The longer version of this piece that follows goes into much more detail about the background and process, including details of how the debate process works. It sounds more intimidating than it really is, if you just watch the other people present and follow along.

Read more