Ditmar Award

The Ditmar Award has been given out every year at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention since 1969. It is compared to the Hugo Award, only at a national, not international, level.
==History==
When the awards began in 1969, there were only four categories:
* Best Australian Science Fiction of any length, or collection
* Best International Science Fiction of any length, or collection
* Best Contemporary Writer of Science Fiction
* Best Australian Amateur Science Fiction Publication or Fanzine
The best "Best International" item remained in one form or another until 1986 - as an award for Best Contemporary Author that did not require nominees to be Australian which was presented in1969; an award for Best International Publication was that presented in 1970; and as the William Atheling Jr Award when it was introduced in 1976, which did not require nominees to be Australian, whereas it now does."Best International Fiction" appeared again in 1989, and since then the emphasis has been on Australian science-fiction, fantasy and horror works. 
No awards were made at the 1974 Natcon (Ozcon in Melbourne), although it is unknown why exactly.
Prior to 2001/2002, there were no set rules or categories for the awards; it was left up to the Awards Sub-Committees of the individual convention committees hosting the NatCon that year to develop both on a year-by-year basis. This resulted in situations such as the Best Fannish Cat category, but also confusion and the perception that the sub-committee were able to manipulate the situation to their own benefit. In 1996, Greg Egan and a number of other prominent Australian sci-fi writers, raised the need for a more structured system in order to maintain the awards' reputation in the business and make things more fair. See Ditmar Award#2000 Rules Controversy for more details.
== Name ==
=== The Ditmar Awards ===
The awards are named after Martin James Ditmar Jenssen, also known as Dick Jenssen, who wound up funding the awards accidentally: during the committee meeting to discuss the formation of the awards, things got bogged down when it came to naming them. The possibility of naming them after an individual was raised, with someone noting it could mean that individual could fund it. As a joke, Ditmar suggested they call them the Ditmar Awards, and he would fund them. 
His offer was accepted by the committee, and he would up funding the awards for a lot longer than he'd thought he might.Ditmar Awards - History - Fancyclopedia 3 As compensation, however, he did win twice - in 2002 he won Best Fan Artist and in 2010 for best Body of Work, Fan ArtistDick Jenssen - Fancyclopedia 3.
=== William Atheling, Jr. Award ===
This award was first awarded at Bofcon, the 15th Australian National Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne in August 1976. The Athelings (as the award is also known) was awarded for excellence in SF and speculative criticism. It is named after William Atheling, Jr. the pseudonym used by SF author James Blish for his critical writing. While officially the Athelings are still Special Awards, they are treated as part of the categories of the Ditmars.
== Procedure ==
Similarly to the Hugo Awards the Ditmars are nominated by attendees at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention (the Australian equivalent of WorldCon) and ballots are then sent out to members for voting:
The process involves separate rounds for nominations and votes, as opposed to in the 1970s where it was one round with a points system. The rules and the categories themselves can be amended, removed or added to during the business meeting of the convention committee, which has led to situations like the Best Fannish Cat award of 1991. The current set of rules was ratified in 2001 after a controversy beginning in 1996 about the lack of formal rules, eligibility and withdrawal of works from nomination.
== Trophy ==
Like the rest of the awards before 2000, there was not a specific trophy from year-to-year. In the past, the trophy has been made from ornamental stone, cut glass and stuffed cane toads (see the Ditmar Award#Stuffed Cane Toads controversy). Since 2000, all winners are given an A4 certificate plus a standard trophy. While the Rules don't specify the actual form of the trophy, they did foreshadow that the "trophies shall be of a physical form that is constant from year to year. The design shall be in the proportions of 1:4:9 (the proportions of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey) and shall include a motif of the Southern Cross. Possibilities include the popular Lewis Morley design and the 2003 Ditmar Awards.Ditmar Rules - Australian SF Information - Wayback May 20/12" 
== Categories ==
The current award categories are:
* Best Novel
* Best Novella or Novelette
* Best Short Story
* Best Collected Work
* Best Artwork
* Best Fan Writer
* Best Fan Artist
* Best Fan Publication in any Medium
* William Atheling Jr. Award for Criticism or Review
* Best New Talent
== Winners ==
A full list of the Ditmar winners can be found via Wikipedia. The fan awards can be found at the following sub-page: Ditmar Award/Fan Winners 
== Controversies ==
===Best Fannish Cat===
====1991====
The 1991 Ditmar Awards also included a section of "Best Fannish Cat" due to a conflict between the serious/academic fans of Brisbane-based organising committee (Suncon) and the less-serious Melbourne fans. The Brisbane contingent felt the Ditmars were skewed towards Melbourne fans and held a vote for new award categories. The Melbourne contingent then took advantage of the vote to include an award for the best cat owned by fans and known to the fannish communityBest Fannish Cat - File 770 - by Mike Glyer, Mar 13/19. Typo won the award.
*Apple Blossom, humans: Elaine Cochrane & Bruce Gillespie
*Constantinople, human: Phil Wlodarczyk
*Emma Peel, human: Terry Frost
*Godzilla, humans: Ian Gunn & Karen Pender-Gunn
*Honey, humans: Gerald [Smith] & Womble
*Satan, human: Phil Wlodarczyk
*Truffle, humans: Mark Loney & Michelle Muijsert
*Typo, human: Roger Weddall
====2010====
The cat-egory reappeared in 2010 at DudCon III, held in Melbourne, as a non-Ditmar Special Award of the Convention. The nominees were required to be “natural members of the species Felis Catus” alive and resident in Australia at the time of the nominationDitmar Awards - Ditmar Award for Best Fannish Cat - Fancyclopidea 3. Peri Peri won the award.
