Norwescon 30 Post Con Report

October 2007 post-convention report for Norwescon 30

October 2007

OCTOBER 2007

Persistance of Vision

Post Con Report

NORWESCON30

“Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements”

-Napoleon Hill

NORWESCON30
Persistance of Vision
Post Con Report

Chairman’s Post-Con Report

by Tracy Knoedler

I can hardly believe it’s over. The 30th anniversary of Norwescon was the best-attended Norwescon I have ever been to, topping over 3,000 people. The panel rooms seem to be filled as well as the Dealer’s room and Art Show. I want to give a big thank you to our wonderful Guests of Honor, Kim Stanley Robinson, Luis Royo, Donna Shirley, and Gordon Van Gelder for their help in celebrating our anniversary year.

As I sit here, a few weeks later, writing this up, I realize that we could never have made this happen if it were not for all of our wonderful volunteers. One name I would like to highlight is Dawn Kaufman for stepping in and helping translate for our Artist Guest of Honor, Luis Royo. She was a big help to all of us. Thanks Dawn!

This year I awarded the Lifetime Member Award to Shawn Marier for all his devoted years to Norwescon. He has spent many years volunteering for Norwescon in all areas of the convention. Congratulations Shawn! You deserve it and now we’ve got you forever!

Please watch our website for news on Norwescon 31. We should be up and running by September, 2007.

Business Report for Norwescon 28

BudgetedActual
Chair	6,015.00	6,812.45
Vice Chair	16,392.00	14,961.17
Business	16,630.00	16,362.15
Publications	40,100.00	21,854.71
Programming	9,925.00	5,844.31
Member Services	3,890.00	3,211.09
Convention Services	18.870.00	17,617.41
Personnel	9,565.00	7,973.45
Special Events	2,485.00	2,053.64
Capital Expense	9,780.00	10,559.03
Total In	137,083.73
Total Out	107,249.32
	29,834.32

Norwescon 30 Art Show by Doug and Pat Booze

It was an amazing year; there are so many wonderful things that happened over this last year and so many people to thank that it is hard to know where to start.

It would not be an Art Show without our artists. First we would like to thank Luis Royo for traveling almost as far as you can to attend our convention. He is an amazing artist and an extremely generous guest of his time, talent and good humor. We would also like to thank Rafa Martinez from Norma Editorial for making Luis Royo’s visit such a great success; spending four days interpreting and facilitating for Luis is a monumental feat of patience and we are very grateful.

The heart and soul of the Art Show is our attending and mail-in artists. We had a wonderful group this year that brought the best of themselves and their work to Norwescon. We would like to thank them for their time and talent that they have shared with Norwescon. Pat and I have really enjoyed working with each one of them.

None of this is possible without the tremendous help of our volunteers. First we would like to thank our Art Show staff. First a very special thank you to Lori ‘Shaughnessy’ Burtis who took us under her wing and taught us so much. We would also like to thank Melissa Kell and Shelly Stephens for managing the Artist Alley; they did a great job. E.J. Fadgen took on the ever-daunting task of bag check and did a brilliant job. LouAnna Valentine worked on our docent program this year, and we really appreciate all of her efforts. We would also like to thank Alex Popiel our IT wizard who kept our computers running and saved our derrieres more than once; as well as Rory Clark our Art Show programmer for all of his hard work supporting the Art Show computer systems. ank you also to our wonderful finance team of Betty Claar, Melissa Kell and Mike Orosz. And a huge thank you to Walt omas, our construction chief. Without his hard work and patience there would be no Art Show. And last but never least, Ali Grieve who did a wonderful job in planning and executing our first Artists’ Reception, an outstanding event that we look forward to repeating next year.

The other group that we want to thank are our at-convention volunteers. We are very grateful for them taking the time out of their convention experience to come and help us. Without them it would have been a harder and longer weekend for all of our staff. We truly want all of them to know they are part of our team and we appreciate everything they all did to help. ey are: Angela Lande, Nicholas Strickland, Kat Mercan, Jane Patterson, Jim Cox, Joyce Palmer, Gayle MacArthur, Dawn Jackal, Diane Wahlborg, Richard Stuer-Wooden, Mike Hardin, Carline Westra, Carmen Sumption, Marlene Helm, Laura Penty, Mathew Robertson, Stanley Leghorn, Stacy Mardin, Nate Austin, Nick Jones, Leonard Burstiner, J.D. Maynard, David Todd, Peter Eng, Alan Misten, Angela Horde, Katie Cagle, Shawn Lum, Eric Wilson, Viola Todd, Victoria Scanlon and Audrey Penty who was awarded our Norwescon Art Show Apprentice Award this year for being an outstanding volunteer.

