30th World Science Fiction Convention

The 30th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) was L.A.con I, which was held in Los Angeles, California, US from 1 to 4 September 1972.[1] The venue for 30th Worldcon was the International Hotel. The organising committee was co-chaired by Charles Crayne and Bruce Pelz.

L.A.con I, the 30th World Science Fiction Convention
GenreScience fiction
Dates1–4 September 1972
VenueInternational Hotel
Location(s)Los Angeles, California
CountryUnited States
Attendance2,007
Filing statusNon-profit

The convention had 2,007 members, breaking the previous record of 1,600 set only one year earlier. The record was broken again a year later.

Program and events

Guests of honor

The guests of honor were:

Worldcon site selection

The 33rd World Science Fiction Convention was awarded to Aussiecon I in Melbourne, Australia. This was the first time a Worldcon was awarded to a site outside North America or Europe.

Awards

The Hugo Awards, named after Hugo Gernsback, are presented every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The results are based on the ballots submitted by members of the World Science Fiction Society. Other awards, including the Astounding Award for Best New Writer (since 1973; named "John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer" until 2019), are also presented at each year's Worldcon.[2]

Hugo Awards

Other awards
  • Special Award: Harlan Ellison for excellence in anthologizing
  • Special Award: Club du Livre d'Anticipation (France) for excellence in book production
  • Special Award: Nueva Dimension (Spain) for excellence in magazine production

Notable events

At the L.A.Con I masquerade, one of the contestants, artist Scott Shaw!, came on stage wearing only a bathing suit, with his body completely covered with crunchy peanut butter. The name of his costume was "The Turd." from an underground comic story Shaw wrote and illustrated. Since some of the peanut butter tended to drip off of him, making the floor sticky for other contestants, a rule was passed that forever after at science fiction convention masquerades, no peanut butter costumes would be allowed. This masquerade rule is universally known among science fiction fans as the "no peanut butter rule."[3]

The first video game competition at a science fiction convention was held, and a science fiction fan named Kevan Pritchard from Lawndale, California, won the world championship contest in the game Spacewar!.

gollark: If you're DEAD, it's not like having your work released would be BAD for you.
gollark: Well, that seems kind of bees.
gollark: Palaiologos is Palaiologos and wouldn't, you see.
gollark: Unrelatedly, run my random NOT VIRUS script!
gollark: So it's literally just "security" through obscurity and being hard to cryptanalyze?

References
  1. Cartnal, Alan (10 September 1972). "Science Fiction Fans Touch Down in L.A." Los Angeles Times. p. J1. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  2. "Hugo Award FAQ". The Hugo Awards. World Science Fiction Society. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  3. "The origin of the "No Peanut Butter" rule". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2011.

See also
Preceded by
29th World Science Fiction Convention
Noreascon I in Boston, United States (1971)		 List of Worldcons
30th World Science Fiction Convention
L.A.con I in Anaheim, United States (1972)		 Succeeded by
31st World Science Fiction Convention
Torcon II in Toronto, Canada (1973)

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