74th World Science Fiction Convention
The 74th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as MidAmeriCon II, was held on 17–21 August 2016 at the Bartle Hall Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The convention's name, by established Worldcon tradition, follows after the first MidAmeriCon, the 34th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Kansas City in 1976. The convention was organized by Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc., and was chaired by Ruth Lichtwardt and co-chaired by Diane Lacey. Programming and events. Masquerade. The MidAmeriCon II masquerade was held on Friday, 19 August, with  34 entrants. Gregory de Danann was the Masquerade Director and the master of ceremonies was John Hertz. The judges were Tanglewyst de Holloway, Karen Schnaubelt, and Kathy Pepmiller for performance, and Jill Eastlake and Aurora Celeste for workmanship. The winners, across four experience-based categories, were: Novice division. Workmanship awards: Performance awards: Journeyman division. Workmanship awards: Performance awards: Master division. Workmanship awards: Performance awards: Awards. MidAmeriCon II also presented Retro-Hugos for the calendar year 1940, on the 75th anniversary of the 3rd World Science Fiction Convention held in Denver because, having not yet been established, no Hugo Awards were  presented in 1941. 2016 Hugo Awards. The 74th World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II, announced the winners of the 2016 Hugo Awards at a ceremony on the evening of Saturday, 20 August 2016. The ceremony was hosted by Toastmaster, Pat Cadigan, assisted by Jan Siegel. 3,130 valid final ballots were received and counted. The 2016 Hugo Award trophy base was designed by Sara Felix. Site selection. The location was selected on 17 August 2014 by the members of the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention in London. By the February 2014 deadline, only two committees had announced bids to host the  74th World Science Fiction Convention: "KC in 2016" for 17–21 August 2016, at the Bartle Hall Convention Center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and "Beijing in 2016" for 14–19 August 2016, at the China National Convention Center. Kansas City bid co-chairs Diane Lacey, Ruth Lichtwardt, and Jeff Orth represented the non-profit Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc. Of the 758 votes cast by Loncon 3 members, Kansas City won the contest with 651 votes over Beijing with 70 votes. "None of the above" received 4 votes while other sites, including Minneapolis, Boston, Norway, Helsinki, and Sitka , Alaska, received 1 or 2 votes each. If Beijing had been selected, this would have been the first Worldcon in China and the first in mainland Asia.