Thank you to everyone for attending and participating in this year’s Art Show. We look forward to seeing all of you next year.

Norwescon 30 Art Show Awards

Judges Awards

Best in Show:
Cory and Catska Ench — In the Garden of Gaea

First Place:
Jeff Sturgeon — Power Place

Second Place:
H. Ed Cox — Brown Leaf Fairy

Third Place:
Luis Royo — Subversive Beauty (1)

Best 3-D:
Stephen Lestat — Time Machine

Best Jewelry:
Elizabeth Fellows — 30th Anniversary Jewelry Set

Best Color:
Mark Roland — Sunflower

Best Black and White:
Luis Royo — Mother Earth

Best Mix:
Theresa Mather — Amber Dragon

People's Choice Awards

Best in Show:
Cory and Catska Ench — In the Garden of Gaea

Best Sci-Fi:
Stephen Lestat — Time Machine

Best Fantasy:
Todd Lockwood — Dragon Fire

Best Horror:
Todd Lockwood — War of Angels

Best Humor:
Sarah Clemens — Joyride

Programming Report – NWC 30

by William Sadorus

What a monumental weekend! Huge crowds, big names, and 30 years of Norwescon!

Staying true to our theme “Persistence of Vision”, we had a great time giving you the kind of experience that you’ve come to expect from Norwescon. We were so honored to have great Guests; Kim Stanley Robinson, Luis Royo, Donna Shirley, Gordon Van Gelder, and Rafa Martinez. anks to them for helping to set the tone of the convention. Snippets from our GoH’s: Donna talking about managing Martians, Gordon speaking on publishing bloopers, Rafa introducing us to the international experience, Luis drawing a fantastic picture, and Stan explaining how to reduce our footprint on the Earth while keeping our eyes on Space. [My most fascinating moment? Out in the Atrium on Saturday afternoon, the fifteen minutes of banter and humor as Greg Bear interviewed Stan and Gordon at the taping session for Closing Ceremonies. You’ve got to see the interview... jet noises and everything in the background. Wow!]

I always worry when we try something slightly different. is year we decided to start panel programming at 1:00 p.m. on ursday afternoon. I guess I shouldn’t have worried though. e rooms were filled and paneling was perking along right on time. With well over 200+ pros on hand to participate in the panels during the weekend I hope you found the topics you wanted to see. Flashes from panels; the audience helping the Let’s Make a Movie Guys make the feature “Man Slugs, Steve Barnes speaking about developments in LifeWriting, Alexander James Adams’ concert premier at NWC, how to poly-form armor at StarWars Fashion Show and Tell, promises of a recipe book from To Serve Man, the generation gap at Women in the Military, and Chris Bruscas on being a Geek Gaming God. [My moment of discovery? at there are people out there even more into gardening than I am while at the Fannish Gardening panel . . . ?!]

Norwescon Programming would not occur without the help of many people: Sunny Jim in the Pro Suite; Becky in Workshops; Denise in Traditional Events; Sally, Jo, Margorie, & Sprite in the Greenroom; Alan, Chris, and Joel in Media Services; Keith in Movie Previews; Mindy in GoH Relations; Kevin in Stage Management; Jordan, Elizabeth, Walt, and the rest of his tech crew; thanks guys! I especially want to thank Lori and Alisa for their help and support during the never- ending grind of Track Programming. You guys are the best! Thank you!!!

BTW, for all of you who might be wondering, Donna Shirley’s grandson was born about 2 weeks after the con. His name is Grayden Thomas. He was 8 lbs 8 oz & 20 inches in length at birth and currently growing like a weed. Congratulations to Nana Donna and to the proud parents!

