The NESFA By-Laws
with Historical Annotations

Article XI: Boskone

• [Nearly all of this Article was transferred from the Standing Rules to the By-Laws, essentially verbatim, in 11/79. In the annotations below the history of the text will be given continuously without further reference to this transfer.]

• 11.1 From time to time the Corporation shall sponsor and manage a science fiction convention to be known, unless otherwise provided, as a Boskone.
  [11/79, defining what had been taken for granted before.]

• 11.2 Each Boskone shall be managed by a separate Boskone Committee. Each Boskone Committee shall have a Chairman the appointment or removal of whom shall require the approval of the Membership by secret ballot, and who shall serve until the termination of the Committee or until a successor is appointed and approved. A two-thirds vote shall be required to approve the Boskone Chairman. The Chairman shall have full authority to appoint or remove all other members of the Boskone Committee, except for the Boskone Treasurer as described below. The date, location, and registration fees for each Boskone must be approved by the Membership. Each Boskone Committee shall continue in existence until nine months after its convention, unless otherwise determined by the Membership.
  [In the original (7/71) Standing Rules, a single sentence (said to be based on "Tradition") defined the Boskone Committee: "The Boskone Committee shall be responsible for the planning, operation, and business of the Boskone Convention." Amazing how the rule has grown. In 4/75 it was expanded to four sentences, adding the requirement that the Membership approve the Chairman, and defining the Committee's term of office. (This then extended until six months after the convention; changed in 11/79 to nine months. See Section 11.3A for the rules on the beginning of the Committee's term.) In 6/81 the requirement for approval of the date, location, and fees was added. The two-thirds requirement for confirmation was added in 8/86; the Chair at that time ruled that a two-thirds vote would also be required to remove a Boskone Chairman. Secret ballot added in 2/88.]

• 11.3 Each Boskone Committee shall have a separate Treasurer appointed by the President with the approval of the Committee Chairman, and of the Membership by secret ballot. The term of office of a Boskone Treasurer shall be until the termination of the Boskone Committee or until a successor is appointed and approved. In case of the absence or removal by the Corporation of a Boskone Treasurer, the Treasurer's duties shall be performed by the Corporation Treasurer.
  [8/79; earlier, the Boskone Treasurer had no fixed duties, and was responsible to the Boskone Chairman only. Secret ballot added 2/88. In 4/93 the Membership confirmed that "separate Treasurer" means only "separate from the NESFA Treasurer", so different Boskones may have the same Treasurer: see Standing Rules Section 1.9(15).]

• 11.3A A Boskone shall be held over a weekend in the first quarter (January 1 through March 31) of each calendar year. The initial appointment of a Chairman for each Boskone Committee shall be made in the last quarter (October 1 through December 31) of the second preceding calendar year (that is, during the fifth preceding calendar quarter). The Boskone Treasurer may be appointed at any time after there is a Boskone Committee Chairman, but no other appointments to the Boskone Committee shall be made until after the close of the previous Boskone (that is, the Boskone held during the fourth preceding calendar quarter). The Membership may suspend any of the provisions of this section by two-thirds vote.
  [The 4/75 rule stated that "the term of the Boskone Committee ... shall begin one month after the preceding Boskone"; the 11/79 text said it "shall come into existence at the close of the previous Boskone"; both formulations left some doubt as to just when a Chairman should be appointed. In 6/81 this was clarified: "The Membership may vote to establish a Boskone Committee at any time after the close of the previous Boskone ... by majority vote, or earlier by two-thirds vote"; the latter clause was first invoked in 1/83. In 8/83 this was replaced by the present Section 11.3A, which specified that the Chairman should ordinarily be named before rather than after the previous Boskone; the reason was the increasing need to begin planning at an earlier date. The other provisions of this section were new in 8/83, including the first constraint on the date of Boskone.]

• 11.4 [Originally passed 8/79, at the same time as the requirement for confirmation of the Boskone Treasurer in Section 11.3.]

  • (a) The Boskone Treasurer shall maintain a clear, complete, and accurate subsidiary ledger reflecting the Boskone Committee's receipts and disbursements in books belonging to the Corporation, and shall maintain a depository account separate from the main Corporation accounts, and shall maintain books separate from the main Corporation books and separate from those of any other simultaneously existing Boskone Committee.
    [The requirement that each Boskone have a separate set of books was added in 8/83, along with a change from "may" to "shall" in the second clause. Each Boskone was then also required to have a separate depository account; modified in 6/89 to allow different Boskones to share the same account, though keeping separate books.]