*Tabby Allen, human: James Allen
*Felix Blackford, human: Jenny Blackford
*Peri Peri Canavan (winner), human: Trudi Canavan
*Flicker Gillespie, humans: Elaine Cochrane & Bruce Gillespie
*Pazuzu Sparks, humans: Cat Sparks & Robert Hood
===Stuffed Cane Toads===
Another controversy, again from the 1991 awards, was the use of stuffed and mounted cane toads as trophies for the Ditmars awarded that year. It was intended as a joke (again by a member of the Melbourne contingent, Mark Loney), but when the actual trophies weren't ready in time for the ceremony the cane toads were the only prizes available. Again, the serious fans were unimpressed, even though the actual trophies were handed out at a later meeting of the Nova Mob.Ditmar Awards - Stuffed Cane Toads - Fancyclopedia 3
=== 2000 Rules Controversy ===
==== 1996 Open Letters ====
In 1996, author Greg Egan wrote an Open Letter in Australian sci-fi fanzine,Thyme (Issue 108, p 3)"An Open Letter to Australian Literary Fandom", Thyme, Issue 108, 1996 regarding a controversy surrounding the eligibility of his book, Distress for nomination. It had been published in the U.K. in 1995, but was due for publishing in Australia in March/April of 1996 - if the UK date was accepted, there were few copies in Australia available for voters to make a choice; if the Australian publishing date was accepted, it was a year too early to be considered. Egan had his own personal opinion on the matter and on the Ditmar rules in general, but didn't feel comfortable stating those opinions as long as he was a candidate for the award - he asked in his letter for his works not to be nominated or voted for in subsequent Ditmar awards indefinitely. 
Accompanying this letter was another Open Letter proposing Ditmar Award rule changes which signed by Damien Broderick, Greg Egan, Stephen Dedman, Rosaleen Love, Sean McMullen, Lucy Sussex, and Sean Williams. They were requesting that "a consistent set of guidelines be applied to the awards from year to year" in order to avoid controversy.
The suggested guidelines were the following:
# Two Ditmar awards for achievement in fiction; any written work of science fiction/fantasy by an Australian citizen or permanent resident would be eligible, regardless of where the word was published. Best Short Fiction would be under 40,000 words, Best Long Fiction would be equal to or more than 40,000 words;
# Works of fiction would be eligible for nomination at the end of the calendar year they were published in. However, the author/editor would be able to request in writing to postpone the year of eligibility until the following year on the grounds it has not been adequately available in Australia.;
# The Awards Sub-Committee to publish an official nominations form making clear which works would and would not be eligible for nomination that year, including postponement requests and, if the request was refused by the Sub-Committee, the reasons for that veto;
# In no case would a work of fiction be eligible for more than one ballot.
==== Reactions and Discussion of the Ditmars ====
The response to the suggestions in Issue 108 were mixed. Terry Frost in his Frostbytes column in Issue 109 was scathing in his review of the award and its processes"Frostbytes by Terry Frost", Number 3 of 1996; Thyme Issue 109, p18 and in particular the Festival of the Imagination 1996 Sub-Committee responsible for running it that year:
Greg Egan responded in Issue 110 to acknowledge a point made by Sue Bursztynski in the LOC column of Issue 109 (that the 40,000 word count would push young adult books into the same category as short stories)"Thyme LOCs" Thyme Issue 9, page 20 with a suggestion that Long Fiction include novels and serialised novels, anthologies and single-author collections and that Short Fiction should only be individual stories. He also added these clarification:
==== 2000 Rule Revisions ====
The Ditmar nominations were announced in March 2000, with the following categories:
* Best Written Work
* Best Written Work (Unpaid or Fan)
* Best Professional Production in Any Medium
* Best Non-Professional Production in Any Medium
* Best Artwork (Professional)
* Best Artwork (Unpaid or Fan)
* William Atheling Award for Criticism or Review
The announcement was quickly followed by a number of withdrawals by nominees and a decision by the Swancon 2000 awards sub-committee to postpone the awards and withdraw the previously-received nominations. Committee member Grant Watson posted the following email:
Between April 18 and May 31, the Natcon annual general meeting was held at Swancon 2000 and a set of rules for the Ditmars were establishedA SF Bullsheet 144(gross - and long), aus.sf@googlegroups, May 31/2000. Then in September, nominations were reopened with expanded categories; with the below announcement:
Winners were announced in late 2000 with most of the physical trophies handed out during Swancon 2001. 
In the second set of voting, Greg Egan's book Teranesia won for Best Novel, and Egan declined the award, in accordance with his desire to permanently withdraw his works from Ditmar consideration. It had been determined that under the rules an author could refuse an award, but not a nomination.
=Links and Resources=
===Wikipedia===
*Australian National Science Fiction Convention
*Ditmar Award
*Ditmar Award results
===Others===
*CapCon
*Ditmar Awards at sfadb.com
*Ditmar rules at sf.org.au (via Wayback, Mar 20/12)
==Notes==
==References==
Category: 1969 Awards
Category: 1960s Awards
Category: 1970s Awards
Category: 1980s Awards
Category: 1990s Awards
Category: 2000s Awards
Category: 2010s Awards
Category: 2020s Awards
Category: Science Fiction Awards