It is the pleasure of the TAFF administrators to announce the candidates for the 2013 race! The candidates are Theresa Derwin and Jim Mowatt; each has posted a bond of £15 and confirmed their willingness to attend LoneStarCon 3, to be held in San Antonio, Texas, USA on 29th August to 2nd September 2013.
The race starts immediately, and will run until 23:59 on Friday 19th April 2013 (British Summer Time aka UTC+1).
When the result is announced, the winning candidate will have approximately four months to arrange and begin their trip to LoneStarCon 3, the 71st World Science Fiction Convention.
The lucky delegate will also conduct a trip around North America, meeting various groups of fans. Recent visits to North America by TAFF delegates have included trips to Las Vegas, Toronto, New York City, Seattle, the Bay Area and Reno. The trip often lasts up to a month, and in some circumstances can be significantly longer.
TAFF is the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, which has been running since the 1950s and in this time has provided the means for many North American and European fans to attend conventions on alternating sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The winning candidate in any year receives money from the fund in order to make a trip to the other continent, often including a Worldcon; generous SF fans donate in order to vote for their preferred candidate. More information about TAFF can be found at the official unofficial website:taff.org.uk. We also have presences on LiveJournal (taffnews.livejournal.com), Facebook (facebook.com/TAFFnews) and Twitter (@TAFFnews), for all your social networking needs.
The 2013 race involves two candidates. Theresa Derwin is nominated by Anders Bellis, Steve Green and John Meaney (in Europe), as well as Christopher J. Garcia and Yvonne Penney (in North America). Jim Mowatt is nominated by Fran Dowd, Rob Hansen and Mark Plummer (in Europe), as well as Randy Byers and Curt Phillips (in North America). Both candidates have submitted a platform of up to 101 words, which follow here.
"Derwin: The Natural Selection
Theresa Derwin is standing for TAFF! A regular convention attendee and panel moderator/member, Theresa has been active in fandom since her teen years. She produces fanzine Andromeda's Offspring, which promotes the genre work of female authors. She has also previously written for Critical Wave and writes book reviews on her blog www.terror-tree.co.uk whilst writing lots of fiction in a variety of anthologies and in her first book Monsters Anonymous. Theresa wants to attend LoneStarCon3 as a positive ambassador for European/British fandom and female fans and writers in particular. She brings enthusiasm, knowledge and humour to the race!"
"Jim Mowatt came of age in the fiery fannishness of Leeds and burst upon the scene as Jim Trash at the Sou'wester Eastercon in 1994. Few noticed. He retreated into the shadows like a bewildered ninja. Since then he has made a number of friends, produced fanzines (e.g. Pips and Beam) and decided that fandom is a wonderful place to be(eblebear). He has produced a prodigious number of podcasts, and has a great face for radio. Jim followed a woman to Cambridge in 2002. She didn't call the police so he moved in. San Antonio needs to know why."