Worldcon

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Nycon Program Book heading by Frank R. Paul, from Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Convention, is the principal annual gathering of science fiction fandom — fandom's family reunion. The one, the only, annual world science fiction convention at which the Hugo Awards are given out. It is an entirely volunteer-run effort.

As a service mark, not to mention proper name, "Worldcon" should always be capitalized. (Technically it may not be necessary for Worldcons held before it was made a service mark, but why split hairs?) It is incorrect (but sadly increasingly frequent) to CamelCase it as "WorldCon."

In a custom begun by Forrest J Ackerman at the first Worldcon, in New York in 1939, which he dubbed Nycon, every Worldcon has a pet name, often associated with its location, beside being the Nth Worldcon.

The Worldcon has been held since 1939 (except during 1942–45, World War II), and moves to a different city each year. It is the oldest sf convention with a continuing existence. While most Worldcons have occurred in the United States, the event has been hosted by Australia (4x), Canada (5x), China, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (7x). It would have been held New Zealand in 2020 if Covid-19 hadn’t forced it online.

Traditionally, the Worldcon in the US was held over Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September, aka Roscoe’s Birthday), a date chosen not only because most fans have the holiday off work but also because it was an unpopular weekend for mundane meetings, giving Worldcon a better position in regard to facilities. However, this is no longer the case, and since the late 1990s Worldcon bidders choose dates any time from midsummer to early fall. (Indeed, Dragoncon’s choice to hold its gate show over Labor Day has caused some Worldcons to deliberately avoid the weekend due to complaints from pros about the conflict.)

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959
The chief annual gathering of fans is usually designated as an "International Convention."

See Convention.

Officially sponsored by the the World Science Fiction Society, the Worldcon is run by a different organization each year. Each committee bids to run it and is selected by vote of the WSFS membership two years in advance (see Site Selection).

Worldcon Committees[edit]

Each Worldcon committee is nearly always legally incorporated in the local jurisdiction. In the United States, these are usually set up as non-profit corporations. The organizers may be standalone committees, or the Worldcon may be a project of an existing local club.

There is no continuing or central organization. (WSFS is unincorporated and has no officers or staff or budget.) Thus each Worldcon is entirely independent. Worldcon concoms do agree to be bound by the WSFS constitution in effect when they’re selected, but this is enforced entirely by fannish public opinion. (Which is surprisingly powerful!)

All committee work is done by unpaid volunteers and WSFS rules direct that any surplus be spent for the benefit of fandom.

More Reading[edit]

See also: Worldcon proceedings, Worldcons by Area, Convention, WSFS.

