2001 Minutes

Aurora logo 2001 Canvention Business Meeting

Location: Burnaby, B.C.
(1) Old minutes: See Appendix 1

(2) Selection of year 2002 Canvention Site: any bidders?

(3) Old business:

(a) sub-committee report regarding web site name
Dennis Muliin reports that www.aurora.ca is unavailable as a web site choice. As previously reported .org, .com, and .net are also not available.
Current website is www.sentex.net/~dmullin/aurora and has been running since November 1997.
(b) Ratification of motion to change the Fanzine category.
To replace Article II, Section 5, item A with "A: Fan Achievement (publication): For a Canadian fanzine or fannish newsletter or amateur publication relating to science fiction and fantasy fandom published at least once during the previous calendar year."
(c) Ratification of the motion to clarify status of e-zines.
To add to the definition for Article II, Section 5, Item A: "Publications may be either hard copy/paper or electronic".

(4) New Business:

(a) Proposal by Dennis Mullin to clarify category definitions. When the categories were created, it was considered obvious which ones were for professional work and which were not. This is not obvious for some people. The following motion confirms current practice.
Moved that (a) the title for Article II, Section 2: "Best Work in English" be changed to "Best Professional Work in English"; that (b) the title for Article II, Section 3: "Best Work in French" be changed to "Best Professional Work in French"; and that (c) Article II, Section 4, Item A have this sentence added to the definition for Artistic Achievement: "This category is for both professional and fan work."
(b) Proposed by Andrew C. Murdoch, that amateur publications produced by and ostensibly for the members of a club be removed from consideration under the Fan Achievement (Fanzine or Publication, should old business be ratified) and instead be considered under the Fan Achievement (Organizational) category owing to: 1. Limited interest of club publications to fandom outside of that club and 2. The Organizational category specifically stating it is for contributions to club activities, which, in this case, the publication is the activity (making the clubzine editor eligible in the organizational category).
Moved that Article II, section 5, item A have this sentence added: "Club publications, such as clubzines, are not eligible for this award."
(c) Suggested by Doug Smith that proxy voting be considered for Canvention business meetings. This would require adding a new Section to Article III of the constitution outlining under what conditions proxies are acceptable.
Suggestion from Dennis Mullin, that proxy voting, if allowed at all, should only be allowed regarding ratification votes. This is because items to be ratified are known in advance, and voters can make informed decisions.
(d) Proposed by Doug Smith that the motion to change the minimum requirement to get on the Aurora voting ballot be considered again. Motion was originally put forward in 1999 and defeated in 2000.
The proposal was, that to appear on the final ballot, a work would have to receive a minimum of 5 nominations or 10% of people nominating in a category whichever is higher. If fewer than 3 finalists, no award given.
(e)
(f)

(5) Adjournment

APPENDIX 1:

2000 Canvention Business Meeting
held at Toronto Trek, Toronto, Ontario on July 14, 2000
In Attendance:
Dennis Mullin (chair), Ruth Stuart (secretary), Carolyn Clink, David Clink, Brian Davis, Mici Gold, Hope Leibowitz, John Mansfield, Sherryl Neufeld, Lloyd Penney, Yvonne Penney, Robert Sawyer, Paul Valcour.

Meeting called to order at 7:30 pm.

1. Old Minutes
Moved by Robert Sawyer and seconded by Yvonne Penney that the minutes from the 1999 meeting be accepted. Carried.

2. Selection of 2001 Canvention Bid
Two bids were received from Western Conventions.

(a) ConSpec - An e-mail was received Diane Walton on behalf of ConSpec, an Alberta convention run by On Spec and the Copper Pig Writers' Society. As of July 14, guests were TBA (To-Be-Announced) and no date to hold the convention had been set. The appropriateness of On Spec hosting Canvention was discussed in particular, whether there was a conflict of interest.

(b) V-Con - This bid was presented by Lloyd Penney. The convention is to be held in Burnaby, BC, the weekend of May 4-6, 2001. They have confirmed guests and plan to hold a banquet and make the awards the centrepiece of Saturday evening.

Discussion centred on the advantage of going with a sure thing versus something in the planning stages.
V-con's bid was accepted by a margin of 10 to 0.

