Worldcon

Nycon Program Book heading by Frank R. Paul, from Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Convention, is the principal annual gathering of science fiction fandom — fandom's family reunion. The one, the only, annual world science fiction convention at which the Hugo Awards are given out. It is an entirely volunteer-run effort.

As a service mark, not to mention proper name, "Worldcon" should always be capitalized. (Technically it may not be necessary for Worldcons held before it was made a service mark, but why split hairs?) It is incorrect (but sadly increasingly frequent) to CamelCase it as "WorldCon."

In a custom begun by Forrest J Ackerman at the first Worldcon, in New York in 1939, which he dubbed Nycon, every Worldcon has a pet name, often associated with its location, as well as being the Nth Worldcon.

The Worldcon has been held since 1939 (except during 1942–45, World War II), and moves to a different city each year. It is the oldest sf convention with a continuing existence. While most Worldcons have occurred in the United States, the event has been hosted by Australia (4x), Canada (5x), Finland, Ireland, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (7x). It would have been held New Zealand in 2020 if Covid-19 hadn’t forced it online, and is to be in China in 2023.

Traditionally, the Worldcon in the US was held over Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September, aka Roscoe’s Birthday), a date chosen not only because most fans have the holiday off work but also because it was an unpopular weekend for mundane meetings, giving Worldcon a better position in regard to facilities. However, this is no longer the case, and since the late 1990s Worldcon bidders choose dates any time from midsummer to early fall. (Indeed, Dragoncon’s choice to hold its gate show over Labor Day has caused some Worldcons to deliberately avoid the weekend due to complaints from pros about the conflict.)

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

The chief annual gathering of fans is usually designated as an "International Convention." See Convention.

Officially sponsored by the the World Science Fiction Society, the Worldcon is run by a different organization each year. Each committee bids to run it and is selected by vote of the WSFS membership two years in advance (see Site Selection).

Worldcon Committees

Each Worldcon committee is nearly always legally incorporated in the local jurisdiction. In the United States, these are usually set up as non-profit corporations. The organizers may be standalone committees, or the Worldcon may be a project of an existing local club.

There is no continuing or central organization. (WSFS is unincorporated and has no officers or staff or budget.) Thus each Worldcon is entirely independent. Worldcon concoms do agree to be bound by the WSFS constitution in effect when they’re selected, but this is enforced entirely by fannish public opinion. (Which is surprisingly powerful!)

All committee work is done by unpaid volunteers and WSFS rules direct that any surplus be spent for the benefit of fandom.

More Reading

• The SmofInfo Long List of Worldcons.
• Worldcon pages at Fanac.org, with progress reports and souvenir book scans.
• Schedule pages.
• Official website.

See also: Worldcon proceedings, Worldcons by Area, Convention, WSFS.