No. Convention Dates Location Chair GoHs Members
(attend./ total)
1 Nycon July 2–4, 1939 New York Sam Moskowitz Frank R. Paul 200
2 Chicon September 1–2, 1940 Chicago Mark Reinsberg E. E. Smith 128
3 Denvention July 4–6, 1941 Denver Olon F. Wiggins Robert A. Heinlein 90
War years 1942–1945 No Worldcon held.
4 Pacificon 1942 July 4–7, 1946 Los Angeles Walter J. Daugherty A. E. van Vogt, E. Mayne Hull 130
5 Philcon August 30–September 1, 1947 Philadelphia Milton Rothman John W. Campbell, Jr. 200
6 Torcon July 3–5, 1948 Toronto Ned McKeown Robert Bloch, Bob Tucker 200
7 Cinvention September 3–5, 1949 Cincinnati Charles R. Tanner (honorary), Don Ford (acting) Lloyd A. Eshbach, Ted Carnell 190
8 NorWesCon September 1–4, 1950 Portland Donald B. Day Anthony Boucher 400
9 Nolacon September 1–3, 1951 New Orleans Harry B. Moore Fritz Leiber 190
10 Chicon II August 30–September 1, 1952 Chicago Julian C. May Hugo Gernsback 870 / 1,175
11 Philcon II September 5–7, 1953 Philadelphia Milton Rothman Willy Ley 750
12 SFCon September 3–6, 1954 San Francisco Lester Cole, Gary Nelson John W. Campbell, Jr. 700
13 Clevention September 2–5, 1955 Cleveland Nick & Noreen Falasca Isaac Asimov, Sam Moskowitz 380
14 NyCon II August 31–September 3, 1956 New York Dave Kyle Arthur C. Clarke 850
15 Loncon September 6–9, 1957 London Ted Carnell John W. Campbell, Jr. 268
16 Solacon August 29–September 1, 1958 Los Angeles Anna S. Moffatt Richard Matheson 322 / 601
17 Detention September 4–7, 1959 Detroit Roger Sims, Fred Prophet Poul Anderson, John Berry 371
18 Pittcon September 3–5, 1960 Pittsburgh Dirce Archer James Blish 568
19 Seacon September 2–4, 1961 Seattle Wally Weber Robert A. Heinlein 300
20 Chicon III August 31–September 3, 1962 Chicago Earl Kemp Theodore Sturgeon 730 / 830
21 Discon August 31–September 2, 1963 Washington, D.C. George Scithers Murray Leinster 600
22 Pacificon II September 4–7, 1964 Oakland J. Ben Stark, Al Halevy Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Forrest J Ackerman 523
23 Loncon II August 27–30, 1965 London Ella Parker Brian W. Aldiss 350
24 Tricon September 1–5, 1966 Cleveland Ben Jason, Howard DeVore, Lou Tabakow L. Sprague de Camp 850
25 NyCon3 August 31–September 4, 1967 New York Ted White, Dave Van Arnam Lester del Rey, Bob Tucker 1,500
26 Baycon August 29–September 2, 1968 Berkeley Bill Donaho, Alva Rogers,
J. Ben Stark		 Philip José Farmer, Walter J. Daugherty 1,430
27 St. Louiscon August 28–September 1, 1969 St. Louis Ray & Joyce Fisher Jack Gaughan, Eddie Jones 1,534
28 Heicon '70 August 20–24, 1970 Heidelberg, Germany Manfred Kage E. C. Tubb, Robert Silverberg, Herbert W. Franke, Elliot K. Shorter 620
29 Noreascon September 2–6, 1971 Boston Tony Lewis Clifford D. Simak, Harry Warner, Jr. 1,600
30 L.A.Con September 1–4, 1972 Los Angeles Charles Crayne, Bruce Pelz Frederik Pohl, Buck & Juanita Coulson 2,007
31 Torcon II August 31–September 3, 1973 Toronto John Millard Robert Bloch, Bill Rotsler 2,900
32 Discon II August 29–September 2, 1974 Washington, D.C. Ron Bounds, Jay Haldeman Roger Zelazny, Jay Kay Klein 3,587
33 Aussiecon August 14–17, 1975 Melbourne, Australia Robin Johnson Ursula K. Le Guin, Susan Wood, Mike Glicksohn, Donald Tuck 606
34 MidAmeriCon September 2–6, 1976 Kansas City Ken Keller Robert A. Heinlein, George Barr 3,014 / 4,200
35 SunCon August 2–5, 1977 Miami Beach Don Lundry Jack Williamson, Robert A. Madle 3,240
36 IguanaCon II August 30–September 4, 1978 Phoenix Tim Kyger Harlan Ellison, Bill Bowers 4,700
