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A Mile Closer to the Stars

Archive: Your Chance for Fame: Hugo Award Base Design Competition

Mary Kay Kare, Hugo Award Administrator

This contest closed on 12/31/2007. This information is being retained for archival purposes only.

The World Science Fiction Convention has been giving out awards for achievement in science fiction since your humble administrator was a year old. Categories come and go, changing with the tastes and interests of fandom, but the basic design of the Hugo Award itself remains constant. A silver cigar-shaped rocket is the focal point of the award, the unchanging work of art and science that instantly identifies the trophy as a Hugo.

2007 Hugo Award Statue
CourtesyofTheHugoAwards

The one thing that does change--and changes every year--is the design of the base; the platform upon which the rocket is mounted. Each year's Worldcon committee has the pleasure and honor of choosing a base that complements the award and is, in some way, thematic of the convention or its city or region. Past bases have ranged from elegant to amazing, to a tad impractical.

For the last few years, many Worldcons have held an open competition for the design of its Hugo bases. Denvention 3 is continuing that policy and is soliciting artists and designers to come up with a base that is worthy of the Hugo Award and which reflects the convention's theme, "One Mile Closer to the Stars," and, thus the Rocky Mountains. Reference to our home region of Denver, Colorado is nice but the theme is key.

So get those creative juices flowing and read up on your otherworldly engineering. The person who submits the winning design will receive a full 5-day membership in Denvention 3 and the opportunity to introduce their base design as part of the Hugo Ceremony itself.

Nitty Gritty Details

Anyone may enter. You must submit your design by midnight (MST) December 31, 2007 and the submission package should include:

Drawings, sketches, and/or a fabricated sample of the proposed base unit.
Cost estimate per base, and estimated total cost for the fabrication and shipping of 24 base units.
Lead time needed for fabrication.
Statement of your ability to either craft the bases or arrange for the work to be done.

As a guideline, bases should cost $150 each or less to fabricate, and the finished bases should be sent to Denvention 3 not later than June 15, 2008. You may submit proposals either electronically or via postal mail.

Electronic Submission

Please e-mail proposals. Include the information above and a JPG, TIFF or GIF image of your design. If you are using a program which does not automatically add extensions to file names, please tell us, in your narrative, what file format to expect.

Postal Mail Submission

Please send, via US postal mail or international postal mail, the information above and your sketch/drawing/sample base (or a disk or CD containing your sketch/drawing).

Design Specifications

You may design bases of wood, metal, lucite, or any other material which has a fixed form. Do not use materials which will change form when aged, heated, etc.

You must design in such a way that the silver Hugo rocket is an integral part of the design. We will supply rockets for the bases. Ease of attachment should be a design feature. Rockets are bolted to the bases from below the tailfins.

Rocket Specifications

chromium-plated zinc/aluminium alloy
13" (330 mm) tall
2" (51 mm) across from fin-tip to fin-tip
weight 3 lb. 2 oz. (1.42 kg)
bolt 5/16"-18 machine screw thread
bolt-hole depth 0.625" (15mm)

The design must stand on a flat surface in some way. Do not craft a hanging design or one only appropriate for zero-G unless you're planning on taking us all to that place for the ceremony.

Leave space for a plaque or plaques indicating convention, winner, and category of award in an easily readable font at 12 points.

Avoid designs that disintegrate in people's luggage, cannot be easily shipped, are excessively heavy, or that have bits that may fall off and need re-attaching. Bases should not rouse suspicion in the breasts of TSA officers.

Other Considerations

Denvention 3 regrets that competition entries cannot be returned. In addition, the winning design is traditionally only unveiled at the Hugo Ceremony and strict confidentiality will therefore apply to the winner and their design until the convention.

(The author wishes to thank the authors of the last three years' RFPs from whom she cribbed... heavily.)

Service Mark Notice : "World Science Fiction Society", "WSFS, "World Science Fiction Convention" "Worldcon", "NASFiC" and "Hugo Award" are registered service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.
Contact us at or Denvention 3 , PO Box 1349, Denver, CO 80201.