No.	Convention	Dates	Location	Chair	GoHs	Members (attend./ total)
1	Nycon	July 2–4, 1939	New York	Sam Moskowitz	Frank R. Paul	200
2	Chicon	September 1–2, 1940	Chicago	Mark Reinsberg	E. E. Smith	128
3	Denvention	July 4–6, 1941	Denver	Olon F. Wiggins	Robert A. Heinlein	90
War years		1942–1945	No Worldcon held.
4	Pacificon	1942 July 4–7, 1946	Los Angeles	Walter J. Daugherty	A. E. van Vogt, E. Mayne Hull	130
5	Philcon	August 30–September 1, 1947	Philadelphia	Milton Rothman	John W. Campbell, Jr.	200
6	Torcon	July 3–5, 1948	Toronto	Ned McKeown	Robert Bloch, Bob Tucker	200
7	Cinvention	September 3–5, 1949	Cincinnati	Charles R. Tanner (honorary), Don Ford (acting)	Lloyd A. Eshbach, Ted Carnell	190
8	NorWesCon	September 1–4, 1950	Portland	Donald B. Day	Anthony Boucher	400
9	Nolacon	September 1–3, 1951	New Orleans	Harry B. Moore	Fritz Leiber	190
10	Chicon II	August 30–September 1, 1952	Chicago	Julian C. May	Hugo Gernsback	870 / 1,175
11	Philcon II	September 5–7, 1953	Philadelphia	Milton Rothman	Willy Ley	750
12	SFCon	September 3–6, 1954	San Francisco	Lester Cole, Gary Nelson	John W. Campbell, Jr.	700
13	Clevention	September 2–5, 1955	Cleveland	Nick & Noreen Falasca	Isaac Asimov, Sam Moskowitz	380
14	NyCon II	August 31–September 3, 1956	New York	Dave Kyle	Arthur C. Clarke	850
15	Loncon	September 6–9, 1957	London	Ted Carnell	John W. Campbell, Jr.	268
16	Solacon	August 29–September 1, 1958	Los Angeles	Anna S. Moffatt	Richard Matheson	322 / 601
17	Detention	September 4–7, 1959	Detroit	Roger Sims, Fred Prophet	Poul Anderson, John Berry	371
18	Pittcon	September 3–5, 1960	Pittsburgh	Dirce Archer	James Blish	568
19	Seacon	September 2–4, 1961	Seattle	Wally Weber	Robert A. Heinlein	300
20	Chicon III	August 31–September 3, 1962	Chicago	Earl Kemp	Theodore Sturgeon	730 / 830
21	Discon	August 31–September 2, 1963	Washington, D.C.	George Scithers	Murray Leinster	600
22	Pacificon II	September 4–7, 1964	Oakland	J. Ben Stark, Al Halevy	Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Forrest J Ackerman	523
23	Loncon II	August 27–30, 1965	London	Ella Parker	Brian W. Aldiss	350
24	Tricon	September 1–5, 1966	Cleveland	Ben Jason, Howard DeVore, Lou Tabakow	L. Sprague de Camp	850
25	NyCon3	August 31–September 4, 1967	New York	Ted White, Dave Van Arnam	Lester del Rey, Bob Tucker	1,500
26	Baycon	August 29–September 2, 1968	Berkeley	Bill Donaho, Alva Rogers, J. Ben Stark	Philip José Farmer, Walter J. Daugherty	1,430
27	St. Louiscon	August 28–September 1, 1969	St. Louis	Ray & Joyce Fisher	Jack Gaughan, Eddie Jones	1,534
28	Heicon '70	August 20–24, 1970	Heidelberg, Germany	Manfred Kage	E. C. Tubb, Robert Silverberg, Herbert W. Franke, Elliot K. Shorter	620
29	Noreascon	September 2–6, 1971	Boston	Tony Lewis	Clifford D. Simak, Harry Warner, Jr.	1,600
30	L.A.Con	September 1–4, 1972	Los Angeles	Charles Crayne, Bruce Pelz	Frederik Pohl, Buck & Juanita Coulson	2,007
31	Torcon II	August 31–September 3, 1973	Toronto	John Millard	Robert Bloch, Bill Rotsler	2,900
32	Discon II	August 29–September 2, 1974	Washington, D.C.	Ron Bounds, Jay Haldeman	Roger Zelazny, Jay Kay Klein	3,587
33	Aussiecon	August 14–17, 1975	Melbourne, Australia	Robin Johnson	Ursula K. Le Guin, Susan Wood, Mike Glicksohn, Donald Tuck	606
34	MidAmeriCon	September 2–6, 1976	Kansas City	Ken Keller	Robert A. Heinlein, George Barr	3,014 / 4,200
35	SunCon	August 2–5, 1977	Miami Beach	Don Lundry	Jack Williamson, Robert A. Madle	3,240
