Noreascon Four

Psssst! Got a Hugo base design?

From the sublime to the amazing, the elegant to the astounding, the bases for the Hugo Awards change yearly, depending on the whim and aesthetic judgment of each year's Worldcon committee.

Noreascon Four would like your creative insights and other-worldly engineering proposals for the perfect base on which to mount the treasured silver rocket denoting excellence in science fiction and fantasy.

We request that all proposals conform to certain basic principles:

(1) They must be designed in such a way that the silver Hugo rocket is an integral part of the design. We will supply the rockets, which are bolted to the base from below the tailfins. Ease of attachment should be a design consideration.

See our design specifications and some past Hugo Award bases.

(2) The design must stand on a flat surface in some way (please do not craft a *hanging* design, or one only appropriate for zero-G).

(3) You must allow space for a plaque indicating the winner and category of the award won.

(4) Oh, and just so you know: we're wicked allergic to bases that have small bits falling off of them (or which disintegrate in someone's luggage!).

Designs should be submitted by 1 October 2003 and should include drawings/sketches/sample of the proposed base unit. Please tell us

how much it would cost to fabricate 20 bases,

the lead time needed for fabrication, and

your ability to either craft the bases or arrange for the work to be done.

As a guideline, bases should cost $100 each or less to fabricate, and the finished bases should be sent to Noreascon Four not later than 15 July 2004.

Noreascon Four will also be awarding
Retrospective Hugos for work done in 1953, and we will use a different Hugo base design for those awards. If you have a remarkable idea for a base honoring this historic work in the field, please send that to us, too. You may submit designs, either by mail or electronically, in either or both categories.

Just imagine going to the 112th Worldcon in 2054, and overhearing some young whippersnapper say, of the Hugo base you designed, "Wow! I didn't know they could do stuff like that back then!"

Noreascon 4 Meetings

We haven't seen you lately. Yes. You. The one looking at the monitor. Where've you been hiding?

Oh. Right. You couldn't find us?

Well, let us tell you about our meetings. We've got one on April 30 in Somerville, Mass. It is our regularly scheduled business-ish meeting.

On May 3, we'll have a fairly lively discussion about Noreascon 4's activities at this year's worldcon, Torcon 3 in Toronto. This "Gulp" meeting (a brainstorming session) will happen in Littleton, Mass. at Ann Broomhead & Tim Szczesuil's home.

And we'll have our first Open Meeting for the Noreascon Four committee and staff on June 6-8, in the Marriott Copley Place in Boston.

If you're interested in coming, just let us know. Email us at info@noreascon.org for more information.

Staffing the Worldcon

We've been working on contacting and recruiting Volunteers for the myriad of tasks that need to be done on any Worldcon, and we'll be working on this job for quite a while. To see who's agreed to help us whitewash this fence make Noreascon Four run like a top, see our committee structure page.

If you'd like to volunteer (or at least offer not to run fast when we chase you) to help, please fill out our Online Volunteer Form. You can also feel free to contact our departments directly. We have links to all divisions available at our web site.

First Tunnel opens on the Big Dig!

Last weekend the northbound tube of the Big Dig opened to traffic and half the elevated Central Artery was shut down.

The new tunnel is wide and well-lit and is a joy to drive. North of downtown, it climbs up out of the ground to cross the Charles and Mystic rivers on the really spiffy new Bunker Hill bridge. Now that the northbound tube is open, the elevated southbound traffic will be moved so that the southbound tube can be finished and connected in.

The point to this all is to relieve the awful traffic jams on the Central Artery and roads leading into it. There was irony aplenty, though, when on opening day (a Sunday yet!) traffic in the new tunnel was down to 5 miles per hour due to all the sightseers. Many tens of thousands of people — more than a normal day's rush hour — hopped in their cars and headed off to drive the tunnel.

There are two phases left to completion of the Big Dig:

Phase 3: Opening the Central Artery Tunnel southbound tube (due in early 2004)

Phase 4: Removal of the old roadway and conversion to parklands (due in 2005)

By the time Noreascon 4 rolls around, the roads will be complete and open and the old roadway largely removed, but the parkland will not yet be ready, though -- unless they rush things in time for the the Democratic National Convention earlier in the summer.