37 Seacon '79 August 23–26, 1979 Brighton, UK Peter Weston Brian Aldiss, Fritz Leiber, Harry Bell 3,114
38 Noreascon Two August 29–September 1, 1980 Boston Leslie Turek Damon Knight, Kate Wilhelm, Bruce Pelz 5,850
39 Denvention Two September 3–7, 1981 Denver Suzanne Carnival, Don C. Thompson Clifford D. Simak, C. L. Moore, Rusty Hevelin 3,792
40 Chicon IV September 2–6, 1982 Chicago Ross Pavlac, Larry Propp A. Bertram Chandler, Frank Kelly Freas, Lee Hoffman 4,275
41 ConStellation September 1–5, 1983 Baltimore Michael J. Walsh John Brunner, David A. Kyle 6,400
42 L.A.con II August 30–September 3, 1984 Los Angeles Craig Miller, Milt Stevens Gordon R. Dickson, Dick Eney 8,365 / 9,282
43 Aussiecon Two August 22–26, 1985 Melbourne, Australia David Grigg Gene Wolfe, Ted White 1,599
44 ConFederation August 28–September 1, 1986 Atlanta Penny Frierson, Ron Zukowski Ray Bradbury, Terry Carr 5,811
45 Conspiracy '87 August 27–September 1, 1987 Brighton, UK Paul Oldroyd Doris Lessing, Alfred Bester, Arkady & Boris Strugatsky, Jim Burns, Ray Harryhausen, Joyce Slater, Ken Slater, David Langford 4,009 / 5,425
46 Nolacon II September 1–5, 1988 New Orleans John H. Guidry Donald A. Wollheim, Roger Sims 5,300
47 Noreascon 3 August 31–September 4, 1989 Boston Mark L. Olson Andre Norton, Ian & Betty Ballantine, the Stranger Club 6,837 / 7,795
48 ConFiction August 23–27, 1990 The Hague, Netherlands Kees van Toorn Harry Harrison, Wolfgang Jeschke, Joe Haldeman, Andrew Porter 3,580
49 Chicon V August 29–September 2, 1991 Chicago Kathleen Meyer Hal Clement, Martin H. Greenberg, Richard Powers, Jon & Joni Stopa 5,661
50 MagiCon September 3–7, 1992 Orlando Joe Siclari Jack Vance, Vincent Di Fate, Walter A. Willis 5,319 / 6,368
51 ConFrancisco September 2–6, 1993 San Francisco David W. Clark Larry Niven, Alicia Austin, Tom Digby, Jan Howard Finder 6,602 / 7,725
52 ConAdian September 1–5, 1994 Winnipeg John Mansfield Anne McCaffrey, George Barr, Robert Runte 3,570
53 Intersection August 24–28, 1995 Glasgow Vincent Docherty, Martin Easterbrook Samuel R. Delany, Gerry Anderson, Les Edwards, Vincent Clarke 4,173/ 6,524
54 L.A.con III August 29–September 2, 1996 Los Angeles Mike Glyer James White, Roger Corman, Elsie Wollheim, Takumi & Sachiko Shibano 6,703
55 LoneStarCon 2 August 28–September 1, 1997 San Antonio Karen Meschke Algis Budrys, Michael Moorcock, Don Maitz, Roy Tackett 4,634 / 5,614
56 BucConeer August 5–9, 1998 Baltimore Peggy Rae Pavlat C. J. Cherryh, Stanley Schmidt, Michael Whelan, J. Michael Straczynski, Milton A. Rothman 6,572
57 Aussiecon Three September 2–6, 1999 Melbourne, Australia Perry Middlemiss George Turner, Greg Benford, Bruce Gillespie 1,548 / 2,872
58 Chicon 2000 August 31–September 4, 2000 Chicago Tom Veal Ben Bova, Bob Eggleton, Jim Baen, Bob & Anne Passovoy 5,794 / 6,574
59 Millennium Philcon August 29–September 3, 2001 Philadelphia Todd Dashoff Greg Bear, Stephen Youll, Gardner Dozois, George Scithers 4,840 / 6,269
60 ConJosé August 29–September 2, 2002 San Jose Tom Whitmore, Kevin Standlee Vernor Vinge, David Cherry, Bjo & John Trimble 5,162 / 5,916
61 Torcon 3 August 28–September 1, 2003 Toronto Peter Jarvis George R. R. Martin, Frank Kelly Freas, Robert Bloch, Mike Glyer 3,834 / 4,986
62 Noreascon 4 September 2–6, 2004 Boston Deb Geisler Terry Pratchett, William Tenn, Jack Speer, Peter Weston 6,008 / 7,485
63 Interaction August 4–8, 2005 Glasgow Vincent Docherty, Colin Harris Christopher Priest, Robert Sheckley, Jane Yolen, Greg Pickersgill, Lars-Olov Strandberg 4,115 / 5,202
