2001 Ditmar Rules

The amended “Ditmar” rules are set out below:

Rules for the Australian Science Fiction ("Ditmar") Awards

1.0 Preamble
1.1 The Australian Science Fiction ("Ditmar") Awards recognise excellence in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror by Australians.

2.0 Categories
2.1 Professional Categories: Best Novel; Best Novella or Novelette; Best Short Story-, Best Collected Work; Best Artwork
2.2 Fan Categories: Best Fan Writer; Best Fan Artist; Best Fan Production; Best Fanzine
2.3 Special Award for works not eligible in existing categories: Best Professional Achievement; Best Fan Achievement; William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review; Best New Talent

3.0 Eligibility Criteria
3.1 Timeliness: Works are eligible if they were first published or released anywhere in the world in an edition dated in the calendar year immediately preceding the year the award is held.
3.2 Australianness: Nominees are eligible if they were Australian citizens or permanent residents in the year their nominated work was released.
3.3 Eligibility of committee members: Members of the current Convention Committee will be ineligible for any award, unless the committee appoints a wholly autonomous subcommittee to administer the awards, in which case only the subcommittee will be ineligible.
3.4 Novel: A Novel is any work of sf/f/h of more than 40,000 words.
3.5 Novella or Novelette: A Novella or Novelette is any work of sf/f/h of 7,500 to 40,000 words.
3.6 Short Story: A Short Story is any work of sf/f/h less than 7,500 words.
3.7 Collected Work: A collected work is a sf/f/h collection or anthology, magazine or journal, ezine or webzine which must pay contributors in other than contributor copies and incidentals, or is sponsored by an institution other than a fan club, or whose editors declare themselves to be professional. At least one edition of a collected work must have been issued in the eligible calendar year.
3.7 Best Artwork: An artwork is a single work or series of related works of art in any medium other than text.
3.8 Fan Writer and Fan Artist: These awards are made to writers or artists for a work or body of work first published, released, or made available for public viewing in the eligible calendar year. The writer or artist must have received no payment other than contributor copies and other incidentals (coffee mug, t-shirt, poster, etc.)
3.9 Fan Production: This award is for work in any medium first published, released, or made available for public viewing in the eligible calendar year. The author or artist must have received no payment.
3.10 Fanzine: This award is for work in any medium first published, released, or made available for public viewing in the eligible calendar year. The writer or artist must have received no payment. Eligible works include, but are not limited to: a periodical, journal, ezine, webzine
3.11 Special Awards: Special awards recognise outstanding achievements in science fiction fantasy, or horror not eligible in the existing categories.
3.12 The William Atheling Jr Award: The William Atheling Jr Award is for the writing or editing of criticism or review pertaining to the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
3.13 Best New Talent: The Best New Talent award recognises excellence of professional achievement in any field of the genre by an individual who has not been nominated for a professional award three or more years before the year the award is held. An individual is only eligible for two consecutive years.

4.0 Nomination Process
4.1 Eligible nominators and voters: Nominations will be accepted only from natural persons active in fandom, or from full or supporting members of the national convention of the year of the award. Where a nomination may not be known to the Awards subcommittee, the nominator should provide the name of someone known to the subcommittee who can vouch for the nominator’s eligibility. Votes will be accepted only from full members or supporting members of the convention
4.2 Nominations: The nomination may nominate any number of works in any category. However, the nominator may nominate any given work only once in a category. All nominations must include the name of the nominator. Where a nominated mark does not meet the criteria for its nominated category, the committee may move the nomination to the appropriate category; or where a work does not meet any criteria, refuse the nomination.

5.0 Final Ballot
5.1 Number of finalists: The five nominees with the most nominations shall appear on the final ballot. In the event of a tie for fifth place, up to seven finalists may appear on the final ballot. In the event of a four-way tie (or more) for fifth place, only the top four finalists shall appear on the ballot.
5.2 Minimum nominations for finalists: To appear on the ballot a finalist must attract a minimum of four nominations in the Professional and Best New Talent categories, or two in the Fan and Special Awards categories (including Professional Special Award and William Athling Jr Award).
5.3 Minimum finalists for categories: If any category has two or fewer eligible finalists, the category shall not appear on the final ballot excepting the Fan Awards, the Special Awards and the Best New Talent Award. At the committee’s discretion, eligible finalists in the Novella or Novelette and Short Story categories may be merged into a single category called Short Fiction. At the committee’s discretion, eligible finalists in the Fanzine and Fan Production categories may be merged into a single category called Fan Production.
5.4 Order of finalists: Finalists shall appear in randomised order.
5.5 No Award: “No Award” shall appear last on the ballot for all categories.

6.0 Voting
6.1 Preferential Voting: Voting in each category shall take place according to a preferential system.
6.2 Tied Winners: In the event of a tie for winner in any category, all tied works will be deemed to have won the award.
6.3 Anonymous Voting: Unlike the nominations, final votes shall be anonymous. However, all ballots shall be coded and sent to each eligible member. The committee member responsible for coding the ballots shall not be involved in counting the votes.

7.0 The Physical Nature of the Trophy
7.1 Finalist Certificates: All finalists shall receive anA4 certificate honouring their achievement.
7.2 The Trophy: Ditmar winners shall receive a standard trophy.

8.0 Appendix: Possible Future Changes
Future amendments to this document were foreshadowed at the Natcon Business Meeting of 26/4/2000.
8.1 Formalisation of Nomination and Voting Periods: It was foreshadowed that formal rules should be laid down directing the Ditmar committee to issue nomination forms and final ballots in a timely fashion.
8.2 Withdrawal from Consideration: It was foreshadowed that formal rules should be put in place to direct the Ditmar committee in its response to requests by authors, artists, editors, or publishers, that a work be withdrawn from consideration.
8.3 List of Eligible Works: It was foreshadowed that the nomination forms may be accompanied by a list of eligible works and that the list may be published on the Web prior to the close of nominations.
8.4 Contraction of Short Fiction Categories: It is foreshadowed that the current rides that allow committee discretion in contracting the professional short fiction categories be amended to provide firm criteria for the merging (eg. if fewer then two works are eligible for the final ballot in either the Short Story or Novella/ Novelette categories).
8.5 The Physical Nature of the Trophy: It is foreshadowed that in future Ditmar awards, 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) and shall include a motif of the Southern Cross. One possibility is to use the popular Lewis Morley design.