If you think Norwescon 30 was a blast, just wait until next year . . . Norwescon 31 is gonna knock your socks off. See you soon!!

Norwescon 30 Programming Statistics

Total Number of Tracks of Programming: 28 Hours

Breakdown of Hours of Programming (does not include Special Events):

	Education	Filk	Readings	GoH	Programming Total
Thursday	71.0	4.0	4.5	3	82.5
Friday	148.5	11.5	10.5	6.5	177.0
Saturday	139.0	8.0	10.5	11	168.5
Sunday	62.5	2	4.5	1	70.0
Totals	421.0	25.5	30.0	21.5	498.0

Pro Breakdown:

Invited	360
Declined	51
No Answer	78
Cancelled	17
Attending	214
Day Passes	28

Writer's Workshop:

Submissions	71.0
Participating Pros	148.5

Special Events

by Shawn Marier

This was the first year that Special Events was an exec level department. This allowed us to spend the time and effort to make them “special” once again. When I first got involved with Norwescon 20 years ago, it was as a DJ. So from the beginning all the special events have had a special place in my heart. So I want to thank Tracy and Cheryl for giving me the opportunity to run the department.

I could not have done this job with out the help from my two assistants Tonya Clark and Peggy Stewart. They both were in charge of multiple areas in the department; and they did a wonderful job making sure that the people who attended them had a great time.

Tonya was in charge of the dances and she had some great DJs working with her this year. ey kept the dance floor busy all three nights; so a big thank you goes out to all of them:

The Red Dance: DJ Black Maru and DJ Eternal Darkness.
The Star Dance: DJ Jammin’ Panda and DJ Bomb
The Saturday Night Hoedown: MC 300Baud

She also wants to thank all the people who helped with decorations and opening number.

She also was in charge of the midnight movies. is year we expanded to 3 nights of movies. On ursday we showed Buckaroo Banzai and had Judith Herman who worked on the movie give a little talk about her experiences. On Friday we did our traditional Rocky Horror Picture Show with the VTC giving a show which I’m sure the audience will never forget. Finally on Saturday night for its 25th anniversary we showed Shock Treatment.

Peggy was in charge of the Masquerade. To put on the Masquerade, Peggy and her staff worked all day long getting everything setup so that you could all enjoy the show. It was an exciting year as it was the first Masquerade for us with a ramp. Backstage it was a huge hit. It was used by lots of entries and made it safer and easier for many of them. e ramp is definitely the wave of the future for Norwescon.

She wants to give thanks to all the people that helped

Master of Ceremonies- Master Payne
Sound- Keith Johnson
Stage Managers- Paula and Berry Curry
Head Den Mom- Kate McClure
Den Moms- Audrey Penty, Erik Prill, Ruslund Geyer
Front House Manager- Nels Satterlund
Front House Staff- Tahlia Holt, Jeff Soesbe, Kayla Harrell
Head Ninja- Trent Lum
Ninjas- Kelly Forbis, Michelle Roberts, Cameron Wright, Toni Forbis, Pamela Wichger, Laura Penty, Martin Irvin, Jason Lum, Pete Powers, Sydney Lamb, Frieda “Bri” Orsborn, Lisa Eldred, Beth “Bethmo” Mourguard
Lights/ Tech- Eric Stratton
Spot 1- Larry Stratton
Spot 2- Edge Von Gore
Technical Director- Michael Citrak
Video- Alan Halfhill
Photo Op- Thom Walls
Children’s Masquerade Group- Felice Nightengale
The Workmanship Judges- Alisa Green & Maria Cooley
The Presentation Judges- Don Glover, Lori Edwards & Mimi Noyes
Judge’s Assistant-Vicki Glover

She humbly apologizes if your name was missed, but know that she thanks you too for your hard work. Everyone worked very hard, from staff to volunteers, and, of course, the entrants to make this a fabulous 30th anniversary Masquerade.

If the Masquerade wasn’t enough, she also managed the Fannish Fetish Fashion Show. She brought in Betty Rage who did a spectacular job of organizing the show, working with the designers and getting all the fabulous performers. Peggy would like to thank everyone who made it possible, Betty Rage, Todd Clark, Timitius, Felice Nightengale, Christopher Sumption, Leslie, e Von Foxies, Marci Beaucoup, Miz Ginger Snapz, Estella E’strange, all the volunteers and, last but not least, the designers, Notorious Curves and Fetishwear. net and their models.

