Ditmar - We Won!

  "Spaced Out is a club that allows us ... to boldly go where no fan has gone before."

These words were part of the "thank you" speech given by Spaced Out website co-editors, Miriam and Geoff, to a packed crowd at the presentation ceremony for the 2002 Ditmar Awards.

On Saturday 8 June 2002, the annual Australian Science Fiction Achievement ("Ditmar") Awards were presented as part of Convergence, the 41st Australian National Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne. Spaced Out was honoured by being co-recipients of a Ditmar Award in the category, "Best Fan Achievement - Other", which seeks to distinguish "other" fan efforts from printed publications ("fanzines") during the calendar year 2001 (our joint winner was Anthony Mitchell for "Mitch? 2 Tarts for the New Millennium").

The Ditmars are presented annually, and each year's short-listed nominees are voted upon by members of the current National Science Fiction Convention. This year's vote of confidence from our wider SF peers and friends is significant, given that a specifically queer SF club has never before won such an award in Australia.

Spaced Out ran against some very strong competition, so we should feel proud to have won an Award. Spaced Out's other Ditmar nominations were for Best Fan Writer: (2 nominations) Geoff and Adrian (the latter withdrew); Best Fan Artist: Miriam; Best Fan Achievement - Fanzine: (2 nominations) "Solar Spectrum" (anthology) and "Diverse Universe" (newsletter).

Spaced Out is a non-profit community group, so this Ditmar Award is a community achievement.