The following announcement was made by Maggie Mason, chair of the Bouchercon Standing Committee:

 

The Standing Committee of Bouchercon is pleased to announce plans for the locations of future World Mystery Conventions. The By-laws and Standing Rules of Bouchercon provide for a rotation of the convention through three North American regions and a fourth open year.

A bid from Las Vegas for the 2003 Western Region was received and reviewed by the Standing Committee in 2001. The Las Vegas Bouchercon will be chaired by Deen Kogan. Visit the Las Vegas con at http://www.bconvegas2003.org or email Deen Kogan at shp@erols.com.

A bid from Toronto for 2004 was received and reviewed at the Washington, D. C., Bcon in 2001, and accepted by a vote of those attending the business meeting. This is the first bid received and approved under the newly revised By-laws that provide an open year for any site to bid. The Toronto Bouchercon will be chaired by Al Navis (almark-co@rogers.com).

2005 is an Eastern Region year, but no bids were received in Washington in 2001 for an Eastern Region convention. Once a bid year deadline is missed, that year because open for any location to bid. A bid was received and reviewed by the Standing Committee from Chicago during this business year, and accepted. The Chicago Bouchercon will be chaired by Sonya Rice and Deen Kogan (shp@erols.com).

2006 is a Central Region year, and the deadline for application was July 1, 2002. The committee received one bid prior to the deadline, and after careful review, awarded to Madison the Central Region Bouchercon. The Madison Bouchercon will be chaired by Al Abramson (aabramson@dcs.wisc.edu) and Mary Helen Becker (Mhb1132@aol.com).

The Bouchercon Standing Committee wishes to notify the mystery community that it is considering reviewing a city bid to host Bouchercon 2007 on an expedited schedule. Under the Bouchercon By-Laws the host city bids for Bouchercon 2007 are due to the Bouchercon Standing Committee no later than July 1, 2003.

However, a committee wishing to host Bouchercon 2007 has now informed the Standing Committee that it must have a decision on its desire to host Bouchercon 2007 before the bid deadline of July 1, 2003 in order to secure their city's convention center.

The Standing Committee is only aware of this one city bid for Bouchercon 2007 and would like to act on this bid. However, in acting early on the 2007 bid, the Standing Committee does not want to preclude any group we are unaware of from submitting their bid for 2007.

Therefore, the Bouchercon Standing Committee is asking any other committee wishing to host Bouchercon 2007 to contact the 2002 Standing Committee Chair, Maggie Mason (maggiemary@yahoo.com) as soon as possible and no later than November 20, 2002. Please provide the name of the bid chair with contact information, city of bid, and hotel/convention center location proposed for the convention.

If no other host city bid committee contacts the Bouchercon Standing Committee by November 20, 2002, then the Standing Committee will act to review and possibly award Bouchercon 2007 before the current July 1, 2003 deadline for Bouchercon 2007 city bids.

Please note that in accordance with the Bouchercon By-Laws bids for Bouchercon 2007 are limited to the Western Region defined as--Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Yukon Territory. Full information on bids are detailed in the Bouchercon By-Laws available on the Bouchercon 2002 website (http://Bouchercon2002.org/bylaws.html)."

The 2002 Standing Committee would like to thank Deen Kogan, Al Navis, Sonya Rice, Al Abramson and Mary Helen Becker for assuming the role of Bouchercon chairpersons. Anyone considering this exciting opportunity should contact a member of the Standing Committee. The complete By-laws and Standing Rules of Bouchercon are in all con program books or can be located at the various cons websites including Austin's website at http://bouchercon2002.org/bylaws.html.