3. Old business

(a) Sub-committee report
Dennis Mullin reported on the possibility of the Aurora Awards acquiring their own internet domain name. Discussion covered the difficulties in finding an Aurora site name that was not already registered (aurora.com, aurora.net and aurora.org are already taken) and the cost involved. Dennis Mullin was tasked with the job of seeing if aurora.ca was still available and of registering aurora.ca if it was.

(b) Ratification of motion to adjust Article IV of the Constitution to reflect actual practice.

Modify Article IV as follows:
Change Section 2 by replacing "the name of the city being bid on, the name of the hotel" with "the location of the bid";
Deleting Section 3 "If more than one bid is received 90 days in advance of the current Canvention, a ballot shall be produced listing those nominees and their information as well as space for a write-in and shall be distributed with the constitution.";
Change Section 4 by replacing "If only one bid is received by the time of the CSFFA Business Meeting, the Business Meeting shall decide upon the eligibility and acceptability of such a bid." with "The Business Meeting shall decide upon the eligibility and acceptability of bids received.";
Deleting Section 5 "Site selection ballots shall be accepted by mail, and up until noon Saturday of the current Canvention. To be eligible a ballot must contain the name and address and either the membership number of the voter or a cheque made out to the current Canvention in the amount of the site selection voting fee.";
Deleting Section 6 "The site selection voting fee shall be set by the current Canvention Committee.";
Deleting Section 7 "Tallying shall be conducted in accordance with Article II, Section 12, on Saturday afternoon and the results announced at the AURORA Awards Ceremony."; and renaming Section 4 to Section 3.

Moved by Carolyn Clink and seconded by Brian Davis to ratify. Carried by unanimous vote.

(c) Ratification of the motion to make Long Form eligibility the same as the other categories (1 year).
Originally the category was given a 2 year eligibility period due to the length of time it took to distribute books and that those published in hardcover were not as widely distributed or easily available as paperback authors. The reduction is to help reduce the confusion since the other categories are all have a single year of eligibility.
Moved by Paul Valcour and seconded by Lloyd Penney to ratify the motion. Carried by unanimous vote.

(d) Ratification of motion to make it more difficult to become an Aurora finalist. The proposal was, that to appear on the final ballot, a work would have to receive a minimum of 5 nominations or 10% of people nominating in a category whichever is higher. If fewer than 3 finalists, no award given.
It was mentioned that under the proposed change, the winner of the 2000 Aurora in Short Form English would not have made the ballot.
Motion defeated by a margin of 1 to 7 with 1 abstention.

5. New Business

(a) Proposal to change the category name of "Fan Achievement (Fanzine)" to "Fan Achievement (Publication)". The rationale for this change is that many people do not know what a fanzine or clubzine is. The change would allow an enlarged definition of the category to possibly include e-zines.

The current definition is:
Article II, Section 5,
A: Fan Achievement (fanzine): For a Canadian fanzine or fannish newsletter relating to science fiction and fantasy fandom published at least once during the previous calendar year;

While this proposal was to change just the name, it was noted that you cannot simply change the name without changing the definition.

Moved by Dennis Mullin and seconded by Lloyd Penney to to change the name of "Fan Achievement (Fanzine)" to "Fan Achievement (Publication)".
Motion failed with a vote of 5 for, 3 against with 3 abstentions. [Note: A motion requires a 2/3rds majority of votes cast to pass. Abstentions are not votes.]

Moved by Paul Valcour and seconded by Lloyd Penney to replace Article II, Section 5, item A with
A: Fan Achievement (publication): For a Canadian fanzine or fannish newsletter or amateur publication relating to science fiction and fantasy fandom published at least once during the previous calendar year;
Along with the category name change this is an attempt to clarify the definition. Discussion raised the point that the phrase "amateur publication" makes eligibility in the category much broader than it currently is. It was suggested that it would make the minutes of the Canvention meeting eligible for this category.
Motion passed by a margin of 6 to 0 with 5 abstentions.

Moved by Paul Valcour and seconded by Lloyd Penney to add to the definition for Article II, Section 5, Item A: "Publications may be either hard copy/paper or electronic".
Purpose of this amendment is to clarify the definition of this category by making it match current practise.
After a short discussion the motion was passed by a margin of 7 to 1 with 3 abstentions.

Moved by Lloyd Penney and seconded by Carolyn Clink that the meeting be adjourned. Motion carried by unanimous vote.

Meeting adjourned at 9pm.

Version: 2001.5.05 ...