PRESS RELEASE #29 - Hugo Awards Ceremony MCs Revealed

GLASGOW, Saturday 12 March 2005

Hugo Awards ceremony MCs announced - Hugo Nomination process closed – Shortlist to be released at Easter.

The organisers of Interaction, the 63^rd World Science Fiction Convention have revealed the identities of the Masters of Ceremonies of this year’s Hugo Awards ceremony. Author, broadcaster and critic Kim Newman will join novelist and critic Paul McAuley onstage at the Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow on 7 August 2005 for the most prestigious event in the Science Fiction calendar. “We are honoured and delighted that Kim and Paul have agreed to act as hosts for the Awards ceremony,” said Interaction Co-Chair Vincent Docherty. “Both are highly respected authors in the science fiction field and are also known in wider media and literary circles. Not only that, but they are highly entertaining and promise to make the event a night to remember.”

Paul McAuley’s first novel Four Hundred Billion Stars won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award in 1988. Since then, he has had an illustrious career winning several international awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the John W. Campbell Award for his novel Fairyland. His latest novel White Devils is published by Simon & Schuster in the UK and by Tor in the US.

Kim Newman is perhaps best known for his many TV appearances and for his regular reviews in Empire magazine. His novels include The Night Mayor, Anno Dracula – for which he won an International Horror Guild Award – and The Bloody Red Baron. He has also edited several anthologies. His latest book, Dead Travel Fast, is published by Dinoship Books.

The Hugo Awards are considered to be the Oscars® of the Science Fiction field and are voted on each year by the members of the sitting Worldcon. They are named in honour of Hugo Gernsback, who in 1926 founded Amazing Stories, the first magazine devoted entirely to science fiction. They honour achievement in several categories including Best Novel, Best Short Story, Best Professional Artist and Best Dramatic Presentations (long form and short form). The nominations phase of the awards process has now closed and the final shortlist will be announced over the Easter weekend. Members of Interaction will then be able to vote in a final ballot to select the winners.

ENDS

Photos available on request from press@interaction.worldcon.org.uk

Contacts

General: info@interaction.worldcon.org.uk
Press/Media: David Stewart - press@interaction.worldcon.org.uk

The 2005 World Science Fiction Convention, known as Interaction, will take place in Glasgow, UK from 4-8 August 2005. More information about Interaction, including current membership rates, is available from its web site (http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/) or by writing to info@interaction.worldcon.org.uk.

Specific press contacts, or requests to be removed from the Interaction press release mailing list should be directed to press@interaction.worldcon.org.uk.

"WSFS", "Worldcon", "World Science Fiction Convention" and "Hugo Award" are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society. “Oscar” is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Release Date 12^th March 2005