Nova Award
The Nova Awards were presented annually between 1973 and 2014 at the UK convention Novacon and recognised achievement in British and (later) Irish sf fanzines. Originally given to a single issue of a fanzine, from 1981 onward there were three awards; for fanzine, fan writer and fan artist.
Origins
In a letter in Checkpoint #31 (February 1973), Keith Walker floated the idea of a British fanzine award. #34 (March 1974) reported Walker saying that he'd learned that the Novacon committee were planning something similar and he'd support that. #39 (June 1974) announced that the award would be called The Nova. Members of Novacon could propose fanzines to be considered by a panel of judges and suggestions could be sent to the administrator, Gillon Field. Field is usually cited as the founder/creator of the Award[1] but there may be a case for considering Hazel Reynolds as a joint creator[2].
1973 Award
The jury was selected by Field and Reynolds and consisted of Ken Bulmer, Jim Linwood, Phil Rogers and Tony Walsh. The award was for a single issue published between November 1, 1972, and October 31, 1973. Titles submitted were Egg #6, Idiocy Couchant #2, Maya #5, Sfinx #7, Shadow #19, Siddhartha #3, Speculation #32 and Zimri #5. The jury met on the Friday of Novacon 3 and were joined by Field and Ray Bradbury. Linwood later stressed that, despite some people's assumptions, Speculation was not the unanimous choice but it was the winner nevertheless. The award was an 'attractive sculpture in perspex designed and built by Gillon and engraved ... by Ray Bradbury'. (All details from Jim Linwood writing in Cynic #6).
1974 Award
The 1974 jury consisting of Jim Linwood, Greg Pickersgill, Ina Shorrock, Andrew Stephenson and Keith Walker[3] was chosen by Field before her death in March. Reynolds took over as administrator and also attended the meeting, as did Ken Slater who would be presenting the award[4], although neither acted as judges. That panel were unable to reach a consensus and so the award was given jointly to Zimri #6 and Big Scab #2. Peter Roberts wrote in Checkpoint #56:
I have my reservations about the award itself, but I must admit that the trophy looks nice (Ray Bradbury got a Special Award for his work on it). The trouble with the Nova award is (first) that it's given by a panel of aspiring Secret Masters (which wouldn't be so bad if they'd all read all the fmz under consideration) and (second) that only nominated fmz were considered, instead of the whole field. The panel was initially 3 people, but by the time of the convention it somehow swelled to about eight.
1975 Award
In 1975 the panel announced that while they had wanted to give the award to Wrinkled Shrew they felt that under the rules it had to go to Maya. The manner of the presentation led to some criticism in fanzines at the time.
From 1977 the judging panel was discontinued and the award was decided by popular vote of Novacon members able to demonstrate a basic familiarity with the field. Following a debate at Novacon 39 and follow-up discussions at Novacon 40, the rules were changed in 2011 to allow voting by non-Novacon members resident in the UK and Ireland able to meet the 'familiarity' criterion.
Originally there was a sole award for best fanzine. From 1981 Novas were also presented to the best fanzine writer and best fanzine artist and from 1995 there were occasional committee awards for 'best fan'.
Past administrators have included Gillon Field, Hazel Reynolds, Dave Langford, Pam Wells, Paul Vincent, Martin Tudor, Sandra Bond and Tony Berry.
In early years the award took various physical forms but from the mid-1990s it was standardised as a silver rocketship designed by Birmingham fan Ray Bradbury.
In March 2015, Novacon 45 announced the main categories were being retired, although occasional 'committee awards' might still be made.
- ↑ e.g. Novacon 17 progress report 1:'The NOVA is an award for fanzines produced by Science Fiction Fandom in the British Isles, created in 1973 by the late Gillon Field...
- ↑ In Cynic #6, Jim Linwood said that Reynolds wrote to him inviting him to be a judge, and in Cynic #7 Reynolds described the award as 'our little brainchild' and talked of how she encouraged people to nominate fanzines in its first year.
- ↑ Checkpoint #46 (March 1974)
- ↑ Checkpoint #57 (November 1974)
| Award | 1973—2014 |
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