Thursday, May 24, 2007

The Alvar award

The Alvar Appeltofft memorial award is given to a Swedish science fiction fan every year, for "extensive and important idealistic work of lasting worth to Swedish science fiction fandom".

I got this award for the year 2000, and I'm very proud of it. Traditionally it has been given to young and enthusiastic fans, to encourage more fanac. In the last decade there has been a shift towards giving it for lifetime achievement, and so for example Lars-Olov Strandberg (you might remember him as Guest of Honour at Interaction, the Worldcon 2005) got it in 1999 after more than 40 years in fandom. He was worthy, no doubt, but I think it's good if the prize is given to up-and-coming fans more often.

So this year I try to run something of a campaign to convince fans to vote for Johan Jönsson. He's very active, running several online projects and writing in every magazine and fanzine in reach. Most of it in Swedish, but he wrote about maps in fantasy on Strange Horizons, an article which was discussed at The Mumpsimus.

If I could find my digital camera I would show you the piece of art that came with my award. Maybe another day.

(Updated the sentence commented by Johan A.)

1 comment:

Johan A said...

>>So this year I try to run something of a campaign to make fans<<

So far you've just made one, although she is adorable. Not much of a campaign! (Or are you trying to tell us something? ;)