If you are already an Aussiecon 4 member then an email explaining how to obtain your copy of the Packet will be on its way to you soon.

If you are not yet a member of Aussiecon 4, all you need in order to access the Packet is a Supporting Membership. The prices are as follows: AU$70, US$50, CA$50, £25, €35, ¥4,900, NZ$90. You can buy memberships online here. A supporting membership of Aussiecon 4 will give you the right to vote in the final ballot of the 2010 Hugo Awards, and nominate in the 2011 Hugo Awards. The deadline for voting in this year’s final ballot is 31 July 2010 23:59 PDT. You’ll want to sign up well before then because there’s a lot of reading material in that Packet.

Note that this is not the deadline for submitting nominations, it is just the deadline for securing eligibility to vote. That’s set much earlier to allow time for your membership to be processed, and for ballot papers to be mailed to anyone who does not wish to vote online.

This year’s Worldcon, Aussiecon 4, takes place in Melbourne, Australia in September. It is not necessary to buy an Attending Membership, or travel to Australia, in order to vote in the Hugo Awards. All you need is a Supporting Membership. Prices for these are: AU$70, US$50, CA$50, £25, €35 or ¥4,900. Further details, including online payment, can be found here.

As usual, the nominating stage of the process is open to anyone who was a member of last year’s Worldcon, Anticipation in Montréal, and to anyone who buys at least a supporting membership in Aussiecon 4. In order to give the Aussiecon 4 folks time to process memberships before the ballot closes you must buy your membership by January 31st. Supporting membership prices are as follows: US $50; AU $70; € 35; £25; ¥4,900. You can buy them online here.

Fans around the world are already discussing which works and people to nominate. You may wish to check the third party recommendation sites listed in our right-hand sidebar. If you are unsure about the eligibility of online works because of the changes to the WSFS Constitution that were made in Montréal you may find this public statement by Aussiecon 4’s Hugo Award Administrator helpful. And please remember that Best Graphic Story is now an official category so you can keep nominating such works.

The deadline for submitting nominating ballots is 23:59 PST on Saturday, March 13, 2010.

The deadline for voting is midnight (2359hrs.) Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) July 3, 2009. All ballots, paper or electronic, must be in the administrator’s hands by that time.

Please do not wait until Saturday night to cast your ballot. We can’t guarantee that some part of the Internet won’t have problems at the most inconvenient time.

Further information on Anticipation memberships is available from their web site. For more information on how to participate in the Hugo Awards see our helpful guide.