What Is TAFF? The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular fans across the Atlantic. Since that time, TAFF has regularly sent North American fans to European conventions and brought European fans to North America. TAFF exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates are voted for by interested fans all over the world, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than 50p ($1.00). These votes, and the continued interest and generosity of fandom, are what makes TAFF possible.
Who May Vote? Voting is open to anyone who was active in fandom (clubs, fanzines, conventions, etc.) prior to August 1981, and who contributes at least 50p ($1.00) to the fund. Contributions in excess of the minimum will be gratefully accepted. Only one vote per person is allowed -- no proxy votes -- and you must sign your ballot. Details of voting will be kept secret; write-ins are permitted. Money orders, postal orders and cheques should be made payable not to TAFF but to the appropriate administrator.
Deadline: Votes must reach the administrators by December 18, 1982.
Voting Details: TAFF uses the Australian ballot system, which guarantees an automatic run-off and a majority win. You rank the candidates in the exact order you wish to vote. If the leading first-place candidate does not get a majority, the first-place votes of the lowest-ranking candidate are dropped, and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted. This process goes on until one candidate has a majority. It is therefore important to vote for second and third place and onwards on your ballot. It is also a waste of time to put any name in more than one place.
Hold Over Funds: This choice, similar to 'No Award' in Hugo balloting, gives the voter the chance to vote for no TAFF trip should the candidates not appeal to him/her, or if he/she feels that TAFF should slow down its trips. 'Hold Over Funds' may be voted for in any position you wish.
Donations: TAFF needs continuous donations of money, and material to be auctioned, in order to exist. If you are ineligible to vote, or do not feel qualified to vote, why not donate anyway? Just as important as donations is publicity -- in fanzines, letters, convention booklets, and by word of mouth -- to increase voter participation.
Candidates: Each candidate has promised -- barring acts of God -- to travel to the 1983 Eastercon (Albacon II) if elected, and has posted bond and provided signed nominations and a platform, which are reproduced overleaf along with the ballot.
Send ballots and contributions to:
North American Administrator
European Administrator
Stu Shiffman
19 Broadway Terrace, apt. 1D
New York, NY 10040
U.S.A.Kevin Smith
The Green
Bromyard
Hereford, HR7 4RZ, U.K.Reproductions of this form are encouraged provided the text is reproduced verbatim. Anyone reproducing it should substitute their own name(s) below...
This version produced by Dave Langford
side 2:
[PLATFORMS]
Grant Canfield
Recovering recently in the restful Glades of Gafia following a harrowing convention experience with a Moby Fan wearing a shoulder dragon, GRANT realizes his name is no longer the household word of yore, when Fanac's Flame burned in his breast, and he earned annual Hugo nominations as Best Fan Artist. He solemnly promises to rekindle the Flame and publish a cleverly narrated, profusely illustrated trip report destined to become a 'classic'. The real reason to elect him for TAFF, though, is that he's getting Really Old. You may not get another chance. (If it worked for Henry Fonda....)
NOMINATED BY: Jim Barker, Harry Bell, Alexis Gilliland, Bill Rotsler and Dan Steffan.
Larry Carmody
A Fanoclast and Lunarian, co-editor of Raffles, editor of Eternity Road and a contributing editor to Science Fiction Chronicle. He also did a weekly sf/fantasy radio programme for a decade. At 14, he wandered into NYCon3 in 1967. Since then he has worked on numerous conventions. He prefers British football (and even played soccer in college). LARRY is not adverse to hanging out in a pub and has been known to quaff a beer or two or ... (and has recently helped form a weekly pub gathering in NYC). In real life, he is a mild-mannered sportswriter for a great suburban paper (plenty of stockrooms but, alas, no more enclosed phone booths).
NOMINATED BY: Bill & Mary Burns, Teresa Miñambres, Linda Pickersgill, David Stever and James White.
Avedon Carol
Spurred on by a groundswell of support from all my friend, along with the usual fannish delusions, I've decided to jump right in and commit myself to show up in Britain, attend the appropriate convention, dazzle people with my strangely low-rent charm, and return to what's left of the USA to write a TAFF report and all that sort of thing. My credentials for this are that once upon a time I started reading sf, eventually discovered fandom, went to (and worked on) some conventions, wrote some things and built some fmz's, and even wrote some creditable con reports, one of which was fake. My hobbies include collecting the humour of Hemingway and wearing cheap shoes.
NOMINATED BY: Malcolm Edwards & Chris Atkinson, Hazel & Dave Langford, Terry Carr, Gary Farber and D. Potter.
Taral Wayne
He isn't sure why he's running for TAFF except that he'd like to win something and is one of the fans least able to fly to Britain himself. He thinks he ought to win because he's been in fandom for over 10 years and has done well at almost everything a fan can do -- publish 135 issues of zines, including Delta Psi, his personalzine Red Shift, and the news/genzine DNQ. Drawn a couple of hundred illos and written idiosyncratically for his and other fanzines. Belonged to Fapa and other apas. Run clubs and cons, appeared on programs, and been nominated for FAAn Awards. He's feuded and wears the funniest fan 'costume' of all. What else can a fan do, except gafiate or win TAFF?
NOMINATED BY: John Berry, Linda Bushyager, Moshe Feder, Marc Schirmeister and Bob Shaw.
I VOTE FOR (list 1-2-3-4-5):
[ ___ ] Avedon Carol
[ ___ ] Grant Canfield
[ ___ ] Taral Wayne
[ ___ ] Larry Carmody
[ ___ ] Hold Over Funds
SIGNATURE:
NAME/ADDRESS:
Enclosed is [ ___ ] as a contribution to TAFF (cheques etc payable to Stu Shiffman or Kevin Smith, please, and not to TAFF). If you think your name may not be known to the administrators, then in order to qualify for voting please give the name and address of a fan or fan group to whom you are well known:
PLEASE READ VOTING INFORMATION ON REVERSE