For the Masquerade half time I brought in the Comedy Court Improve Group. is was a very entertaining local group of performers. If you like improve then you should check out their website to see where they are next performing. (http://www.comedycourtimprov.com/) We didn’t have the best sound setup for them, so I’m sorry to say that those in the back might not have heard the whole thing.

I also need to thank Pro Roy who ran our Gaming department. He stepped up and ran the department when the previous department head had to step down a month from the convention. With a short period of time and a new location, he did a great job.

He wanted to make sure that big props went out to the gaming staff that did a great job monitoring the floor and making sure games had tables and got started as scheduled! As well as a congratulations to John Baldwin, this year's Call of Cthulhu Tournament winner. John won a free membership to next year's Norwescon!

This year I brought back the casino to Norwescon. It has been years since we did one and even with it being on ursday night we had a huge crowd (over 150 gamblers). I want to thank Mary Westerling who helped train our dealers and Becky Citrak who designed some of the best casino money I’ve ever seen. I also want to thank the following people who all volunteered to help deal cards: Leonard Burstiner, Bror Rand, Jessica Vauels, Pamela Wichgers, Alex Williams, Alan Milsten and Jason McDermott.

We also had a Texas Hold’em Tournament which ran over 3 days. Almost 90 players took part and the when the tournament was finally over on Saturday night the winner was Jeramy Hobouty. anks to all the people who helped deal the cards as well as all the players.

Another area which we expanded this year was Lazer Tag. This year we had it running all 3 nights and because of this we had over 200 players. The room was once again run by Scott Perrin and Elizabeth Fellows who make sure that all the players have a safe but fun time. I don’t think we could do Lazer Tag with out all the hard work and time they put in.

Finally I need to thank the members of Amtgard who came in on Sunday morning to give us a demo. ink of them as a live action fantasy role playing using boffers. Norwescon could not have done this with out the help of two of their members, Matt Ward and Chris Bates. Check out the group’s main web site for more details: www.amtgard.com

Finally I want to thank the Norwescon Tech and Programming departments, we could not have done this with out your help and support.

Norwescon 30 Daily 'Zine Post-Convention Report

R'ykandar (Dara) Korra'ti

Another year, another convention newsletter, yay! Our only big surprise this year was our sudden discovery that the shop we use for issue duplication suddenly decided to start closing on Sundays! It was quite the adventure. We want to particularly thank Laura Reilly, Kathleen Reilly (her mum), and Marianna Garrett (her sister) and the Office for working overtime to come up with an alternative copy location and getting the Sunday edition out on time. Well done, Office staff and family members, and special thanks to everyone involved!

In other notes, I want to address a few things that have apparently slipped by people. First, the newsletter is not, and has never been, titled "Daily 'Zine." It has a new name every year - as well as a new look, rebuilt from the ground up, or close to it. Unexpectedly, three people told me that they noticed I'd changed the 'zine's title this year from "Daily 'Zine" or some similar variant to "Runner" - well, Run, Runner! anyway - and that was, as they say, rather a surprise.

Secondly, our contribution to Norwescon's 30th Anniversary was to use graphic identifiers from each previous issue (where applicable) in our promotional posters. The current newsletter crew have put out the following convention newsletters, or daily 'zines, at Norwescons: The Claw, Mr.Cranky's Disruptive Newsletter, Gothpark Chronicles, FaxCascadia, Ad Astro!, Inevitability, The Great and Terrible Voice of OZ, Letters from Yingzhou, RUE the DAY!, RUN!!, and, this past year, RUN, RUNNER!. You may note a disturbing trend towards more and more exclamation marks. Consider that a desperate plea for attention. The graphics called back from the dead include the three-eyed upward-pointing alien, the Mr.Cranky Seal of Certification, Vampire Lord Fatass, Astro, Your Robotic Overlords, The Four Sigils of the Winds, the Dr. Cranky Spotlight of Ruing, and this year's, Box, the Food Storage Robot. So that's what all that was about.

