MISCELLANY

THE INTERNATIONAL FANTASY AWARDS - Robert Coulson

YANDRO 120 January 1963, edited by Robert and Juanita Coulson

The International Fantasy Awards originated during a conversation among fans and professionals at the then-famous ’’White Horse Tavern" .in London in April, 1951. Leslie Flood, who reports the incident in NEW WORLDS 15, was one of the originators, along with John Beynon Harris (better known under the pseudonym John Wyndham), G.Ken Chapman, and Frank A. Cooper. It was decided that the ’’First International Convention", to be held in London on May 12, would be the ideal place to present the first awards in the series,and Flood admits that the Awards Committee (apparently self-appointed on the spot) was somewhat rushed to make deadline. The trophies were not completed in time (a situation which has also faced Worldcon Committees with regard to the Hugos) and had to be forwarded later, with facsimiles being presented at the convention.

Originally, it was planned to have the Awards cover books,short stories, films, artwork and possibly other stf activities, much as the later Hugos have done. However, due to a lack of time and funds, the first Awards were restricted to fiction and non-fiction books,and these categories were followed in succeeding years. The only change came in 1954,when the non-fiction category was abolished (due to the difficulty of deciding which books were eligible for a category of "non-fictional fantasy") and a Certificate of Merit was presented to the second-place entry in the fiction category. This system was repeated in 1955, the last year for the I.F.A.

The first Awards in 1951 were based on the first British publication of the books in 1950. Following Awards were restricted to the first book publication in any country in the preceding year. Any fantasy book by a single author was eligible; short story collections and novels competer on an equal basis, with only anthologies being barred. Magazine publication did not count; eligibility was restricted to books.

Each trophy consisted of a spaceship (based, says Carnell, on the ship shown in the Bonestell cover of the February 1951 GALAXY) mounted on a wood base, with a matching Ronson table lighter. The ’’fiction” Award used chrome- plated metal and oak wood, while the non-fiction award used the combination of bronze and mahogany. They were about 20” high, overall. No description of the 'Certificate of Merit’ presented to the 1954 and 1955 runner-ups is available; presumably it was a paper or parchment document.

The I.F.A. was not, as are the Hugos, an award bestowed by general fandom. It was envisioned as the supreme award of the science fiction field, to be based on literary merit and awarded by the decision of experts in the field. While there aree some quibbles about the relative expertness of the judges selected as opposed to other eminent sf critics by and large the Awards Committee did a pretty fair job of picking its judges.

The 1951 Awards were presumably judged by the original four Committee members, since no other judges are mentioned,and in any event it would have been difficult to contact anyone else in the short space of time available.

Fifteen stf personalities were asked to judge the 1952 Awards. They were:Anthony Boucher and J.Francis McComas (casting one ballot as a team) August Derleth, Everett F. Bleiler (then well-known as editor of Fell’s BEST SCIENCE FICTION annual series), Judith Merril, Groff Conklin and Basil Davenport from the U.S.A.; J. M.Walsh (a well-known British author and fantasy fan), John Carnell (Nova Publications editor), Walter Gillings (ex-editor of SCIENCE FANTASY), and fans Fred .Brown and Walter Willis from Great Britain; Sigvard Ostlund ("foremost Scandanavian fantasy.bibliophile”) from Sweden; and Georges Gallet (editor) and Igor Maslowski (book critic) from France. The original members of’the Awards Committee apparently did not vote, though they continued to do the work of compiling records, contacting trophy manufacturers, collecting money, etc.

No list of the judges for the 1953 Awards is available; Nova Publications was having a crisis which included a long hiatus in publishing, and no other stf publishers ever gave the I.F.A. much publicity.

In 1954, however, judges Derleth, Davenport, the Boucher-McComas team, Conklin, Carnell, Brown, Gallet, and Maslowski are still functioning, being joined by P.Schuyler Miller,. Hugo Gernsback, Forry Ackerman, Robert Frazier (hook reviewer for FANTASTIC UNIVERSE) and Don Wollheim, all from the U.S.A.

The complete panel of judges for 1955 is not listed. Boucher, McComas (apparently with a vote apiece, this time), Derleth, Miller, Conklin, Carnell and Gallet are mentioned as participating in the voting.

Flood ends his report on the 1955 Awards with the comment that he is "looking forward to the 1956 Award”. 1955, however, was the last year for the I.F.A. I’ve been no explanation as to the reason for its disappearance.  A lack of interest doesn’t seem likely, although the Awards never did receive their proper share of publicity, either in fandom or in the professional mags; only NEW WORLDS supported them adequately. A lack of funds seems more likely; the Awards Committee for the I.F.A. had to depend on donations and its own resources. It did not have World Convention funds to draw upon, as do the Hugo backers. Or quite possibly the I.F.A. supporters felt that in the future they would be ’’competing” with the better-publicized Hugo Awards and dropped their own idea to avoid friction. Certainly the handling of the Awards, and the caliber of the winners, can reflect nothing but glory for the originators of the I.F.A.

