Author: Kevin Standlee

LA in 2026 is Only Bid Filed to Host 2026 Worldcon

~ Kevin Standlee

Glasgow 2024 – A Worldcon for our Futures, announced on February 27, 2024 that the only bid filed to host the 2026 Worldcon is Los Angeles in 2026. Therefore, this is the only bid that will be on the ballot for the site selection election. Per WSFS rules, other bids can file until the close of voting and can be selected as write-in bids. As required by the WSFS Constitution, “None of the Above” will also be on the ballot, and if it wins, the 2026 Worldcon site would be selected by the 2024 WSFS Business Meeting in Glasgow.

Each Worldcon operates independently of all other Worldcons. The election to select the site of the 2026 Worldcon will be conducted by Glasgow 2024, not by the WSFS website.

Further details are included in Glasgow 2024’s Media Release 18, published on their website.

Worldcon Q&A Sessions at SMOFCon 40 Posted

~ Kevin Standlee

Past and current Worldcons and bids for future Worldcons gave presentations and took questions from the members of SMOFCon 40, the convention about running SF&F genre conventions, on the evening of December 2, 2023 in Providence, Rhode Island. Courtesy of SMOFCon 40’s sponsoring organization, MCFI, we have uploaded video of all of the presentations to a Playlist thumbnail: SMOFCon 40 Worldcon Q&A Sessions playlist on the YouTube Worldcon Events channel.

There were presentations from the following Worldcons and bids:

None of the other bids that have previously announced interest and that are currently listed on our Worldcon bids page (Tel Aviv in 2027, Brisbane in 2028, Texas in 2031, Minneapolis in 2073) had representatives at SMOFCon 40.

Seattle Selected to Host 2025 Worldcon

~ Kevin Standlee

The bid from Seattle, Washington, USA, won the election to host the 2025 Worldcon held at the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu, China. The official results announced at the WSFS Business Meeting were as follows:

Seattle: 163
Peggy Rae’s House (write in): 1
Xerps in 2010 (write in): 2

Total With Preference: 166
Needed to Elect (majority): 84

No Preference: 2
Total Ballots Cast: 168

Although the WSFS Constitution requires that ballots cast in advance be reported separately from those cast at the convention, but the election administrator failed to do so. According the 2023 WSFS Business Meeting Chair Donald Eastlake III, “It is believed the 168 ballots consisted of 149 or 150 by mail and 18 or 19 on site.”

You can watch the announcement of the votes and the initial presentation from the newly-seated 2025 Worldcon committee on the Worldcon Events YouTube channel.

The 2025 Worldcon will be called Seattle Worldcon 2025: Building Yesterday’s Future — for Everyone. The convention’s announced Guests of Honor are Martha Wells, Donato Giancola, Bridget Landry, and Alexander James Adams, with hosts K. Tempest Bradford and Nisi Shawl. The convention will be held August 13-17, 2025 at the Seattle Convention Center Summit expansion, Sheraton Grand Seattle, and neighboring hotels.

Seattle is Only Bid on Ballot for 2025 Worldcon

~ Kevin Standlee

According to the June 5, 2023 edition of the Seattle in 2025 Worldcon Bid newsletter, the Seattle bid to hold the 2025 Worldcon August 13-17, 2025 at the Seattle Convention Center was the only bid filed with the Chengdu 2023 Worldcon committee before the filing deadline. This means that Seattle will be the only bid listed on the ballot. Write-in bids can file up until the end of the election, which will take place at the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu, China.

Seattle has posted their filing documents on their web site.

Memphis Withdraws from 2023 Worldcon Race

~ Kevin Standlee

On October 17, 2021, the leaders of the Memphis in 2023 Worldcon Bid, Kate Secor and Cliff Dunn, issued an announcement to its supporters that they were folding the bid to host Worldcon 81:

It is with great sadness that we let you know that the Memphis in 2023 bid has folded. The challenges and uncertainties surrounding the pandemic have severely hampered our ability to run the campaign we had been hoping to so it has led us to fold this bid. We thank you so much for all of your support and appreciate that you believed in us. Those of you who are still due t-shirts, we will be mailing those out to you soon.

When the site selection ballot is released by DisCon III, you will see a WITHDRAWN watermark over our listing on the ballot – that is what DC III has told us they will be doing. We are going to throw a thank you party at DisCon III and invite you to come by and let us toast you and your support. We look forward to seeing so many of you that we sadly haven’t seen in so long.

Our very best,

Kate and Cliff

The remaining bids are for Chengdu, China, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The election to select the 2023 Worldcon will take place at DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon, which will be in Washington DC the weekend of December 15-19, 2021. Members of DisCon III will vote on the site of the convention. Members will be able to vote in advance by mail or in person at the convention, with the voting scheduled to open the first day of the convention and to continue through the evening of December 17. The results will be announced at the World Science Fiction Society business meeting on December 18. See the DisCon III 2023 Worldcon Site Selection page for more information.