  • (b) The Boskone books shall be open to inspection at reasonable times and places by the Corporate Treasurer. Each Boskone Treasurer shall report to the Membership and the Corporate Treasurer quarterly and at the termination of the Committee, and to the Executive Board and Boskone Chairman as directed by them, on the Boskone's financial transactions and condition. The Boskone Treasurer shall additionally report to the Membership at every Business Meeting during the months November to April surrounding the convention.
    [In 6/89 the last sentence was added, and "monthly, annually," was changed to "quarterly" in the previous sentence.]

  • (c) A Boskone Treasurer may make or authorize the making of an expenditure or obligation to the extent authorized by the Membership.

  • (d) Every check or draft against a separate Boskone depository account shall be signed by two individuals including the Boskone Treasurer, or the Treasurer's personally authorized representative, and either the President, the Clerk, or the Boskone Chairman.

• 11.5 [The Skylark rules were part of the original 1971 Standing Rules, the Rules Committee having decided in 1/71 that they belonged there rather than in the By-Laws; in 11/79 this decision was reversed, as they were transferred to the By-Laws along with the other Boskone rules. The 1971 rule was said to derive from "Tradition", the Skylark in fact being older than NESFA (cf. Standing Rules, Appendix B).]

  The Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction, or "Skylark", shall be presented from time to time by NESFA to some person who, in the opinion of the Membership, has contributed significantly to science fiction, both through work in the field and by exemplifying the personal qualities which made the late "Doc" Smith well-loved by those who knew him. Doc was so well thought of that he was invited to be Guest of Honor at the Second World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago, 1940 (Chicon I). Only two years before his death, Doc was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award at the Twenty-First World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, 1963 (Discon I). Doc Smith attended many conventions and participated in them as a pro and as a fan. He was one of the earliest enthusiasts in what are now called hall costumes and often dressed as characters from his stories -- the good guys, of course. Smith was one of the old breed of SF writers who did not distinguish between pro and fan. He talked on panels; he talked informally; he never thought himself too important. He was, in a word, a mensch. It is fitting that this convention's name was, is, and always will be Boskone and that the Skylark Award was, is, and always will be given out to someone who exemplifies Doc's qualities both as a professional contributor to the field and as a human being.
  [All but first sentence added in 5/89: originally written by Tony Lewis for Boskone program book.]

  The Award and the choice of the recipient shall be administered according to the following procedures:

  • (a) The Administrator shall fix the deadline for the closing of nominations and for the return of ballots within the time limits set forth in this section. The Membership may change the nominating or voting time limits by two-thirds vote.
    [Second sentence added as escape clause in 12/91. Here and in later subsections, "Administrator" replaced "Boskone Committee" when subsection (h) was added in 6/81.]

  • (b) At least three months before the day on which the Award is to be presented, the Administrator shall announce at a meeting of the Membership that nominations are open and the date on which nominations will close.

  • (c) Nominations shall remain open for at least one month after the announcement, during which time any Member may present a nomination in writing to the Administrator.

  • (d) After nominations have closed, the Administrator shall prepare the written ballot. In addition to the names of all nominees, the ballot shall contain provisions for a write-in vote and for a vote of "No Award."

  • (e) The criteria for the Award, as stated in the preamble to this section, a list of the previous recipients of the Award, the text of Section 11.5 (g), and the deadline for the returning of marked ballots to the Administrator shall also be printed on the ballot. The deadline shall be no less than one month after the sending of the ballots.
    [Reference to Section 11.5 (g) added in 8/74.]

  • (f) The Administrator shall provide one ballot to each Regular Member. Voting shall be by preferential ballot if there are more than two nominees, and the collection procedures shall be such as to insure the secrecy of each vote. The Administrator shall collect and count the votes and shall keep the totals secret, but shall keep the ballots on file and open to inspection by any Regular Member.

  • (g) The Skylark should not ordinarily be awarded to any person more than once. No one shall ordinarily be eligible for the Skylark awarded at a Boskone at which they are a Guest of Honor. [Added 8/74. Second sentence added 2/99.]

  • (h) A Skylark Award shall be presented at each Boskone convention unless the Membership shall vote to omit it. If a Skylark is presented at a Boskone, the Award's Administrator shall be the Boskone Committee Chairman (or the Chairman's delegate). The Membership may vote to present the Skylark Award at other times, but not more often than annually; the Administrator shall then be appointed by the President with the approval of the Membership.
    [Added 6/81 to take care of various contingencies; previously it was taken for granted that the Skylark would be given at Boskone, with the Chairman responsible for administration.]