LFS Celebrates 20th Anniversary
Board of Directors Announces New Policies and Programs
The Libertarian Futurist Society will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year—and we would like to invite all LFS members to celebrate it with us by taking a more active role.
For the past half year, the LFS Board of Directors has discussed ways in which the LFS can honor our past achievements during our 20th Anniversary while laying a firm foundation for our future growth, greater impact, and enhanced success in the coming millenium.
As a results the LFS is poised to toke these exciting steps forward:
- The LFS will double the gold prize given with the annual Prometheus Award for Best Novel from one-half ounce to one full ounce—beginning with our Prometheus Awards Best Novel ceremony over Labor Day weekend at the 2001 Worldcon in Philadelphia.
- The LFS has established rules deadlines and a Special Award Committee to annually consider occasional special awards for Best Short Fiction, Best Dramatic Presentation, Lifetime Achievement and other categories. (See related article.)
- The LFS will hold its first national convention, in honor of our 20th anniversary, May 25-27, 2001, in Columbus, Ohio. (See story beginning on p. 1.)
- The LFS is upgrading our website in the hope that it will raise our Internet visibility and attract new members. Check out the LFS website at http://www.lfs.org and let us know your reaction and suggestions!
- We are preparing the biggest membership drive in LFS history—including plans for our first display ads in Reason magazine this winter and a mass mailing this fall to 1,400 Laissez Faire Books customers who have bought fiction.
- To enhance the success of our outreach campaign we have adjusted LFS membership categories, dues and benefits. (All current members should have received explanatory renewal letters with all the details in September. In particular, the LFS now offers several new membership categories with enhanced benefits: Full members (who have the right to vote in all Prometheus Award categories); and Sponsors and Benefactors (for those who wish to support the LFS at higher levels). Since the best way for us to grow is via word of mouth, please tell your friends and libertarian acquaintances about us! (If you need more copies of the LFS introductory brochure, just let us know how many to send.)
- Alternatively, you can send us the names, mail and email addresses of any libertarians you know—especially libertarian science fiction fans—who might be interested in joining us, and we'll mail them an introductory letter with a personalized invitation.
SPECIAL OFFER: Forever new member that you help us recruit we will send you a $20 gift certificate good for any merchandise in the new LFS catalog, which includes buttons, stickers, T-shirts, CDs, posters, sf collector's items and more than 100 new book titles libertarian sf, general sf and non-fiction libertarian bestsellers).
- The official scope of the Prometheus award for Best Classic Fiction (the Hall of Fame) will be broadened, effective in 2001, to include novels, novellas, short stories, plays, poems and television shows.
We believe that this enhanced scope will extend the life of the Hall of Fame for many years. For the first time, classic films, TV shows (or episodes), and plays will be eligible for nomination.
As this year's landmark Hall of Fame win for Hans Christian Andersen's short fable "The Emperor's New Clothes" makes clear, LFS members have been nominating a wide variety of types of works in recent years including novels, novellas, short stories and poems. So to a large extent, this broadening of the awards' scope merely makes official what LFS members have been nominating.
While we expect that novels will continue to dominate the Hall of Fame, the enhanced potential range of nominees will help the Hall of Fame awards committee judges as they select the finalists that all LFS members vote on each year. Deadline for this year's Hall of Fame nominations is Oct. 15.
Michael Grossberg