NOTE: This article based on articles by John Carnell and Leslie Flood in NEW WORLDS #11, 15, 18, 22, 27, and 39.

The International Fantasy Awards-a follow-up article

E.J. Carnell

YANDRO edited by Robert and Juanita Coulson, 1963

Many thanks for your air letter of January 21st and the receipt today of YANDRO No. 120 containing the article on the International Fantasy Awardss, and I think that under the circumstances, you have presented a very creditable article from the information originally published in NEW WORLDS SCIENCE FICTION. There are a number of points, however, I would like to pass on to you for publication in the follow-up article.

I feel that the originators of the idea deserve additional credit in so far as John Wyndham, Frank Cooper, Ken Chapman and Leslie Flood founded and financed the scheme for the first three years without any outside financial help and the trophies themselves were quite expensive. It was only later, about 1954, when most of the leading publishers in this country were interested in the possibilities of the Award's value, that a number of them were asked to participate in any financial support. It should be pointed out, too, that at this stage some twenty-six London publishing firms formed themselves into a loosely knit organisation called The Science Fiction Luncheon Club, having at each monthly meeting a well-known science fiction personality as Guest of Honour.

By 1955, the Luncheon Club had expressed a keen interest to take over the handling of the International Fantasy Award and put it on a much higher level and it was mainly for this reason that no award was made in 1956 because of a waning interest in science fiction by many of the Club's members. In actual fact, Leslie Flood did produce on behalf of the Luncheon Club the 1957 Award to Professor Tolkein for his book "The Lord Of The Rings" and this last effort was largely financed by the remaining members of the Luncheon Club. Thereafter, in 1958, the Club was virtually dissolved, as interest in science fiction by its members reached zero.

You are quite right in your assumption that the 1951 Awards were judged by the originators of the scheme precisely for the reason you have given in your article -- lack of time to obtain sufficient international judges to produce a decision in time for the London Convention in May of that year. Thereafter, your list of judges is virtually correct, the 1953 adjudicators being the same as for 1952, and similarly, the 1955 panel being the same as for 1954.

The Certificate of Merit was a beautifully designed scroll on parchment but no facsimile of the original appears to exist in Leslie Flood's files, which are still intact and can be readily used again should the idea of the Awards ever be reinstituted.

Tolkein, incidentally, protested quite strongly about receiving the award in 1957 and was not at all keen to travel to London to receive it. He did appear, however, and seemed completely vague as to what the whole thing was about and was only too pleased to retreat to his college and apparently forget all about the occasion.

From 1952 onwards, the Fantasy Awards were presented at a private dinner held at night at which various prominent personalities were invited to attend and many people in radio and T.V., as well as publishers, who were particularly interested in science fiction, were in attendance.

A 2002 LETTER DATED 2002 FROM LESLIE FLOOD TO THE EDITOR OF 'STARBURST' MAGAZINE. (All addresses now obsolete.)

LESLIE & SUSAN FLOOD

URB DONAR PILAR 63/64

MIJAS. MALAGA 2960

ESPANA

Editor,

Starburst, Visual Imagination,

9 Blades Court,                                                                                    3rd February, 2002

Deodar Road,

London, SW15 2NU, U.K.

Dear Ed,

Peter Jackson’s FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS sounds wonderful (issues 281/282) and I hope Sky will beam it to Spain soon. In the meantime I am tempted to read the trilogy again (in one vol,. on india paper, case-bound Allen Unwin 1969, superceding the origina1 ordinary complete edition of 1968) but I am. also reminded of an incident concerning the early history of the saga.

My SFandom interests go back to the late 1930’s but post-WWII I opened the Fantasy Book Centre in London’s Bloornsbury - probably the world’s first - and met in friendship writers like Clarke, Wyndham, Van Vogt, Tubb et al, and in 1951 was one of the founders of the International Fantasy Award - again probably the world’s first. The idea was to present a trophy for the best book of the year in the genre in both fiction and non-fiction categories -  chosen by critical acclaim, among the judging panel being  Hugo Gernsback, August Derleth, Forrest Ackerman, Donald Wollheim, etc. For example the first winners were George Stewart’s EARTH ABIDES and Willy Ley’s THE CONQUEST OF SPACE. The committee had decided that. the trophy should be a  handsome desk ornament in the symbolic shape of a spaceship (pre-Trek style, and not always appropriate!)  arid I treasure a photograph of myself presenting his to Arthur C. Clarke in 1952 for EXPLORATION OF SPACE.