36	IguanaCon II	August 30–September 4, 1978	Phoenix	Tim Kyger	Harlan Ellison, Bill Bowers	4,700
37	Seacon '79	August 23–26, 1979	Brighton, UK	Peter Weston	Brian Aldiss, Fritz Leiber, Harry Bell	3,114
38	Noreascon Two	August 29–September 1, 1980	Boston	Leslie Turek	Damon Knight, Kate Wilhelm, Bruce Pelz	5,850
39	Denvention Two	September 3–7, 1981	Denver	Suzanne Carnival, Don C. Thompson	Clifford D. Simak, C. L. Moore, Rusty Hevelin	3,792
40	Chicon IV	September 2–6, 1982	Chicago	Ross Pavlac, Larry Propp	A. Bertram Chandler, Frank Kelly Freas, Lee Hoffman	4,275
41	ConStellation	September 1–5, 1983	Baltimore	Michael J. Walsh	John Brunner, David A. Kyle	6,400
42	L.A.con II	August 30–September 3, 1984	Los Angeles	Craig Miller, Milt Stevens	Gordon R. Dickson, Dick Eney	8,365 / 9,282
43	Aussiecon Two	August 22–26, 1985	Melbourne, Australia	David Grigg	Gene Wolfe, Ted White	1,599
44	ConFederation	August 28–September 1, 1986	Atlanta	Penny Frierson, Ron Zukowski	Ray Bradbury, Terry Carr	5,811
45	Conspiracy '87	August 27–September 1, 1987	Brighton, UK	Paul Oldroyd	Doris Lessing, Alfred Bester, Arkady & Boris Strugatsky, Jim Burns, Ray Harryhausen, Joyce Slater, Ken Slater, David Langford	4,009 / 5,425
46	Nolacon II	September 1–5, 1988	New Orleans	John H. Guidry	Donald A. Wollheim, Roger Sims	5,300
47	Noreascon 3	August 31–September 4, 1989	Boston	Mark L. Olson	Andre Norton, Ian & Betty Ballantine, the Stranger Club	6,837 / 7,795
48	ConFiction	August 23–27, 1990	The Hague, Netherlands	Kees van Toorn	Harry Harrison, Wolfgang Jeschke, Joe Haldeman, Andrew Porter	3,580
49	Chicon V	August 29–September 2, 1991	Chicago	Kathleen Meyer	Hal Clement, Martin H. Greenberg, Richard Powers, Jon & Joni Stopa	5,661
50	MagiCon	September 3–7, 1992	Orlando	Joe Siclari	Jack Vance, Vincent Di Fate, Walter A. Willis	5,319 / 6,368
51	ConFrancisco	September 2–6, 1993	San Francisco	David W. Clark	Larry Niven, Alicia Austin, Tom Digby, Jan Howard Finder	6,602 / 7,725
52	ConAdian	September 1–5, 1994	Winnipeg	John Mansfield	Anne McCaffrey, George Barr, Robert Runte	3,570
53	Intersection	August 24–28, 1995	Glasgow	Vincent Docherty, Martin Easterbrook	Samuel R. Delany, Gerry Anderson, Les Edwards, Vincent Clarke	4,173/ 6,524
54	L.A.con III	August 29–September 2, 1996	Los Angeles	Mike Glyer	James White, Roger Corman, Elsie Wollheim, Takumi & Sachiko Shibano	6,703
55	LoneStarCon 2	August 28–September 1, 1997	San Antonio	Karen Meschke	Algis Budrys, Michael Moorcock, Don Maitz, Roy Tackett	4,634 / 5,614
56	BucConeer	August 5–9, 1998	Baltimore	Peggy Rae Pavlat	C. J. Cherryh, Stanley Schmidt, Michael Whelan, J. Michael Straczynski, Milton A. Rothman	6,572
57	Aussiecon Three	September 2–6, 1999	Melbourne, Australia	Perry Middlemiss	George Turner, Greg Benford, Bruce Gillespie	1,548 / 2,872
58	Chicon 2000	August 31–September 4, 2000	Chicago	Tom Veal	Ben Bova, Bob Eggleton, Jim Baen, Bob & Anne Passovoy	5,794 / 6,574
59	Millennium Philcon	August 29–September 3, 2001	Philadelphia	Todd Dashoff	Greg Bear, Stephen Youll, Gardner Dozois, George Scithers	4,840 / 6,269
60	ConJosé	August 29–September 2, 2002	San Jose	Tom Whitmore, Kevin Standlee	Vernor Vinge, David Cherry, Bjo & John Trimble	5,162 / 5,916
61	Torcon 3	August 28–September 1, 2003	Toronto	Peter Jarvis	George R. R. Martin, Frank Kelly Freas, Robert Bloch, Mike Glyer	3,834 / 4,986
62	Noreascon 4	September 2–6, 2004	Boston	Deb Geisler	Terry Pratchett, William Tenn, Jack Speer, Peter Weston	6,008 / 7,485
