Montreal WorldCon Day 2: I win an Aurora Award!

Picture 354Well, you can’t have a much better day at a WorldCon than I had today, short of winning a Hugo:  tonight I won the Aurora Award for the best long-form work of science fiction or fantasy by a Canadian writer in English in 2008. The award was presented at a banquet this evening, and my publishers, Betsy Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert of DAW Books, were both present (Sheila is also my editor, and that’s her in the photo with me and the award at left).

I’d give you the complete list of winners as I usually do, except as one of the nominees, I didn’t take notes or photos tonight. I’ll post them when I have a chance. But in my acceptance speech I made a point of thanking Robert J. Sawyer, who was a nominee in the same category tonight, because it was in his Banff Centre class in writing science fiction that Marseguro began, and I also did my best to acknowledge all the other nominees in my category, Douglas Smith, Ursula Pflug and Hayden Trenholm, urging people to read them all, because, I said, “Canadian science fiction deserves it.” Of course, in the process I forgot to thank my wife and daughter, and I fumbled introducing Sheila and Betsy from DAW, but it’s amazing how hard it is to think when you win an award.

Speaking of my daughter, I think she was more anxious than I was as my category (which, by the way, was announced by none other than well-known cigar-smoking puppet Ed the Sock) approached, and she apparently, though I didn’t see it, reacted with even more glee.

Afterward, of course, once I had Tweeted and Facebooked and phoned Mom, I headed over to the Delta Hotel for the SF Canada/Robert J. Sawyer Books party. I was also briefly in the SFWA Suite, where Analog and Asimov‘s were hosting a party, until it was closed down by the hotel. Oops. (Apparently a few people hung on in near-silence and seclusion.) It’s amazing what carrying a pointy, shiny award around an SF convention does to encourage people to talk to you. Two parties was my limit, though. (Pointy, you ask? The Aurora Award is famous for its sharp points, which are a) useful for forcing your way through crowds, b) an exellent means of self-defense should you be mugged on your way to your hotel, and c) known to shred clothing if you pack it injudiciously in your luggage. Fortunately, since we drove, I should be able to take it back in one piece).

Oh, I did do a few other things today. I went to a rather depressing panel on “After the Shuttle,” which spent much of its time pointing out that NASA’s plans for replacing the shuttle are inadequate, and therefore NASA astronauts won’t be going anywhere other than low-Earth-orbit riding Russian Soyuzes any time soon, manned the SFWA table for an hour and then signed books (not very many, but some) at the SFWA table for another hour, and went to the DAW Books upcoming books presentation.

It’ll be hard to have a better day than today at the this year’s WorldCon. But I’ll give it the old college try tomorrow!

And my deepest thanks to everyone who voted for Marseguro! You’ve made my year.

Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/2009/08/montreal-worldcon-day-2-i-win-an-aurora-award/

6 comments

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  1. Congrats on the Aurora, Edward–you deserved it. Hell, man, it’s getting to the point where you might eligible for a Lifetime Achievement award of some kind! Seriously, it’s nice to see an old pro recognized. Shows the value of hard work and perseverance and I hope young authors will take note. Enjoy your time in the limelight…and then back to work. Your fans are waiting…

  2. Hey, congrats! Was this the 1st time you’ve been nominated?

      • on August 9, 2009 at 6:16 am
      • Reply

      Thanks, everyone! Ian, yes, this was my first-ever nomination.

    • Chadwick Ginther on August 8, 2009 at 7:25 am
    • Reply

    Congratulations Ed! Enjoy the well deserved award.

  3. Congratulations!

    • Sharon Eisbrenner on August 7, 2009 at 11:10 pm
    • Reply

    HURRAY! Hurray! Hurray!
    *doin’ the happy-for-you dance!*

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