Welcome

The London in 2014 bid website is no longer active. Now that we have won the bid, the convention website is at www.loncon3.org — please visit that website to join the convention or see the latest news


Welcome to the London in 2014 website about главный зал в Эрмитаже. We are running a bid to bring the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, to London in August 2014. The site for 2014 will be selected by vote of members of the Chicon 7, 2012 Worldcon. Between now and 2012, the bid committee will be publicising and promoting the bid to science fiction fans all around the world.

 

The Worldcon is the premier international science fiction event, and awards the prestigious Hugo Awards for achievement in the field of science fiction. 2014 will be the 75th anniversary of the first Worldcon, in New York in 1939, since when the event has been held every year apart from a break during the Second World War. It was last hosted by London in 1965, nearly fifty years ago. Typically the Worldcon attracts about 5,000 attendees from around the world, including hundreds of professional authors, editors, artists and publishers. It has a five-day multi-track programme with hundreds of hours of talks, panels, book signings, videos, etc.

 

Assuming the bid is successful, the convention will be held from Thursday 14 to Monday 18 August 2014 in the new International Convention Centre, which is part of the ExCeL exhibition centre complex in London's Docklands. The name of the convention, and its Guests of Honour, will only be announced once the bid has been won. The bid, and the convention itself, will be non-profit-making organisations run entirely by unpaid volunteers.

 

 "Worldcon", "World Science Fiction Convention" and "Hugo Award" are registered service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.

1115 days since Site Selection for the 2014 Worldcon.

Website Inactive

The London in 2014 bid website is no longer active. Now that we have won the bid, the convention website is at www.loncon3.org — please visit that website to join the convention or see the latest news


Bid Videos

Mark Slater has kindly put together a second video for use in promoting the bid, which can be seen here.

 

For those who've not seen it, our first video (also by Mark) is here

 

Many thanks to Mark for both videos.

More Supporters

Our membership team have found some more supporters down the back of the sofa spreadsheet, and they're now on the supporter list. Apologies to those who were omitted yesterday.

 

The updated total is 782 supporters in all: 41 Subscribers, 232 Friends, 17 Young Friends and 492 Pre-Supporters. Our thanks to you all for your support—we couldn't run this bid without you. 

Supporter Update

Following a successful summer at ReConStruction and Aussiecon 4, we now have a total of 655 supporters: 41 Subscribers, 211 Friends, 13 Young Friends and 390 Pre-Supporters. The supporter list has been updated.
 
We're now starting the peak autumn convention season, and we look forward to meeting many of you—and perhaps selling a few more pre-supports—at WindyCon 37, Novacon 40, Loscon 37 or Smofcon 28.

Eurocon Statement

Statement from the London in 2014 Worldcon bid

EUROCON

We thought it would be useful to clarify both that we support the ideals of the Eurocon and that we do not intend to combine our Worldcon bid with a bid to be the Eurocon in 2014.
 
We fully support the idea of international SF cons which encourage fans from different cultures and countries to meet and participate together. In particular, as a UK-based Worldcon bid, we are keen to see fans from across Europe attend the Worldcon and other international cons where they can meet fans from around the world (as also laid out in the principles of the European SF Society which oversees the Eurocon). Read more »

Aussiecon Update

We had a major presence at Aussiecon 4, our first Worldcon as an official bid. Five bid committee members were at the con, and we ran very successful parties on the Saturday and Sunday nights, promoting both the bid and UK & Irish fandom, despite some difficulties with the party facilities.

 

Saturday Night

 

Sunday Night

  Read more »

London in 2014 Parties at Aussiecon 4

There will be two London in 2014/UK & Irish fandom "hospitality events" at Aussiecon 4, both in the Crowne Plaza hotel.
 
On Friday, we're in the Corporate Lounge (upstairs from reception) at 9pm.
 
On Saturday, we're in Bridge 1 (downstairs from reception), again at 9pm.
 
We'll be serving UK specialties including whisky and Pimms. If you're attending Aussiecon 4, come along and say hello, and find out more about the bid.

News from NASFiC

The London in 2014 team went out to Raleigh in North Carolina for ReConStruction, the 2010 NASFiC, and held a party and staffed a table as well as chatting with a lot of interested folk. Many Stateside fans had already volunteered to help with our table and party, along with some new volunteers, and these activities were very succesful.

 

We also worked with a variety of UK and Irish organisations to hold a UK and Irish party.

 

We picked up some 135 pre-supporting members and Friends over the weekend, and went through a lot of Newcastle Brown Ale.

 

The committee would like to thank everyone who has supported us and also those who volunteered and helped with our promotional activities.

 

The next stop is Melbourne for AussieCon 4.

Committee Meeting Update

We held our first post-launch meeting of the bid committee on Sunday 4 July, and here are a few updates.

 

Before the meeting, we had a tour of the International Convention Centre at ExCeL, which opened for business in May, and will provide the bulk of our facilities. It's the first time we've seen it since the construction finished, and it's looking great -- it's easy to visualise it filled with 6,000 science fiction fans. ExCeL have also broken ground on their new hotel, which will be the sixth hotel on the site, directly attached to the convention centre.

 

Here are a few photos of the ICC, taken by Steve Cooper -- there are more on our Flickr group.

 

The main ExCeL concourse, approaching the ICC  Read more »

Volunteers Needed

Following the exciting launch of our bid at Eastercon in April, we are now going to put the "World" part of the Worldcon bid into action. We will have a presence at ReConStruction, the NASFiC in Raleigh, North Carolina in the USA, and at Aussiecon 4, this year's Worldcon in Melbourne.
 
At both these conventions we will staff a London in 2014 information table and also host parties.
 
If you are going to either of these conventions, and you might be able to make some time to help, please let us know at .
  Read more »

List of supporters now online

The London in 2014 bid now has 385 supporters, and the first supporter list has been posted to the website. Thanks to all of our supporters, and remember that there's still plenty of time to buy a Pre-Supporting or Friend membership in order to support the bid.