The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund, often known as ''TAFF'', is a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

project created in 1953 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 ocean, across the Atlantic.

History

The first international fan fund, the ''Big Pond Fund'', was established to get Ted Carnell to the 1947 Worldcon, though it was the 1949 Worldcon he eventually attended. TAFF's roots lie in the successful effort to bring Walt Willis to the 1952 Worldcon in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Willis published the founding document for TAFF in ''Hyphen'' 4 (October 1953) following a discussion with "the available leaders of British fandom" at that year's Coroncon. Since that time TAFF has regularly brought

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n fans to

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an conventions and European fans to North American conventions. The success of TAFF has inspired other regular fan funds between North America and

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, Europe and Australia, and even Eastern and Western

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Funding

TAFF 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 $4 or £3 or €4. These donations, and the continued generosity of fandom, are what make TAFF possible. In addition to donations, fans hold auctions at science fiction conventions to raise money for TAFF. Frequently art, books, T-shirts, and other ephemera of fandom are auctioned off for this purpose.

Procedure

John Purcell and Donna Maree Hanson at the Hugo Award Ceremony at Worldcon in Helsinki

Each candidate posts a bond, promising to travel (if elected) to a major convention on the other side of the Atlantic; 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, TAFF delegates generally also tour the country before and after the convention in order to meet a variety of fans. Winning TAFF candidates are expected to write a trip report, which customarily takes the form of a

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 ...

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

List of TAFF winners

Past TAFF winners by year. Westbound races are marked ← and eastbound →. * 1952 ← Walt Willis * 1954 ← Vin¢ Clarke * 1955 ← Ken Bulmer * 1956 → Lee Hoffman * 1957 → Robert A Madle * 1958 ← Ron Bennett * 1959 → Don Ford * 1960 ← Eric Bentcliffe * 1961 → Ron Ellik * 1962 ← Ethel Lindsay * 1963 → Wally Weber * 1964 ← Arthur Thomson ("Atom") * 1965 → Terry Carr * 1966 ← Thomas Schlück * 1968 → Steve Stiles * 1969 ← Eddie Jones * 1970 → Elliot K Shorter * 1971 ← Mario Bosnyak * 1973 → Len & June Moffatt * 1974 ← Peter Weston * 1976 → Bill Bowers & Roy Tackett (tie) * 1977 ← Peter Roberts * 1979 → Terry Hughes * 1980 ← Dave Langford * 1981 → Stu Shiffman * 1982 ←

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget buddy comedy film ''Clerks (film), Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted i ...

* 1983 → Avedon Carol * 1984 ← Rob Hansen * 1985 → Patrick Nielsen Hayden &

Teresa Nielsen Hayden Teresa Nielsen Hayden (born March 21, 1956) is an American science fiction editor, fanzine writer, essayist, and workshop instructor. She is a consulting editor for Tor Books and is well known for her weblog, ''Making Light''. She has also worke ...

* 1986 ← Greg Pickersgill * 1987 →

Jeanne Gomoll Jeanne Gomoll is an American artist, writer, editor, and science fiction fandom, science fiction fan, who was recognized as one of the Science fiction convention#Guests of Honor, guests of honor at the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention (Loncon 3 ...

* 1988 ← Lilian Edwards & Christina Lake * 1989 → Robert Lichtman * 1991 ← Pam Wells * 1992 → Jeanne Bowman * 1993 ← Abigail Frost * 1995 →

Dan Steffan Dan Steffan is an American cartoonist and writer who has contributed to both mainstream and underground publications for several decades. Biography During the 1970s, Steffan drew for such underground titles as ''Bizarre Sex'' and ''Grateful Dead ...

* 1996 ← Martin Tudor * 1998 → Ulrika O'Brien * 1998 ← Maureen Kincaid Speller * 1999 → Velma J Bowen ("Vijay") * 2000 ← Sue Mason * 2001 → Victor M. Gonzalez * 2002 ← Tobes Valois * 2003 → Randy Byers * 2004 ← James Bacon * 2005 → Suzanne Tompkins ("Suzle") * 2006 ← Bridget Bradshaw ("Bug") * 2008 → Christopher J Garcia * 2009 ← Steve Green * 2010 → Anne KG Murphy & Brian Gray (joint) * 2011 ← John Coxon * 2012 → Jacqueline Monahan * 2013 ← Jim Mowatt * 2014 → Curt Phillips * 2015 ← Nina Horvath * 2016 ← Anna Raftery * 2017 → John Purcell * 2018 ← Johan Anglemark * 2019 → Geri Sullivan * 2020 → Michael J. "Orange Mike" Lowrey * 2022 ← Sofia "Fia" Karlsson * 2023 ← Sandra Bond There were no TAFF races in 1953, 1967, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1990, 1994, and 1997. The second 1998 race was announced to "catch up" after the lack of a 1997 race. The 2007 race between Chris Garcia and Mary Kay Kare was cancelled due to the cancellation of the 2007

Eastercon Eastercon is the common name for the annual British national science fiction convention. The convention is organised by voluntary self-organising committees, rather than a permanent entity. Overview Eastercon attracts 800-1200 fans of scien ...

; Garcia stood again in 2008 and won. The direction of the 2016 race was switched by the administrators (Nina Horvath, Jim Mowatt and Curt Phillips) to align with the 2017 Worldcon being held in Helsinki, Finland, and the likelihood of the 2019 Worldcon being held in Dublin, Ireland. The race for 2020 was again east-bound, and was to send a North American TAFF delegate to the 2020 Eastercon and Swecon. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and attendant travel restrictions, the 2020 winner started his trip in April 2022, beginning with the 2022

Eurocon Eurocon is an annual science fiction convention held in Europe. The organising committee of each Eurocon is selected by a vote of the participants of the previous event. The procedure is coordinated by the European Science Fiction Society. The fi ...

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and continuing with the 2022 Eastercon "Reclamation". There was no 2021 TAFF race.Kelly, Mark R. "2021 TAFF Race Postponed"
''

Locus Online ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. ...

'' October 8, 2020

References

External links