Sir Julius Vogel Award Finalists – 2024

The final ballot for the 2024 Sir Julius Vogel Awards is available on the SFFANZ main site. Congratulations to all the finalists and nominees.

Neither the online voting form nor the voter packet are available yet. They are currently being prepared. Keep an eye on the finalist page for announcements regarding those.

Stardome Zeiss Telescope

If, like us, you have been following the fortunes of our friends at Stardome then you will know about the incident when their dome covering was stolen. So you will be delighted to hear that the Stardome Observatory & Planetarium reopened its EWB Zeiss Telescope to the public on Friday – you can make bookings on their site.

The usual assortment of space based activity is also available including a tribute show for Pink Floyd’s iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon’ which is hitting its 50th anniversary.

Hugo Ballot

The Hugo ballot for the Glasgow 2024 Wordcon is out. We spotted Kiwi Laya Rose in the Fan Artist Category – big congratulations Laya.

Did we miss anybody? Let us know in the comments.

UPDATE: Laya has pointed out that DREDGE from Black Rock Games are also Kiwis. Again, big congrats to them too,

Final Reminder – Sir Julius Vogel awards

Nominations for this year’s Sir Julius Vogel awards close on Sunday 31st of March at 11.59pm. If you haven’t already made your nominations, or you still have something you want to nominate, now is very much the time!!!

Full details about the awards and how to nominate can be found on the main SFFANZ sitehere.

The awards will be presented at Continuity 2024, July 5-7 at the West Plaza Hotel and online. More details about Continuity on their site.

The finalists should be released for voting in mid-April.

Voting Open in 2024 GUFF Race

Voting is now open in the 2024 GUFF race to send a fan from down under to the Glasgow Worldcon. There are two candidates, Kat Clay and Ian Nichols.

Vote by (a) sending money, and (b) filling in the pdf form. Full details in the pdf ballot form. Voting closes late on April 22nd or early on April 23rd, depending on where you are in the world.

You can get more details (including the form) on the GUFF fb page.

2024 SJV Awards – Less Than 2 Weeks Left to Nominate

The nomination period for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards will close at 11:59pm on 31st March 2024. That is less than 2 weeks away, so don’t let it drift – get your nominations in.

The SJV awards recognise excellence in science fiction, fantasy or horror works created by New Zealanders and/or New Zealand residents and first published or released in the 2023 calendar year. Anybody can make a nomination and it is free. To make a nomination, please see the form.

See the website for the categories. You can click through to the Rules and Criteria for the Awards and the Guidelines for nominations. The awards ceremony will be held later in the year at Continuity, full details to be announced closer to the time.

Continuity 2024 Announcement

The following is an announcement from Continuity 2024 Convention – 6-7 July 2024, Wellington…

SFFANZ is pleased to announce that Continuity, the 2024 New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention, will be held on 6-7 July 2024 at the West Plaza Hotel in Wellington, as well as online.

As the name suggests, Continuity aims to restart the New Zealand NatCons, building on last year’s reConnect virtual convention, with a number of the reConnect team working on Continuity too.

To that end, with the support of SFFANZ and SFFCONZ, prices for Continuity will be held down to $40 for in-person membership, $30 for unwaged or student in-person membership and $30 for online-only membership (in-person membership will include online access too)*. However, donations towards to the costs of running Continuity will be gratefully accepted.

Continuity’s first Guest of Honour is noted horror author Allyson Bird. Allyson has won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in First Novel [2011], The British Fantasy Society Award for Best Collection [2009]. She will be joining us in person, having moved to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in 2011. In addition, Bill Geradts, founder of the Armageddon Expos, has agreed to be Fan Guest of Honour. Discussions are in progress for other guests, both in-person and virtual.

Work is underway on the convention programme which will start mid-Saturday and end Sunday afternoon. The programme will include the presentation of the Sir Julius Vogel Awards and SFFANZ Annual General Meeting; should you have ideas for programme items you would like to see or participate in, please do get in touch. Similarly, volunteers to help organise the con and run it on the day would also be greatly appreciated.

Continuity’s policy on masking will follow the guidelines from the New Zealand Ministry of Health at the time of the convention. At present, masking is recommended but not mandatory.

To register for Continuity, please go to:
https://bit.ly/Continuity2024; or
https://continuity2024.zohobackstage.com.au

For any enquiries, offers of assistance or to get in touch in general, email enquiries@continuity2024.sffanz.nz. Please also feel free to share information about Continuity with anyone you feel might be interested.

More information will follow soon, including details of lead-in events. We very much look forward to seeing you at Continuity, whether in person or online.

* Registration prices will rise at 00:00 NZT on 1 st June (King’s Birthday weekend) and again on the day/door (to $50 and $60 for full registrations, respectively). Concession prices will also rise.

Asimov’s Annual Readers’ Awards Finalists

Major award ballots continue to come in. Another (i.e. not the same as the last ballot) Kiwi featuring in Asimov’s this time. Again, check out the link and play spot the Kiwi. Well done everybody.

The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot

You know the drill by now – follow this link and play spot the Kiwi. Congratulations everybody.

GUFF Call for Nominations

2024 GUFF Call for Nominations Oceania to Europe

GUFF is the Get Up and Over (or Going Under) Fan Fund which transports SF fans from Oceania (Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia) to Europe (and vice versa).

Nominations in the race to send a fan Northbound to Worldcon in Glasgow, Scotland (8-12 August, 2024) are open to anyone who was active in fandom prior to January 2022. The winner could also travel to other parts of the UK and elsewhere in Europe to visit fans, as time permits. The winner will be expected to take over the administration of the fund for the next northbound and southbound races, and will ideally publish a report of their trip.

