A Blast from the Past

In 1979 Worldcon was held in Brighton, England, and the BBC sent along a film crew. They were making a series of programs, Time out of Mind, about science fiction writers, and Worldcon was a good place to get footage. The final program in the series ended up dedicated entirely to the convention, and culminated in a brief segment from the Hugo Award ceremony where we see Vonda N. McIntyre receive her trophy for Dreamsnake.

As the series dates back to 1979, little has been seen of it for a long time. However, one enterprising British fan, Arnold Akien, did record it on a very early VHS machine, and that video has found its way to us. Here, then, is a brief moment from the history of the Hugo Awards.

Amongst the other luminaries present at the convention were Christopher Reeve, who accepted the Hugo Award for Superman. A young British fan called Dave Langford received his first two Hugo Award nominations that year, but he did not win in either category. A full list of the 1979 winners can be found on this site.