Ditmar running guide
From Australian sf information
This article details Daveid Cake's "Ditmar running guide", first distributed in 2007.
Contents |
The Guide
This guide is intended as a practical restatement of the procedure set out in the rules, coupled with some practical experience about how to make the process less painful.
Ditmar procedure
It is normal to appoint a Ditmar sub-committee, rather than having the whole committee deal with it. Most committees will have at least one person who is likely to be considered for Ditmar nomination, and its a specialised issue that doesn't need to involve the entire committee, and really only needs one or two people.
Suggested Ditmar timeline
- 1 year to 6 months out
- appoint a Ditmar sub-committee. Ideally a Ditmar sub-committee includes someone who is familiar with the Ditmar process in some manner, and the details of counting ballots and the electoral process.
- At least 3 months out
- select someone to create physical awards. The two constraints are it should feature the 1-4-9 dimensions of the 2001 monolith in some manner, and it should feature the southern cross. Conventions are free to make a unique award for their convention, or to seek to recreate a popular past design. The most regular creator of Ditmar awards is Lewis Morley.
- At least 9 weeks, usually 10 weeks, from the convention
- open nominations. It can be much longer before the convention is necessary - though it creates issues for future conventions if this forces opening of nominations into the year prior. Announce nominations as widely as possible - mailing lists such as the eidolist and the natcons list are recommended, plus a web announcement, and of course email to a members list if it exists.
- At least 30 days after opening of nominations
- close nominations.
- ASAP after close of nominations
- contact nominees to confirm eligibility. It is strongly recommended that if any problems or issues are found at this point, that the Ditmar sub-committee seek advice from people who have relevent Ditmar experience, especially recent Ditmar experience. An easy, and recommended, way of getting good advice is to contact the Natcon standing committee, which generally includes several people used to dealing with interpretation of the Ditmar rules.
- About 1 week after close of nominations
- announce the nominations publicly. It might be advisable to announce nominations a few days before opening of voting and release of ballots, just in case any problems are discovered after public release of nominations. Again it is advisable to release such information widely, and it is advisable to include details of how to join the convention and become eligible to vote.
- At least 30 days, usually about 5 weeks, before convention
- release ballots, open voting.
- At least 30 days after the opening of voting
- close postal ballots.
- About 3 days later
- close ballots for all forms of voting, count ballots, get A4 certificates printed. A consideration is to make the period of postal voting relatively free from state bias.
Note
The rules currently do not say when voting must end, it can be at any point before the actual giving out of awards according to the rules. Usually the issue is time to get the awards engraved, which means a few days before the convention.