Jumping ahead to 1956 (regrettably the last award) and to the point of this letter, the fiction winner was J.R.R. Tolkien, whose RETURN OF THE KING had just completed the trilogy at the beginning of the world-wide acclaim which followed. As I.F.A secretary I managed to convince C.S. Lewis, another Oxford don and not unknown for his own fantasy books, to cajole his great friend Tolkien (both great ale drinkers) to attend a celebratory luncheon we were giving in his honour. Unfortunately there was no photographer present on this occasion but I relish the memory of the bemused expression on the distinguished man’s face when receiving the spaceship trophy...

In 1973 1 had just left the shop and. taken over the Carnell Literary Agency, specializing in sf., and travelled the world attending conventions and bookfairs, meeting most of the well-known writers of the period before retiring in the late ‘80’s. Tolkien had died in that year at the age of 81, aware of his world-wide readership, but never imagining the concept of a magnificent translation to the screen in the next millennium. I am luckier, although reaching that same age this summer - again probably your oldest reader!  (hurry up, Sky!) and have that pleasure to come.

Incidentally I have read and enjoyed STARBURST since the first issue (and Cinefantastique for the American scene) it is much appreciated, Keep up your steadily improving format.

SincerelyLeslie Flood

The IFA award is shown in right-hand image on the cover.

There are short pieces on the IFA in both Franson&Devore's A HISTORY OF THE HUGO, NEBULA, AND INTERNATIONAL FANTASY AWARDS (my edition 1976, though it has been reprinted since) and Donald H Tuck's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY (Volume 3, 1982).

A HISTORY OF THE HUGO, NEBULA, AND INTERNATIONAL FANTASY AWARDS - Donald Franson and Howard Devore (1976 edition) (

The International Fantasy Awards 1951-1957

Aa recently as 1965, the LONCON Program Bcok, which would seem to be an authority, contained this statement: "Hugo  is the popular name for the International Fantasy Award”.

It is not! There is NO connection, except in the fuzzy minds of fen, between HUGO and IFA.

The International Fantasy Awards (IFA) were originated by four British fans, Leslie Flood, John Beynon Harris, G. K. Chapman and Frank A. Cooper, for the 1951 British convention. Awards were selected by an International panel (after the first year) and covered fiction and non-fiction books of science-fictional interest, of the previous year.

The winners in Bold Type:

1951

FICTION Earth Abides - George R. Stewart

NON-FICTION The Conquest of Space - Willy Ley and Chesley Bonestell

1952

FICTION Fancies and Goodnights - John Collier,  2nd: The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham (J. B. Harris), 3rd: The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury

NON-FICTION The Exploration of Space - Arthur C. Clarke,  2nd: Dragons in Amber - Willy Ley ,  3rd: Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles and Spaceships - J Coggins and Fletcher Pratt

1953

FICTION City - Clifford D. Simak,  Runners-up ; Takeoff - Cyril M. Kornbluth Player Piano - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

NON-FICTION Lands Beyond - Willy Ley and L. Sprague De Camp

(The non-fiction category was dropped after 1953)

1954: FICTION More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon,  Runner up; The Demolished Man. Alfred Bester

1955: FICTION A Mirror for Observers - Edgar Pangborn; 2nd Mission of Gravity - Hal Clement

1957: FICTION Lord of the Rings, trilogy, J. R. R, Tolkien

There were no awards in 1956 nor any after 1957. From 1952 on they were presented at a dinner, attended by prominent personalities, not at regular conventions. Another difference from the HUGOS of course, was the way in which they werepicked;  by a panel of judges. These included such recognized experts as Anthony Boucher, P. Schuyler Miller, Judith Merril, Groff Conklin, Basil Davenport, John Carnell, and others in the field. The IFA was never intended to be a 'popular' award.

++++++++

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY (Volume 3, 1982). - Donald H Tuck

An award originated by the four British science fiction personalities J. B. Harris (better known as J. Wyndham), Frank A. Cooper, G. Ken Chapman, and Leslie Flood for the 1951 British Convention. For the first three years this group financed the scheme without outside support. They also were the judges for the initial award. Later, up to 15 sf personalities selected worldwide acted as judges. By 1955 the Award was financed by the "Science Fiction Luncheon Club,'' a loosely-knit group of London publishing firms. However, interest waned so much that there was no award in 1956, the remaining members largely financed the 1957 award, and the Club virtually ceased by 1958.

Awards were given around June to cover the fiction of the previous year; there was also a nonfiction award until 1954.  

