Talk:Norwescon

message: The term should probably be clarified. I believe it is short for 'general convention,' ie it is not specific to a particular franchise (such as Star Trek) or type of fiction (such as anime or comics.) It might also be helpful to note that a gencon is not the same as Gen Con. Thoughts? TechBear (talk) 14:25, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I've removed the term for these reasons. Norwescon is still pretty much an actual SF convention as opposed to multi-genre, gamer or media con; but I think they were trying to say that the con doesn't actively discourage fringefans of any sort. --Orange Mike  |  Talk 17:08, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks. TechBear (talk) 19:16, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reference as a 'gencon' 

message: Currently the History section ends with the text:
:"Norwescon also hosts the Philip K. Dick Award, given to the author of the best original novel appearing in the previous year in paperback form without prior publication as a hardback. The Philip K. Dick award was first presented at Norwescon in 1984, and was given to Tim Powers for his novel The Anubis Gates.[2]"
The second sentence implies that the first presentation of the Award was at Norwescon in 1984 and that The Anubis Gates was the first recipient of the Award. However, as is clear from the linked article about the award (and other extra-Wikipedia sources), the first PKD Award (presented in 1983) went to the Jan 1982 novel Software by Rudy Rucker, and The Anubis Gates (published Dec 1983) was the second annual recipient.
The sentence as it stands is therefore probably factually correct (1984 was the Award's first presentation at Norwescon, and it went to The Anubis Gates), but misleading. I note that the cited reference links to an announcement about the 1999 Award, so is not helpful, or indeed relevant to the sentence it follows.
The first, 1983 award may have been presented somewhere else, or may not have had a formal presentation ceremony. I have not been able to find further details: the archives on the Award's website go back only to 2019, and the announcement in the relevent 1984 issue of Ansible does not mention any location.
It would be useful if someone with definite information could rewrite the sentence appropriately {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.101.71 (talk) 02:15, 23 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for pointing that out. I corrected the first recipient. I was unable to find anything to support when the presentation was first made at the con and removed that line. Schazjmd (talk) 15:09, 23 April 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I just took over as coordinator of the award ceremony. In conversation this past weekend with the prior coordinator and the current award administrator Gordon Van Gelder, I've learned that the first five years of the award were done at Philcon. Norwescon took over with the sixth year because the spring timing of our convention seemed more reasonable than waiting until November (when Philcon takes place) to announce the award. So this year was the 40th year of the award, and the 35th year of Norwescon hosting it. However, at this time all of this info is from a verbal conversation, and I don't have an online citation to point to. DJWudi (talk) 18:30, 11 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ambiguous wording re the Philip. K Dick Award