Seattle is Only Bid on Ballot for 2025 Worldcon

~ Kevin Standlee

According to the June 5, 2023 edition of the Seattle in 2025 Worldcon Bid newsletter, the Seattle bid to hold the 2025 Worldcon August 13-17, 2025 at the Seattle Convention Center was the only bid filed with the Chengdu 2023 Worldcon committee before the filing deadline. This means that Seattle will be the only bid listed on the ballot. Write-in bids can file up until the end of the election, which will take place at the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu, China.

Seattle has posted their filing documents on their web site.

Glasgow Wins 2024 Site Selection

~ JoPhan

Glasgow has won the vote to host the 2024 Worldcon, the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention. The site in Scotland has previously hosted Worldcons in 1995 and 2005. Chicon 8 reports that 809 ballots were cast in the election, with 776 in favour of Glasgow. There were no other official bids. For the detailed results, see the Worldcon 2024 Site Selection Report from the Site Selection administrator.

Glasgow’s Guests of Honor will be artist Chris Baker (Fangorn), fans Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer, authors Ken MacLeod and Nnedi Okorafor, and editor, author, and artist Terri Windling. The convention will be chaired by Professor Esther MacCallum-Stewart.

The Glasgow website is here.

Memphis Withdraws from 2023 Worldcon Race

~ Kevin Standlee

On October 17, 2021, the leaders of the Memphis in 2023 Worldcon Bid, Kate Secor and Cliff Dunn, issued an announcement to its supporters that they were folding the bid to host Worldcon 81:

It is with great sadness that we let you know that the Memphis in 2023 bid has folded. The challenges and uncertainties surrounding the pandemic have severely hampered our ability to run the campaign we had been hoping to so it has led us to fold this bid. We thank you so much for all of your support and appreciate that you believed in us. Those of you who are still due t-shirts, we will be mailing those out to you soon.

When the site selection ballot is released by DisCon III, you will see a WITHDRAWN watermark over our listing on the ballot – that is what DC III has told us they will be doing. We are going to throw a thank you party at DisCon III and invite you to come by and let us toast you and your support. We look forward to seeing so many of you that we sadly haven’t seen in so long.

Our very best,

Kate and Cliff

The remaining bids are for Chengdu, China, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The election to select the 2023 Worldcon will take place at DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon, which will be in Washington DC the weekend of December 15-19, 2021. Members of DisCon III will vote on the site of the convention. Members will be able to vote in advance by mail or in person at the convention, with the voting scheduled to open the first day of the convention and to continue through the evening of December 17. The results will be announced at the World Science Fiction Society business meeting on December 18. See the DisCon III 2023 Worldcon Site Selection page for more information.

2021 Worldcon Moves to December

~ Kevin Standlee

DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon, announced on April 7, 2021 that they would be postponing their convention to December 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new dates are Wednesday, December 15 through Sunday, December 19, 2021. The full text of their announcement, including provisions for virtual-only convention memberships, potential membership refunds, and the impact on deadlines for the Hugo Awards and 2023 Worldcon Site Selection, is on the DisCon III website.

2023 Worldcon Bid Filings Online

~ Kevin Standlee

Two bids filed the required documents by the filing deadline to host the 2023 Worldcon: Chengdu, China, and Memphis, Tennessee. The election to select the site of the 2023 Worldcon will be administered by DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon. DisCon III has updated their 2023 Worldcon Site Selection page with links to the bids’ filing documents.

Any group that meets the technical requirements in the WSFS Constitution and files the necessary documents with the Worldcon administering the election is eligible to bid for the right to host a Worldcon. Worldcon sites are selected by the members of Worldcon as a whole, not by a board of directors, chair, president, or site-selection committee.

Members of the 2021 Worldcon, DisCon III, will vote on the site of the 2023 Worldcon. Details on how to vote on site selection will be announced later by DisCon III.

2021 Worldcon Editor Guest of Honor Announcement

~ Kevin Standlee

The 2021 Worldcon, DisCon III, announced on February 19, 2021 that they have removed Toni Weisskopf as Editor Guest of Honor and that they do not plan on adding additional guests of honor.

The World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) does not have a Board of Directors, Chair, President, or any other executive authority. Nearly all authority regarding Worldcon, including guest selection, is vested solely in individual Worldcon committees. Each Worldcon committee is selected by a vote of the members of the Worldcon two years in advance. Worldcon committees are independently organized, and under the provisions of Section 1.6 of the WSFS Constitution, all matters regarding an individual Worldcon not explicitly defined in the Constitution are reserved to the individual Worldcon committee.

If you have any questions about DisCon III, contact them directly through their web site.