The 11th World Science Fiction Convention (

Worldcon Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, durin ...

), also known as Philcon II, was held on 5–7 September 1953 at the

Bellevue-Stratford Hotel The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel is a landmark building at 200 S. Broad Street at the corner of Walnut Street in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Constructed in 1904 and expanded to its present size in 1912, it has continued as a well-known ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, United States. It was the first

to present the Hugo Awards. The supporting organization was the

Philadelphia Science Fiction Society Philadelphia Science Fiction Society (PSFS) is a science fiction club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in 1936, PSFS is the second oldest extant group in science fiction fandom, and hosted what is considered by some to be the first scie ...

. The chairman was Milton A. Rothman, replacing the late James A. Williams.

Participants

Attendance was approximately 750.

Guests of Honor

Willy Ley Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scr ...

* Isaac Asimov (toastmaster)

Awards

1953 Hugo Awards

This Worldcon was the first one that awarded Hugo Awards. The next one (the

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

) did not do so, but since the

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

, Hugo Awards have been a permanent fixture of Worldcons. * Best Novel: ''

The Demolished Man ''The Demolished Man'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester, which was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. An inverted detective story, it was first serialized in three parts, beginning with the January 1952 issue of '' G ...

'', by

Alfred Bester Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books. He is best remembered for his science fiction, incl ...

(''Galaxy'' January, February, March 1952; Shasta, 1951) * Best Professional Magazine: (tie) ** '' Astounding Science Fiction'', edited by John W. Campbell, Jr. ** ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

'', edited by H. L. Gold * Best Cover Artist: (tie) **

Hannes Bok Hannes Bok, pseudonym for Wayne Francis Woodard (, ; July 2, 1914 – April 11, 1964), was an American artist and illustrator, as well as an amateur astrologer and writer of fantasy fiction and poetry. He painted nearly 150 covers for various s ...

Ed Emshwiller Edmund Alexander Emshwiller (February 16, 1925 – July 27, 1990) was an American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed his illustrations as Emsh but sometimes used E ...

* Best Interior Illustrator:

Virgil Finlay Virgil Finlay (July 23, 1914 – January 18, 1971) was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. He has been called "part of the pulp magazine history ... one of the foremost contributors of original and imagi ...

* Excellence in Fact Articles:

* Best New SF Author or Artist:

Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers ...

* #1 Fan Personality: Forrest J. Ackerman

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Science Fiction Convention 011 1953 conferences 1953 in Pennsylvania Science fiction conventions in the United States Worldcon

Participants

Guests of Honor

Awards

1953 Hugo Awards

See also

References