JOHN BANGSUND
JOHN BANGSUND has been mostly inactive in fandom for ten years. During this time he has gafiated more often than any other Australian fan, published about 150 fanzines (most of them never posted) and hindered the work of several convention committees. His first fanzine, ASFR, was accidentally nominated twice for a Hugo and profoundly influenced the attitude towards science fiction of at least two people, maybe three. James Blish dedicated 25% of a book to him, and he once had a letter from Sam Moskowitz. It is sometimes said that contemporary Australian fandom is his creation, which scares him a lot until he remembers it's really Foyster's fault. In real life John Bangsund is a 92-year-old transvestite airline pilot with one leg.
Nominated by John Berry, Ed Cagle, Leigh Edmonds, Ken Ozanne and Bill Rotsler.
A pretty young Sydney femmefan who has travelled to five conventions. Has published Girl's Own Fanzine for over a year and has contributed to various local and overseas fanzines. Is co-editor for Penultimate Blimp and a forthcoming genzine Ark with her well known Australian Fan Editor husband Ronl Clarke. Has been an active member of the Sydney Science Fiction Foundation for several years and is the current President. Is a member of the Syncon 3 committee, and is also presently doing a BA Dip Ed in Child Psychology at MacQuarie University.
Nominated by Sheryl Birkhead, Linda Bushyager, Kevin Dillon, Susan Wood Glicksohn, and Eric Lindsay.
LEIGH EDMONDS is in fandom because he likes people and enjoys nothing more than just sitting and talking. He also likes good science fiction but here are some hard facts to impress you. Since he joined fandom in 1966 Leigh has: attended almost every Australian convention and helped organise many; taken part in the Australia in '75 campaign from the beginning and is co-chairman of the AUSSIECON committee; founded the Australia and New Zealand Amateur Press Association in 1968; joined other apas including APA45, SAPS,FAPA, and MINNEAPA; published almost 200 fanzines and written countless articles and letters for other fanzines.
Nominated by John Bangsund, Bruce Gillespie, Ray Nelson, Doreen & Jim Webbert and Mike Wood.
PAUL J STEVENS is 31, 5ft 11ins, and a confirmed batchelor. He has been variously described as tall, dark and gruesome, a hairy horror and the laziest fan in Melbourne. He has been active in fandom since the early 60's and is a member of the Melbourne SF Clubs & the Fantasy Film Groups. He has helped organise most of Melbourne's conventions and was the main organiser of the last three. His interests include SF, films, fandom, drinking, women, convention, militeria and earning a living. He is also well known as Anti-fan, a portrayal that was a bit too realistic for local fans' peace of mind. He also likes meeting people, and, as a member of the committee of the 1975 Worldcon, he wants to travel to America and persuade a lot more US fans to take the trouble to attend.
Nominated by Mervyn Binns, Dan Goodman, Craig Miller, Milt Stevens and Bill Wright.
A total of 232 ballots were received. This included 113 from Australian fans, 108 from the U.S.A., 5 from Canada, 3 from the U.K. and one each from Italy, South Africa and New Zealand.
First Round Second Third
Australia America Total Round Round
John Bangsund 9 42 51 Eliminated (refer Campaign Notes)
Susan Clarke 16 13 29 41 Eliminated
Leigh Edmonds 21 51 72 103 128
Paul Stevens 69 11 80 87 102
--- --- --- --- ---
115 117 232 231 230
--- --- --- --- ---
Leigh Edmonds achieved an outright majority on the third and final round.
Source:
JOHN BANGSUND WITHDRAWS FROM DUFF RACE
With barely a week of the DUFF contest left to run John Bangsund had most fans' jaws on the floor with his announcement that he has pulled out of the DUFF race. His reasons are quoted as being ill-health, financial problems and a possible conflict with his job which is connected with the Senate in Canberra. With the recent elections he claims that the workload will be high at about the time he would be in America if he won and there would be the likelihood of not being about to leave now, or if he could it would cause considerable conflict between him and his bosses.
Whether these reasons are acceptable or not John has seen it as his duty to withdraw at this late stage and I fell it is a great pity and will be a great disappointment to the many who have voted for him since, to me at least, that he would have been the first choice of the majority of fans who have voted.
This situation also now puts the eventual DUFF winner in an unenviable position of representing Australian fandom on a "stand-in" basis for John unless they win in their own right. But that is probably something we will never know about.
from DUFFund Newsletter Four, edited and published by Hank and Lesleigh Luttrell:
Shortly before the end of the balloting in the DUFF campaign, John Bangsund officially announced his withdrawal from the race, citing health, financial and work reasons. Quoting part of the announcement, "I knew when I entered the DUFF race that August/September is the busiest time of the year in my job, but I felt that I might be able to take leave without pay. With the upset in the Parliament's schedule caused by the general election I would be placing my job at risk if I now requested leave in September." At the time of his withdrawal, John Bangsund was running third in the balloting, so that the only effect this had on the ballot counting was that John was elimintated first, and his second place votes were then allocated to the other candidates. Although his withdrawal did not effect the winner of the DUFF race, we were very sorry that John found it necessary to withdraw.