63	Interaction	August 4–8, 2005	Glasgow	Vincent Docherty, Colin Harris	Christopher Priest, Robert Sheckley, Jane Yolen, Greg Pickersgill, Lars-Olov Strandberg	4,115 / 5,202
64	L.A.con IV	August 23–27, 2006	Los Angeles	Christian B. McGuire	Connie Willis, James Gurney, Howard DeVore, Frankie Thomas	5,738 / 6,291
65	Nippon 2007	August 30–September 3, 2007	Yokohama, Japan	Hiroaki Inoue	Sakyo Komatsu, David Brin, Yoshitaka Amano, Michael Whelan, Takumi Shibano	3,348 / 5,149
66	Denvention 3	August 6–10, 2008	Denver	Kent Bloom	Lois McMaster Bujold, Rick Sternbach, Kathy Mar, Tom Whitmore	3,752 / 4,854
67	Anticipation	August 6–10, 2009	Montreal	René Walling, Robbie Bourget	Neil Gaiman, Elisabeth Vonarburg, David Hartwell, Tom Doherty, Taral Wayne	3,925 / 4,499
68	Aussiecon 4	September 2–6, 2010	Melbourne, Australia	Perry Middlemiss, Rose Mitchell	Kim Stanley Robinson, Shaun Tan, Robin Johnson	2,101 / 3,462
69	Renovation	August 17–21, 2011	Reno, NV	Patty Wells	Ellen Asher, Tim Powers, Charles N. Brown, Boris Vallejo	4,112 / 5,526
70	Chicon 7	August 30–September 3, 2012	Chicago	Dave McCarty	Mike Resnick, Story Musgrave, Jane Frank, Rowena Morrill, Peggy Rae Sapienza	4,743 / 6,197
71	LoneStarCon 3	August 29–September 2, 2013	San Antonio	Randall Shepherd	James Gunn, Norman Spinrad, Ellen Datlow, Darrell K. Sweet, Willie Siros	4,832 / 6,130
72	Loncon 3	August 14–18, 2014	London	Steve Cooper, Alice Lawson	Iain M. Banks, John Clute, Malcolm Edwards, Chris Foss, Jeanne Gomoll, Robin Hobb, Bryan Talbot	6,946 / 10,718
73	Sasquan	August 19–23, 2015	Spokane, WA	Sally Woehrle	David Gerrold, Vonda N. McIntyre, Brad Foster, Dr. Kjell Lindgren, Tom Smith, Leslie Turek	5,077 / 11,742
74	MidAmeriCon 2	August 17–21, 2016	Kansas City	Ruth Lichtwardt	Kinuko Y. Craft, Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Tamora Pierce, Michael Swanwick	4,719 / 7,740
75	Worldcon 75	August 9–13, 2017	Helsinki, Finland	Jukka Halme	John-Henri Holmberg, Nalo Hopkinson, Johanna Sinisalo, Claire Wendling, Walter Jon Williams, Ian Stewart	7,949 / 9,634
76	ConJose 2	August 16–20, 2018	San Jose	Kevin Roche	Spider Robinson, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Pierre & Sandy Pettinger	4,804 / 8,033
77	Dublin 2019	August 15–19, 2019	Dublin, Ireland	James Bacon	Bill Burns, Mary Burns, Diane Duane, Ginjer Buchanan, Ian McDonald, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Steve Jackson	6,525 / 8,430
78	CoNZealand	July 29–August 2, 2020	Wellington, New Zealand Online	Norman Cates, Kelly Buehler	Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon, Greg Broadmore, Rose Mitchell	1,847 (virtual) / 4,624
79	Discon III	August 25–29, 2021 December 15–19, 2021	Washington, D.C.	Mary Robinette Kowal	Nancy Kress, John Harris, Toni Weisskopf, Ben Yalow	2,359 (+ 952 virt.) / 8,721
80	Chicon 8	September 1–5, 2022	Chicago	Helen Montgomery	Charles de Lint, Floyd Norman, Erle Korshak, Edie Stern & Joe Siclari, Steven Barnes & Tananarive Due	3,574 (+ 513 vir­t.) / 6,500
81	Chengdu WorldCon	August 16–20, 2023 October 18–22, 2023	Chengdu, China	Ben Yalow, Hongwei He, Chen Shi	Cixin Liu, Sergey Lukianenko, Robert J. Sawyer	TBD
82	Glasgow 2024	August 8–12, 2024	Glasgow, Scotland	Esther MacCallum-Stewart	Chris Baker (aka Fangorn), Claire Brialey & Mark Plummer, Ken MacLeod, Nnedi Okorafor, Terri Windling	TBD

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Convention
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