2001 NORTH-AMERICA-T0-EUROPE TAFF NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN
An announcement from Vijay Bowen, North American TAFF AdministratorI'm pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the 2001 North-America-to-Europe TAFF race. The winner will attend Paragon, the 52nd annual British National Science Fiction Convention (Eastercon), to be held 13-16 April 2001 in Hinckley, Leicestershire (http://www.keepsake-web.co.uk/paragon/).
To be on the ballot, prospective candidates must be nominated by three nominators from North America and two from Europe. Nominations provided on paper must be signed by the nominator. Nominations provided via email must originate from an email address that the administrators can verify belongs to the nominator. Prospective candidates must also post a US $20 bond, and they or their nominators must provide a written platform not longer than 100 words. Checks must be made out to Velma J. Bowen, not to TAFF.
All nominations, platforms, and $20 bonds must reach North American administrator Velma J. Bowen (address below) by November 6, 2000. So long as at least two prospective candidates have satisfied these requirements by that date, distribution of ballots, in both electronic and paper form, will begin immediately thereafter.
The voting deadline will be 31 January 2001. As usual, voting will be via signed paper ballots only, and the deadline will be a "received-by" deadline, not a "postmark" deadline."
As you may have heard, in addition to sending a newly-elected Millennial Delegate to Eastercon in the stfnally fateful year 2001, TAFF also hopes to send Bill Bowers -- health permitting -- as the Silver Anniversary delegate, twenty-five years after the TAFF trip he won but was unable to take. We'll keep everyone informed about this as events develop. Right now, it's time to elect a contemporary delegate, so get those nominations, platforms, and checks in today!
Vijay Bowen
North American TAFF Administrator
P.O. Box 156
Village Station
New York
NY 10014-0156
vjbowen@aol.com
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 familiar to those on both sides of the ocean across the Atlantic. Since that time, TAFF has regularly brought North American fans to European conventions and European fans to North American conventions. TAFF exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates are voted on by interested fans all over the world, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than US $3 or UK L2. These votes, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible.
By custom, the administrators of TAFF are generally the two previous delegates, one from Europe and one from North America. Currently the North American administrator is Vijay Bowen, PO Box 156, Village Station, NY 0014-0156 (vjbowen@aol.com), and the European administrator is Sue Mason, 3 York Street, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA15 9QH (sue@arctic-fox.freeserve.co.uk).
More information about TAFF's history, customs, and practices may be found at the unofficial site maintained by Dave Langford at http://taff.org.uk/.