James White Award Presentation, 2002
Novacon 32, Walsall, England
Philip
K Dick has given his name to one, as have Theodore Sturgeon and George
Turner. And James Tiptree Junior and William Atheling, although they were
only pseudonyms in the first place, whereas John W Campbell has done it
twice.
There are many awards in the field of science fiction and fantasy writing.
They exist to acknowledge the best work -- usually with some kind of focus
on a particular medium, publishing format, sub-genre or country -- but
their names often additionally serve to memorialise the genre's finest
practitioners in an appropriate manner. Thus the Philip K Dick Award goes
to a book first published in the US as a paperback original, a recognition
of the contemporary work published in this format and also a reminder
that many of the novels written by one of the genre's greatest writers
were also first issued in this way. On this basis, one might almost expect
the James White Award to have been created to honour the Good People within
the science fiction field, but it's also appropriate that such an influential
author should give his name to a short story competition for non-professional
writers.
A new writer could make something of a splash with a first book. I reckon
it should be possible to amass about 18 awards in total for your first
novel -- if, that is, you're an Australian author whose first published
work is a juvenile gender role-transcending libertarian romantic alternative
history novel set in Memphis, which contains both sf and fantasy elements
and which appears simultaneously in Australia, the UK, the US (as a paperback
original) and as a Japanese translation -- as by my count that puts you
in the frame for the Hugo, Campbell, Nebula, World Fantasy, Compton Cook,
Sidewise, Tiptree, Ditmar, Darrell, Seiun, Dick, Clarke, BSFA, British
Fantasy, George Turner, Prometheus, Sapphire and Golden Duck awards. However,
at the risk of stating the obvious, it's not all that likely a scenario,
so you might be better off setting your sights on the James White Award,
an annual award first presented in 2000 which this year, for the first
time, crossed the Irish Sea to stage its presentation at an English convention.
Novacon was held in Walsall over the weekend 1-3 November 2002. It's the
second longest-running British convention series, held annually since
1971, usually in the Birmingham area and usually in November (although
it took me years to spot the connection between the name of the convention
and the month in which is normally takes place). James White himself was
a Guest of Honour in its first year, and again at Novacon 15. The guest
for this year's thirty-second outing was Ian McDonald, probably Ireland's
leading contemporary sf writer, and there were also a number of other
writers and artists -- including Iain Banks, David Hardy, Ben Jeapes,
Gwyneth Jones, Leigh Kennedy and John Meaney -- amongst the 270-odd attendees.
There's an aspect of longevity about Novacon. A small handful of the members
of this year's convention also attended that first 1971 event and every
Novacon in between; many more have been going for 10 or 20 years. These
days Novacon is often seen as a relaxed affair, but its audience remains
enthusiastic about sf: there was a brisk trade in the dealers' room, and
UK publishers should note that American and second-hand editions of James
White's novels and collections remain very much in demand.
As usual, the formal -- in the loosest sense of the word -- business of
the convention was wrapped up in a closing ceremony featuring the presentation
of the Nova awards for fan writing and publishing and the legendary raffle
(which in the past has taken almost geological periods of time to complete
although after years of practice they've now got it down to a few minutes).
These traditional elements were followed by the presentation of the James
White Award.
The
public face of the JWA, an immaculately-attired James Bacon, took the
stage and everybody agreed that he scrubs up quite nicely when he's being
respectable. In fact, he may possibly be the first fan ever to have found
a use for the obligatory trouser press with which most hotels insist on
cluttering their bedrooms, and there were several calls from the audience
for the creation of a new award in recognition of this achievement. James
thanked the judges -- Orson Scott Card, Michael Carroll, Christopher Fowler,
Graham Joyce and David Pringle and sponsors Interzone-- and introduced
long-time Irish fan Graham Andrews who spoke fondly of James White, followed
by Ian McDonald who echoedthe sentiments and acknowledged the influence
on his own work.
Finally James's granddaughter, Sinead Larkin, presented the award to the
2002 winner, Julian West, whose story, 'Vita Brevis Ars Longa' will be
published in an upcoming issue of INTERZONE. As Julian remarked in his
acceptance speech, 'In bizarro world, Orson Scott Card reads my stories.'
Of course, by the very nature of the Award, Julian and his work were unknown
to just about everybody at the presentation but the introductory speakers
had very much set a context: James White was such a universally liked
individual, as a writer and as a person, that you really felt that an
award bearing his name had got to be worth it.
The James White Award does not tie itself to any particular event or even
country; previous presentations have taken place in Dublin and Belfast.
But in a few years' time, the Award may again return to Novacon where
perhaps there will be special recognition for James Bacon and his neatly
pressed trousers...
---Mark Plummer 7 November 2002
