Ted Carnell Society
The Ted Carnell Society was an invitational group created by Dave Kyle in the 1970s with the intent of honouring the memory of Ted Carnell through an award for new writers. It is unclear when it came into being and how long it lasted and whether any awards were presented, and indeed whether anybody other than Kyle was ever involved. It was probably created around 1972–3 and likely did not continue beyond 1975.
Most of our information comes from an undated single-sided flyer presumably produced by Kyle and setting out the Society's objectives:
The TED CARNELL SOCIETY is created to honor the memory of a pioneer in the science fiction field, a man who has always been identified professionally with the development of new writers and the encouragement of talent. THE TED CARNELL SOCIETY has, as its goal, a continuation of his ideals and efforts. As such, the Society will present annually an award to the 'most promising writer of the year', based upon science fiction works published in Great Britain, The Society will present the annual award at its annual dinner meeting in London in the Spring of each year. The award will be determined by an Awards Committee, appointed by the Society Directors. Nominations may be made to the Awards Committee, but the final choice is the Responsibility of the Awards Committee as approved by the Society Directors. The Society membership is by invitation only, dues free, entailing no obligation except to encourage high standards in science fiction as set forth by the rules and policies of the Society. The Directors are five in number, four of whom are permanent and one of whom will be appointed each year. One Director is the executive secretary, responsible for all administration and to whom all correspondence should be directed. In addition to the Directors and the Awards Committee there is a list of Sponsors, to number forty, who will represent personal or professional friends of Edward John Carnell and who will give advice to the Directors.
Carnell died in March 1972 so presumably the Society came into being at some point after that. There is an advertisement for them in the programme book for OMPAcon '73, the 1973 Eastercon, although it only sends greetings and offers no further information.
Checkpoint #62 (April 1975) contains a passing reference to the Society, again offering no real information other than that Kyle was the contact.
There is no evidence that any awards were presented in 1973 or 1974. However, Science Fiction International News #1 (May 1975) carries a call for submissions:
TED CARNELL SOCIETY AWARD: Names of eligible authors (with book title and publisher if possible) are required by the Executive Secretary, David A. Kyle, 'Two Rivers', Hamm Court, Weybridge, Surrey. To be eligible the author must be at an 'early stage' and have work copyrighted in the U.K. in 1974. The name of the winner will be announced at a Society meeting later this year.
Ethel Lindsay provides two capsules reviews of Science Fiction International News in Scottishe #70, noting of the Society 'I never see this mentioned anywhere else' and that she 'would like to know more about the Ted Carnell Society they mention'. On the evidence of the letter column in #71, nobody took up the opportunity to elucidate and we assume that the Society faded away shortly afterwards, always assuming it ever meaningfully existed.
| Award | 1973—1975 |
| This is an award page. If you know something about it, such as who awarded it, who the winners were, what the criteria were, and when it was awarded, please add it! See Standards for Awards. |
| Club | 1973—1975 |
| This is a club page. Please extend it by adding information about when and where the club met, when and by whom it was founded, how long it was active, notable accomplishments, well-known members, clubzines, any conventions it ran, external links to the club's website, other club pages, etc.
When there's a floreat (Fl.), this indicates the time or times for which we have found evidence that the club existed. This is probably not going to represent the club's full lifetime, so please update it if you can! |
