FAN AWARDS

— The first fannish awards were the FAPA Laureates, which were awarded to members on an annual basis, though they were phased out by 1945. The National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F), founded in 1941, also offered laureates.

Then the Annual Science Fiction Achievement Awards, determined by popular vote and having both pro and fannish categories, was presented at the 1953 Worldcon. By 1955 they were known as the HUGO awards, after Hugo Gernsback, the creator of America’s first SF prozine AMAZING STORIES. The Hugos remain the world’s most prestigious SF awards.

A spoof version of the HUGO is the HOGU awards, created in 1972 by Tom Digby. Other spoof awards, for both fans and pros, are the Canadian ELRON awards, created in 1971, and the BLACKHOLE awards, created in 1973.

Another serious pro/fan award is the Canadian AURORA, first established in 1980.

But the most important fannish awards, at least to actifans in zinedom, are the Fanzine Activity Achievement Awards, or FAAns, created by US fan Moshe Feder and first presented at MidWestCon in 1975. Unlike the Hugo fan awards, which any fan can vote for, the FAAns are peer group awards, and thus especially meaningful to the winners.

For years I kicked around the idea of creating the CanFAAn Awards, or Canadian Fanzine Activity Achievement Awards. I thought it was an idea whose time has come. Hmmm… In fact I eventually founded the Canadian Fanzine Fanac Awards (Faneds) and the society is now into its third year.

[ See CanFAAn Awards, CFFA, FAAn, Faneds, FAPA, LAUREATES, HUGO, HOGU, ELRON, BLACKHOLE, AURORA ]