Return to 1999 Business Meeting Minutes
1.1. Mark Protection Committee
See the World Science Fiction Society Constitution, Sections 1.7 and 1.8, and Standing Rules 11 and 12.
A written report was presented to the Main Business Meeting. .All Business was disposed of at this meeting.
Stephen Boucher, Gary Keith Feldbaum and Sue Francis (Central) were elected to the MPC vacancies..
1.2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee
A written report was presented to the Preliminary Business Meeting. All Business was disposed of at this meeting.
1.3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee
A written report was presented to the Main Business Meeting. All Business was disposed of at this meeting.
3.1 Tidying Site Selection [Business disposed of at the main Business Meeting.]
3.2 No-Zone Rotation [Business disposed of at the main Business Meeting.]
Items under this heading have not been given first passage, and will become part of the Constitution only if passed at Aussiecon 3 and ratified at Chicon 2000.
4.1 The Long and Short of It (20 minutes debate time allowed)
MOVED, To amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to have the effect of splitting the existing Best Dramatic Presentation category into two categories, Long Form and Short Form, to regulate the administration of such categories, and for other purposes, as follows.
1. Strike out existing Section 3.3.6, "Best Dramatic Presentation."
2. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.3.5:
3.3.x: BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM: Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects, which has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year, with a complete running time of more than 100 minutes.
3. Insert the following section before existing Section 3.3.7
3.3.x: BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM: Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects, which has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year, with a complete running time of 100 minutes or less.
4. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.2.5:
3.2.x: The Worldcon Committee shall not consider previews, promotional trailers, commercials, public service announcements, or other extraneous material when determining the length of a work.
5. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.2.6:
3.2.x: The Worldcon Committee may relocate a dramatic presentation work into a more appropriate category if it feels that it is necessary, provided that the length of the work is within the lesser of twenty (20) minutes or twenty percent (20%) of the new category limits.
Moved by Chris Barkley, Kevin Standlee and Lew Wolkoff
4.1B The Medium is the Message
MOVED, To amend 4.1 by substituting the following:
To amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to have the effect of splitting the existing Best Dramatic Presentation category into two categories, Theatrical and Non-Theatrical, to regulate the administration of such categories, and for other purposes, as follows.
1. Strike out existing Section 3.3.6, "Best Dramatic Presentation."
2. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.3.5:
3.3.x: BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, THEATRICAL: Any production in any dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects, which has been presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year in a medium intended for theatrical presentation, such as a motion picture or stage play.
3. Insert the following section before existing Section 3.3.7
3.3.x: BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, NON-THEATRICAL: Any production of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects, which has been presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year in a medium other than theatrical.
4. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.2.6:
3.2.x: The Worldcon Committee may relocate a dramatic presentation work into a more appropriate category if it feels that it is necessary.
5. Insert the following section before existing Section 3.2.7:
3.2.x: Previews, promotional trailers, commercials, public service announcements and similar extraneous material shall not be considered to be all or part of a dramatic presentation.
Moved by Richard Russell
4.2 Return to two-year bidding [Business disposed of at the Main Business Meeting.]
4.3 Rest-of-the-World Hugo Eligibility
This proposal was referred by the Preliminary Business Meeting to a committee chaired by Vincent Docherty to report back. They have reported the following proposed amendment.
MOVED: To amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:
In Section 3.2.1: replace "appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year" with "appearing for the first time during the previous two calendar years".
Add Section 3.8.x: "No nominee shall be eligible which has already appeared on a final ballot."
Moved by Vincent Docherty and Dr Andrew Adams and amended by a special committee of makers plus Dave Ratti, ‘Zanne Labonville and Tim Illingworth.
Discussion: The proposal reflects the concern that the publication schedules of non-North American books and fiction magazines makes it less likely that most of the voters will have read them in time to nominate them. Often this only occurs after these works have gone out of eligibility. The last Novel by a non-North American to win the Hugo was The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C Clarke in 1980.
The proposed amendment will affect only the four fiction categories – Novel, Novella, Novelette and Short Story, the other categories being specified individually.
4.4 Amending No-Zone Rotation
Moved: To amend the altered 4.7 by replacing "five hundred (500) miles or eight hundred (800) kilometers" with "three hundred (300) miles or four hundred and eighty (480) kilometers".
[to be the first items considered]
5.1 Report of the 2002 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners
5.2 Reports by seated Worldcons
5.3 Presentation by bidders for 2003
Return to 1999 Business Meeting Minutes
Pat McMurray pat@cooky.demon.co.uk