Ditmar sub-committee formation

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This article details the formation of the Ditmar sub-committee of the Standing Committee.

History

The business meeting at Convergence 2, the 46th NatCon, voted for the establishment of a standing Ditmar Committee to administer the Ditmar Awards.

The Motion

The following motion was put by Perry Middlemiss and seconded by Rose Mitchell, and subsequently passed by the meeting.

That the Natcon business meeting binds and directs the national convention standing committee to present rules, regulations and procedures for the organisation of an ongoing Ditmar committee, which will organize, control and administer the Ditmar awards for each and every national science fiction convention. These rules, regulations and procedure are to be finalised by December 31, 2007, to be distributed to all eligible Ditmar voters (ie members of the 2007 and 2008 national conventions) for discussion prior to the 2008 National SF convention business meeting.

At the 2008 Natcon business meeting, a vote [was] to be taken to implement those rules, regulations, and procedures, which [were] to take effect from the close of the 2008 Natcon.

Discussion points

While the motion at the Business Meeting empowered the NatCon Standing Committee to implement its substance, the following discussion points were raised:

that there be voting and advisory members
that there be a tenure of three years
that the committee deal with a number of outstanding tasks
that members of the committee would be elected at the 2008 business meeting following the vote on the rules

Tasks

This section details some of the potential work facing the committee.

Fan categories

Fix the confusion that exists between the fan production and fan achievement categories.

Ju Landéesse suggests:

Put in a Professional Production category.

Either eliminate and replace or rename the achievement awards, and make them discretionary like the A. Bertram Chandler Award. Awarded at the discretion of the ditmar committee. It will still provide the role of being a catch all. Because it will be a revision the discretionary awards will also have some points on eligibility for guidance attached so that everyone can be clear and it's not a judgement call every year, that is also different every year.

2008 Business Meeting

At the following Business Meeting, which took place at Swancon 2008, the Standing Committee offered to take on responsibility for the Awards, and proposed motions to amend the Ditmar rules to that effect. Having failed to complete the task it was assigned at the previous meeting, the Standing Committee was spanked by the Meeting.