1951: Earth Abides, G. R. Stewart. Nonfiction: The Conquest of Space,

W. Ley & C. Bonestell 1952: Fancies and Goodnights, J. Collier. Nonfiction: The Exploration of Space, A. C. Clarke

1953: City, C. D. Simak. Nonfiction: Lands Beyond, W. Ley & L. S. de Camp

1954: More Than Human, T. Sturgeon

1955: A Mirror for Observers, E. Pangborn

1956: No award

1957: Lord of the Rings Trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien

 EXTRACT FROM EDITORIAL “IT’S LONDON IN ’57!” - JOHN CARNELL - NEW WORLDS 52 OCTOBER 1956 (Written when Carnell was at the 1956 Worldcon in New York)

“This year's Achievement Awards were balloted for on Sunday afternoon prior to the 1957 Convention Site voting. The trophies themselves are beautifully futuristic model spaceships mounted on polished wood and inscribed with the winner's name – somewhat similar to the International Fantasy Awards donated m London each year for the best novel - but cover numerous categories, there being a trophy for each section.”

DEFINITION?   Editorial

JOHN CARNELL

NEW WORLDS 38 AUGUST 1955

During the past few years, ever since science fiction mushroomed into public focus along with the atom bomb, there have been innumerable attempts by leading writers and reviewers (primarily American) to interpret the expression into a comprehensive definition—exactly what "science fiction" implies by a brief summarised statement. From the number of extremely erudite pronouncements on the subject it is quite obvious that no such thumb-nail explanation can be found, In fact, several absorbing books have been written about the subject as a whole. Despite their eminent qualifications, however, none of the authors or contributors have basically been able to define the genre simply and effectively.

They can explain how it evolved, why it is so popular (and more recently why it isn't so popular as it was), where it is leading, its impact as a means of expression in a world which has seen a fundamental revolution in technological advance in fifty years, and they have even found answers (of a kind) for what it is—but never in less than many thousands of words.

It is therefore quite understandable why the general reading public is apt to be confused by generic explanations and consider science fiction merely as “space stories”, especially as such a large proportion of plots—whether magazine, book, radio, T.V. or film—have a central theme involving a spaceship, either as a means of transport or for character action. And plain "space stories" can become more than a little boring when examined as a whole.

Our own Survey results (see July Editorial) point up the fact that 35% of those who replied are in technical employment of some description, while the average standard of education can be considered as generally high—such a reading group would require more than plain action stories centred in space to hold their interest permanently. They would, I assume, require themes which would provoke thoughtful discussion and possible argument as to whether an author's extrapolation of today's knowledge would be feasible under certain circumstances in the not-too-distant future. Apart from its entertainment value (its main function) science fiction should be primarily concerned with reasoning out the possible advantages or disadvantages of a given set theories based upon present-day knowledge built on a matrix representing Now, whether it be Man against Nature or Man against Machine combination of any two of those against the remaining one. And to be popular with the general public the plots should be located within a ratio which could be conceivably in their lifetime. That will thrust home the reality of the plot situation if the author has handled his theme properly.

Such stories can be object lessons to a wide variety of readership— Orwell's 1984 was an extreme case of political skull-duggery taken to its nth degree, but there are other examples much more in keeping with the world as we may see it before the close of the twentieth century. Kornbluth's novel Takeoff which we serialised last year is one such and Tucker's new serial The Time Masters which starts next month has many roots set in present-day fact, while Clarke's Earthlight, recently published in Britain and U.S.A., with the-possible exception of the flaming space battle at the end is a perfect example of "might-happen" scientific enterprise which may take place on the surface of our satellite sometime within the next fifty years.

It seems significant to me that the novels which are best remembered by readers and receive prominent reviews in the literary journals and newspapers are those where the science or fantasy part of the plot is sublimated to strong human characterisation based on ourselves in everyday life—given the variations of an indeterminate number of Tomorrows how would we react to the changes which would effect our lives ? Not how would the people of one hundred years hence react ! Therein lies the future success of science fiction as an accepted part of the general literature of the world, and there are plenty of novels to prove my point—Wyndham's The Day Of The Triffids, Mclntosh's One In Three Hundred and his forthcoming The Fittest, Christopher's The Year Of The Comet, Crowfoot's The Fallen Sky, Pangbourne's A Mirror For Observers, Holden's Snow Fury (not published here yet) to name but a few. There are many others if you care to think about them for a few moments.

Another significant pointer is that almost invariably the adjudicators on the International Fantasy Award Panel have chosen titles which conform to this pattern with the added requirement of a high literary standard—1951: George Stewart's Earth Abides; 1952: John Collier's Fancies And Goodnighti with Wyndham's Triffids second; 1953: Clifford Simak's City with Kornbluth's Takeoff second; and last year Ted Sturgeon's More Than Human with Bester's Demolished Man second. Although they do not all closely follow the pattern I have outlined they do conform to a strong characterisation of human beings as we know ourselves.

The stumbling block to a general appreciation of science fiction is the word "science" which in most cases seldom applies. What we need is not a generic definition for science fiction but a new generic title.

John Carnell