64 L.A.con IV August 23–27, 2006 Los Angeles Christian B. McGuire Connie Willis, James Gurney, Howard DeVore, Frankie Thomas 5,738 / 6,291
65 Nippon 2007 August 30–September 3, 2007 Yokohama, Japan Hiroaki Inoue Sakyo Komatsu, David Brin, Yoshitaka Amano, Michael Whelan, Takumi Shibano 3,348 / 5,149
66 Denvention 3 August 6–10, 2008 Denver Kent Bloom Lois McMaster Bujold, Rick Sternbach, Kathy Mar, Tom Whitmore 3,752 / 4,854
67 Anticipation August 6–10, 2009 Montreal René Walling, Robbie Bourget Neil Gaiman, Elisabeth Vonarburg, David Hartwell, Tom Doherty, Taral Wayne 3,925 / 4,499
68 Aussiecon 4 September 2–6, 2010 Melbourne, Australia Perry Middlemiss, Rose Mitchell Kim Stanley Robinson, Shaun Tan, Robin Johnson 2,101 / 3,462
69 Renovation August 17–21, 2011 Reno, NV Patty Wells Ellen Asher, Tim Powers, Charles N. Brown, Boris Vallejo 4,112 / 5,526
70 Chicon 7 August 30–September 3, 2012 Chicago Dave McCarty Mike Resnick, Story Musgrave, Jane Frank, Rowena Morrill, Peggy Rae Sapienza 4,743 / 6,197
71 LoneStarCon 3 August 29–September 2, 2013 San Antonio Randall Shepherd James Gunn, Norman Spinrad, Ellen Datlow, Darrell K. Sweet, Willie Siros 4,832 / 6,130
72 Loncon 3 August 14–18, 2014 London Steve Cooper, Alice Lawson Iain M. Banks, John Clute, Malcolm Edwards, Chris Foss, Jeanne Gomoll, Robin Hobb, Bryan Talbot 6,946 / 10,718
73 Sasquan August 19–23, 2015 Spokane, WA Sally Woehrle David Gerrold, Vonda N. McIntyre, Brad Foster, Dr. Kjell Lindgren, Tom Smith, Leslie Turek 5,077 / 11,742
74 MidAmeriCon 2 August 17–21, 2016 Kansas City Ruth Lichtwardt Kinuko Y. Craft, Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Tamora Pierce, Michael Swanwick 4,719 / 7,740
75 Worldcon 75 August 9–13, 2017 Helsinki, Finland Jukka Halme John-Henri Holmberg, Nalo Hopkinson, Johanna Sinisalo, Claire Wendling, Walter Jon Williams, Ian Stewart 7,949 / 9,634
76 ConJose 2 August 16–20, 2018 San Jose Kevin Roche Spider Robinson, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Pierre & Sandy Pettinger 4,804 / 8,033
77 Dublin 2019 August 15–19, 2019 Dublin, Ireland James Bacon Bill Burns, Mary Burns, Diane Duane, Ginjer Buchanan, Ian McDonald, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Steve Jackson 6,525 / 8,430
78 CoNZealand July 29–August 2, 2020 Wellington, NZ Online Norman Cates, Kelly Buehler Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon, Greg Broadmore, Rose Mitchell 1,847 (virtual) / 4,624
79 Discon III August 25–29, 2021
December 15–19, 2021		 Washington, D.C. Mary Robinette Kowal Nancy Kress, John Harris, Toni Weisskopf, Ben Yalow 2,359 (+ 952 virt.) / 8,721
80 Chicon 8 September 1–5, 2022 Chicago Helen Montgomery Charles de Lint, Floyd Norman, Erle Korshak, Edie Stern & Joe Siclari, Steven Barnes & Tananarive Due 3,574 (+ 513 vir­t.) / 6,500
81 Chengdu Worldcon August 16-20, 2023
October 18-22, 2023		 Chengdu, China Ben Yalow, Hongwei He, Chen Shi Cixin Liu, Sergey Lukianenko, Robert J. Sawyer TBD
82 Glasgow 2024 August 8–12, 2024 Glasgow, Scotland Esther MacCallum-Stewart Chris Baker (aka Fangorn), Claire Brialey & Mark Plummer, Ken MacLeod, Nnedi Okorafor, Terri Windling 7,240 (+ 618 virt.) / 8,845[1]
83 Seacon '25 August 13-17, 2025 Seattle Kathy Bond Martha Wells, Donato Giancola, Bridget Landry, Alexander James Adams n/a w/o a TM
84 LAcon V August 27-31, 2026 Los Angeles, CA Joyce Lloyd Barbara Hambly, Ronald D. Moore, Coleen Doran, Tim Kirk, Geri Sullivan, Anita Sengupta, Stan Sakai TBD
  1. ↑ https://glasgow2024.org/newsletter/2024/08/the-unicorn-issue-8/


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