If you wish to stand, please contact us at the email addresses below. You will need three nominators from the southern hemisphere and two from Europe (who will each need to confirm their nominations), a platform of no more than 100 words to appear on the ballot, and a bond of AU$25/NZ$25 to guarantee attendance at the 2024 Worldcon in Glasgow if you win. If you wish to stand and are unsure about how to go about getting any of these things, what the fund pays for or the duties of a GUFF delegate and administrator, then feel free to contact us in confidence.

Nominations are open from now until 23 March 2024. Candidates will be announced soon after, and voting will then run until 23:59 on 23 April 2024 (British Time – GMT + 1) with the winner announced online as soon as possible after voting has closed.

Nominations should be sent via email to NZ administrator Simon Litten at guff2020@ozfanfunds.com and UK administrator Alison Scott at guffeurope@gmail.com. The bond should be sent by PayPal to littenz@gmail.com.

The Future of SF Conventions in New Zealand

If you are interested in SF Conventions continuing locally then you really need to read this.

Read down to the bottom, there is info about an online meetup on the 25th to discuss this. If you care about conventions, you probably should attend.

Local SF Film Pitch

A local filmmaker reached out to us with the following…
———–
I’m writing to bring to your attention a new short film we shot in Auckland last year. It’s a quirky sci-fi called PleasureDora. It’s about a glitchy sex-bot at the end of her shelf life and her lonely final customer. Together they confront mortality, second chances, and what life on the scrap heap means for them.

It’s all shot and edited (we self-funded those parts) but we are currently crowdfunding to raise $10k for grading, sound design and music. I was wondering if you’d like to take a look. I think this could really vibe with local sci-fi fans who want to help create something.

There’s a video at the link below which gives you a flavour of what it will look and feel like.
———–
This is the link if you are curious – https://boosted.org.nz/projects/pleasuredora

Also a Facebook post with pictures relating to work with Jed Brophy on the film.

2023 Bram Stoker Preliminary Ballot

This is just the long list for the Bram Stoker awards – not the final ballot. But take a look because there are Kiwis here – good job guys! We wish them all the best advancing to the next step.

Australian Shadows Awards Open

The 2023 Australian Shadows Awards are also now open for submissions.

The Australian Shadows Awards celebrate the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year.

Entries are open across eight categories, for works written by an Australian or New Zealand writer.

Nominations for the 2024 SJV Awards open

Nominations for the 2024 Sir Julius Vogel awards are now being accepted. The nomination period will close at 11:59pm on 31st March 2024 The SJV awards recognise excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents, and first published or released in the 2023 calendar year. Anyone can make a nomination and it is free!

All the details & links may be found on the main SFFANZ Site. (at the time of posting this, there are a couple of date typos on that site – no doubt they will be fixed, but you can probably work it out anyway)

Book Launch Event – Tim Jones

Tim Jones new climate fiction novel Emergency Weather is being launched at Unity Books on Wednesday 4 October and goes on sale that day too.

If you cannot make it, the book is now available for preorder at https://thecubapress.nz/shop/emergency-weather/, and will be available in independent bookshops from 4 October.

The launch is at Unity Books Wellington, 57 Willis St, from 6pm – feel free to share.

Here is the Facebook event to share.

Remember that we don’t advertise the release of books, but if you are having a publicly accessible launch event then we are happy to spread the word.

School Holidays

Its the school holidays and you are an SF fan who wants to keep your kids occupied with something compatible. A couple of suggestions…

Mission Control: Mars – “Blast off to Mars these school holidays in a special development season presentation of a thrilling interactive space adventure.”

The Wizard of Oz – The Wiz is a classic portal fantasy right?

Stardome: Brain Play Sessions – After each planetarium show, join Brain Play in the Space Room to create a tension controlled claw from laser cut components. The first step in building your own Terminator.

Sci Fi at Stardome is Back

Stardome is back up and running after their renovations. They have announced a new season of their “Sci Fi at Stardome” where they show a classic SF movie on their planetarium with popcorn included in the ticket price. Shows are every second Wednesday at 8pm starting with the original Men in Black on 26th July.

If you can’t read the attached graphic (click on it to enlarge), there is a calendar tool on the main Stardome homepage where you can see what is on. As well as the films, you might want to check out the Matariki open day and the school holiday programme.

Awardwatch : 2023 Hugo Finalists

The Chengdu Worldcon committee today posted the finalists for the 2023 Hugo Awards.

Here at SFFANZ News we only post international awards when Kiwis make it on to the ballot. And the Hugos are the biggest of all the awards. So it is the most significant of news when we congratulate Laya Rose and Tamsyn Muir (twice!!) for their nominations.

Congratulations to Laya and Tamsyn and to all the Hugo nominees.

Book Launch Event

“Lawrence & Gibson are pleased to announce the release of a new sci-fi novel by Tīhema Baker exploring tensions faced by Māori working for government.

Turncoat is set in the distant future when Earth has been colonised by aliens and humans are struggling to have their voices heard and rights upheld. Daniel is an idealistic young human determined to make a difference for his people by infiltrating the Alien Hierarch and pushing for them to honour the founding agreement between them and Humans.

Turncoat will be released on 15 June at Unity Books from 6pm in Wellington alongside Thomasin Sleigh’s The Words for Her.”

Please note, for logistical reasons, SFFANZ does not publicize book releases. However, if you are running a publicly accessible launch event, then we are happy to boost the bandwidth.