The Down Under Fan Fund, also known as DUFF, was created in 1970 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular members of

science fiction fandom Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

familiar to fans on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

History

DUFF was created by John Foyster in 1970 as a means of increasing the face-to-face communication between science fiction fans in Australia and New Zealand, and North America. It coincides with the push within Australian fandom to host the World Science Fiction Convention in Australia in 1975, ( Aussiecon), and the rise of

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

fandom centred on Melbourne, Australia; e.g. ''Australian SF Review'', ''SF Commentary'', '' ANZAPA''. He based the procedures of DUFF on the already-existing

Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, often known as ''TAFF'', is a crowdfunding project created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular members of science fiction fandom familiar to fans on both sides of the ocean, acro ...

(TAFF), which began in 1952.

Funding

DUFF is funded through the support of fandom. Candidates are voted on by interested fans all over the world, and each vote is accompanied by a donation of not less than $US5 or A$6. These donations, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make the whole concept of these fan funds possible. In addition to donations, fans hold auctions at science fiction conventions to raise money for DUFF. Frequently art, books, T-shirts, and other ephemera of fandom are auctioned off for this purpose.

Procedure

Each candidate posts a bond, promising to travel (if elected) to a major convention on the other side of the Pacific; and has provided signed nominations and a platform. Voting is by secret ballot, using

instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV; ranked-choice voting (RCV), preferential voting, alternative vote) is a single-winner ranked voting election system where Sequential loser method, one or more eliminations are used to simulate Runoff (election), ...

; and is open to anyone who has been active in fandom for the prior year or more and who contributes to the Fund. Ballots are signed, to prevent ballot-box stuffing and to enable the election administrators to identify each voter as a known member of fandom. Although the winner is expected to attend Worldcon or a specific national convention, DUFF delegates generally also tour the country before and/or after the convention in order to meet a variety of fans. Winning DUFF candidates are expected to write a trip report, which customarily takes the form of a

or a series of fanzine articles. These fanzines are sometimes sold in order to help raise funds towards future DUFF trips. In addition, winners take over the administration of the fund for their region (Australia/NZ or North America) for two years until the next regional DUFF delegate is selected. At any given time, there are at least two administrators, one for each region.

List of DUFF winners

Past DUFF winners by year. Westbound races (ex-US) are marked << and eastbound (ex-Australasia) >>. * 1972 << Lesleigh Luttrell * 1974 >> Leigh Edmonds * 1975 <<

Rusty Hevelin James LeRoy "Rusty" Hevelin (February 16, 1922 – December 27, 2011) was a science fiction fan, fanzine publisher, collector and huckster. Career Hevelin was an active member of the science fiction community from the early 1940s, publishin ...

* 1976 >> Christine McGowan * 1977 << Bill Rotsler * 1978 >> Paul Stevens * 1979 << Ken Fletcher & Linda Lounsbury * 1980 >> Keith Curtis * 1981 << Joyce Scrivner * 1982 >> Peter Toluzzi * 1983 << Jerry Kaufman * 1984 >> Jack Herman * 1985 << Marty & Robbie Cantor * 1986 >> Nick Stathopoulos, Lewis Morley, Marilyn Pride * 1987 << Lucy Huntzinger * 1988 >> Terry Dowling * 1989 << John D Berry * 1990 >> Greg Turkich * 1991 << Art Widner * 1992 >> Roger Weddall * 1993 << Dick Smith & Leah Zeldes Smith * 1994 >> Alan Stewart * 1995 << Pat & Roger Sims * 1996 >> Perry Middlemiss * 1997 << Janice Murray * 1998 >> Terry Frost * 1999 << Janice Gelb * 2000 >> Cathy Cupitt * 2001 << Naomi Fisher & Patrick Molloy * 2002 >> Julian Warner * 2003 << Guy & Rosy Lillian * 2004 >> Norman Cates * 2005 << Joe Siclari * 2008 << Steve and Sue Francis * 2009 >> Emma Hawkes * 2010 << John Hertz * 2011 >> David Cake * 2012 No race held * 2013 >> Bill Wright * 2014 << Juanita Coulson * 2015 No race held * 2016 >> Clare McDonald-Sims * 2017 << Paul Weimer * 2018 >> Marlee Jane Ward * 2019 No race held * 2020 << Erin Underwood

References

External links