Thirdly, the newsletter comes out daily, which means (in all years but two when we had special editions), once a day. Yes, we had a Sunday Afternoon ("GO HOME!") edition of Mr. Cranky, and a special Saturerday Afternoon edition ("more heart pieces!") for RUN!! Because we had so much material, which was great, but that's not a guarantee we'll do that again ever. And finally, the newsletter is a morning edition, so if you want things to be in that day's issue, you have to get it to us the night before, or earlier. We were confused several times to find submissions for an issue submitted after that issue had already come out. So if you were wondering why your time- sensitive material didn't make it in, that's probably why.

And that's about that. anks for reading and contributing; hopefully you found it useful and fun!

Norwescon Elections

Elections were held for the officers of Norwescon 31 on Saturday, May 12th with Doug Booze, Shawn Marier, and Catrina Foulger on this year’s election committee. The results were:

Chairman Tracy Knoedler
Vice-Chairman Pat Booze
GoH Election Committee Kevin Black
GoH Election Committee Dara Korra’ti

Congratulations to the new officers Tracy, Pat, Kevin and Dara; and thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s elections.

Post Con Report for Norwescon 30

Marion Zimmer Bradley Food Drive

We would like to thank the Dealers (from the Dealer Room) for their donations. We Raised $917.00 from the charity auction and received many wonderful things for our valued volunteers.

There were $237.00 donations at registration and we collected 34 lbs of food.

Thanks to all for your donations.

James “Scotty” Doohan Blood Drive

It was fun to see the blood mobile though it was a bit small for our convention. All of the Blood drive techs were delighted to be with us and enjoy Norwescon. They were able to collect 18 units of blood, with 19 donors. Thank you to all of our donors.

I would like to send out a special thanks to Lydia Bigger and her staff for the wonderful lunch they made for the blood drive techs. They enjoyed it very much.

Campaign Sight First II

We had at least 3 donated glasses. This is our first year doing the eyeglass collection and we appreciate your donations.

Norwescon 30 Masquerade Running Order

1. Lead us Not Into Temptation- Journeyman- Designed and constructed by Laura Rieschiek Entrants: Laura Rieschiek, Mark Rieschiek
2. Ambassador Hugh- Novice- Designed, constructed and worn by Hugh Mannfield
3. Scratched-
4. Gabrielle vs. Captain Barbosa- Novice- Designed and constructed by “Can’t read her writing, sorry.”
5. A Poem for Padme- Journeyman- Designed, constructed and worn by Bethany Roullett
6. Passion- Non- Comp (won at a Costume Con with costume before)- Designed and constructed and worn by Alicia Faires
7. The Gardener’s Dream- Master- Designed and constructed by Betty Bigelow, Lisa Satterlund, Julie Zetterberg and sound by Erik Prill. Entrants: Betty Bigelow, Greg Sardo, Lisa Satterlund, Julie Zetterberg
8. Firey Angel – Novice- Designed and constructed and worn by Mandy Barnett
9. Jedi Knight Tatiana –Novice- Designed and worn by Dana Marshall, Constructed by Keith Marshall
10. Into the Woods- 30th Anniversary Cat.- Designed and constructed by Claudette Wagner. Entrants: Cassie Hallmark, T. Brian Wagner
11. Robotica- Journeyman- Designed, constructed and worn by Diana Daniels
12. Stalking Elk- Novice- Designed, constructed and worn by Tiffany Hugentobler
13. Raider of the Temple of Doom- Master- Designed and constructed by Richard Stephens. Entrants: Richard Stephens, Ciandi Stephens, Tia Stephens, Forest Kohler, Austen Del Grado, Chris Girr
14. Gaia’s First Children- Master- Designed and constructed by Molly Boone, Jonnalyhn Wolfcat, Juliana Robinson, Bronwyn omas, and Jennifer Neel. Nick Strickland (construction only) and Elizabeth Fellows for the snood. Entrants: Molly Boone, Jonnalyhn Wolfcat, Juliana Robinson, Bronwyn Thomas, Jennifer Neel, Nick Strickland
15. Medusa –Novice- Designed, constructed and worn by Rita Pudlewski. CD by Carl Bergstrom and Rita Pudlewski
16. Advanced Tactical Assault Trooper –Journeyman- Designed, constructed and worn by Mike Duquette
17. 7 Deadly Sins – Journeyman- Designed and constructed by Rose City Costumers. Entrants: Annika Johnson, Suzie omas, Mike Elsner, Marilyn Mcquire, Patrick Wiese, Christie and Doug Van Winkle
18. Fairy Tale Bachelor- Master- Designed and constructed by Amanda Harris-Forbes, Margo Loes, and special thanks to Shuree Lovell Entrants: Amanda Harris- Forbes, Margo Loes and the Mystery Prince
19. Latouni- Journeyman- Designed by Banpresto Games and constructed and worn by Angela Krupp
20. Freya Cresent- Trance Mode –J- Designed by Squaresoft and constructed and worn by Shawna Needengard
21. The Ruler of the Tholian Assembly –M- Designed, constructed and worn by Garth Stubbs
22. Medusa Luna-J- Designed, constructed and worn by Joanne Spink, music by Erik Prill, and electronics, Macdonald Instruments

Norwescon 30 Masquerade Winners

Best in Show
#22 Medusa Luna

Best Master
#18 Fairy Tale Bachelor

Best Media Recreation- Master
#13 Raiders of the Temple of Doom

Best Journeyman
#22 Medusa Luna

Best Media Recreation- Journeyman
#5 A Poem for Padme

Best Novice
#2 Ambassador Hugh

Best Original Concept
#12 Stalking Elk

Judge’s Choice
#7 The Gardener’s Dream

Beyond Reality Costumer’s Guild Award- or the “Ooh, shiney” award
#20 Freya Cresent- Trance Mode

Workmanship Awards

Best in Show
#14 Gaia’s First Children

Best Master
#18 Fairy Take Bachelor

Best Journeyman
#22 Medusa Luna

Best Novice
#9 Jedi knight Tatiana

Honorable Mention
#1 Lead us Not into Temptation

Best Media Recreation
#5 A Poem for Padme

Most Creative Use of Materials
#2 Ambassador Hugh

Best Use of Sculptural Details
#13 Raiders of the Temple of Doom

Best Headpiece
#15 Medusa

Best Concept
#21 Ruler of the Tholian Assembly

Best Use of Machine Embroidery
#7 The Gardener’s Dream

Best Hands and Feet
#20 Freya Cresent- Trance Mode

Registration Post-Con Notes

Submitted by J’wyl The Reg Dragon

Wow. No, really! I wouldn’t kid you . . . wow. You people are awesome!

3,000 members attended the con this year. That is a record.

I think it is like second highest attendance ever (all time highest is still the year that Anne McCaffrey was there). They discovered that we do online reg and take PayPal, too! We had a LOT of pre-reg via PayPal. It was daunting! We thought that with all those folks doing the pre-reg thing, that the at- the-door would be slower than usual. Nope. at isn’t how it was. We are all so thrilled that so many people came and had fun at the con!

Did you notice what was new this year? We had LAPTOPS! I know it seems like it is a silly thing to be excited about, but it was a SUPER help to us! ey were easy to set up, easy to take down and since the IT Ninjas rawk in sooo many ways, they were easily interchangeable between departments if one went south on us! ey were faster, too. ank you IT and Exec’s for having the vision to see that this would work out so well. We also purchased our own badge printers! e badges/ printers worked out so well last year, that we decided it was worth it to have our own.

Continuing to have a Problem Only Line seemed to work too. I know because I spent most of the con behind that station, working out the problems that came up. We tried to troubleshoot problems that we sensed could happen before the con, and we did have fewer to work out, but that meant that Problems also managed to do quite a bit of regular registration.

We remembered to make signs that were easier to read, but I still missed a few. We made notes for next year, to better speed up the reg process. I also have my fingers crossed for new printers for speedier form printing. If that happens, we may have slightly different forms and can color code to make the different types of forms easier to figure out.

Our volunteers, as usual, kicked major boo-tay! Nina Chapman was our Touch Typist of the Year and was constantly cheery, smart, and fun to be around. We look forward to having her on staff next year! Richard, DragonMom and so many others helped us stay sane and kept the reg lines moving. Willow, Jeff and I thank you ALL!

Judy Oxford, Registration Lead, also known as J’wyldragon of Reg

2007 Philip K. Dick Award Winner Announced

It was announced at Norwescon 30, in SeaTac, Washington, that the winner for the distinguished original science fiction paperback published for the first time during 2006 in the U.S.A. is:

Spin Control
by Chris Moriarty (Bantam Spectra)

Special citation was given to:

Carnival
by Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The 2006 judges were Geary Gravel, Anne Harris, Christine Mains (chair), Kristine Smith, and Mark W. Tiedemann.

The 2007 judges are Steve Miller, Chris Moriarty, Steven Piziks, Randy Schroeder, and Ann Tonsor Zeddies.

For more information, contact the award administration:

David G. Hartwell (914) 769-5545.
Gordon Van Gelder (201) 876-2551

For more information about the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, contact:

Gary Feldbaum (215) 563-2511
http://www.psfs.org/

For more information about Norwescon contact:

http://www.norwescon.org/

Hospitality Report

by Roberta Carlson

Another Norwescon is over and the Hospitality Staff is glad you all stopped by, and did you ever stop by! You all drank 70 cases of pop, ate 75 pounds of ham, 40 pounds of roast beef and 35 pounds of turkey, a case and a half of chili, and much, much more. Special thanks go to my wonderful assistants Kristy, Cherie, and Jean. Without them, there couldn’t have been a hospitality. I hope to see you all next year.

Writers' Workshop

The writers' workshop at Norwescon 30 continues to hit high marks, thanks to the efforts of everyone involved. is year's workshop filled up quickly with 36 participants, and we regret having to limit them to a single manuscript apiece in order to make room for as many people as possible. Half of this year's participants were new to the Norwescon workshops and half had experience with at least one previous year's workshop; while most of our participants come from Washington and Oregon, this year we also drew writers from California, Texas, Arizona and Minnesota. We also offered workshop participants a special hand's-on workshop on writing flash fiction taught by Mary Rosenblum, a short-story writer, novelist and writing instructor.

30 Years of Norwescon History

We hope you enjoyed our 30th Anniversary Celebration and history display. Norwescon is getting older, and we believe it is important to remember our roots and the milestones along the way. We hope you enjoyed the history article in the program book, and found it interesting and informative! We would like to extend a special thank you to Carolyn Palms who was our first historian.

The History Display was set up in Olympic 2, quiet hospitality. There was a display of badges, badge holders, volunteer tokens, t-shirts, fanzines, flyers, cups and more. We even had the tiny, little Norwescon 1 Program Book, which is smaller than our current pocket programs! We had program books from years past in a display in the lobby, and extras for the taking at the history display – which you seemed to like, as about 50 books were taken. We should have brought more!

We had two types of picture displays – paper and electronic. People gathered around the PC monitor sharing ooohs and aaahs and playing “remember when”. The albums were scattered on tables around the room.

Several Norwescon members submitted “favorite memory” stories which we printed out and taped on the walls. We are always looking for stories to add to the memory book. If you have a story you would like to share send it to Michael Citrak at [omitted].

The 30th Anniversary celebration continued throughout the con with many special touches. We had:

• Pearl embossing on the program book cover in keeping with the traditional 30th anniversary symbol of pearls.
• “30 Years of Norwescon” souvenir bags.
• A special category in the masquerade.
• Play money in the casino commemorating our various hotels.
• “30 Years of Norwescon Stories” panel on Friday.
• Special goodies for the Volunteers, including a “pearl” for each year volunteered.

We would like to thank:

• Jordan Orr for building two beautiful table-top display cases!
• Rory Clark for the computer and photo displays!
• Elizabeth Thomas-Rodolf, Daniel Pawtowski, Don Glover, John Andrews, and many others for the photos!
• Carolyn Palms, Beth Dockins, Jim Cox and many others for the T-shirts!
• Tracy Knoedler for the 30th Celebration Souvenir bags.
• You for sharing your ideas and input over the years! Keep it coming!

We had our first history display at Norwescon 25, and hope to have the next one at Norwescon 35 – which means, of course, that it will become a tradition. The goal for the next 5 years is to get all of those old photos scanned!