THE NEBULA AWARDS 2021

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Last night I attended the Nebula Awards Ceremony (virtually) where I was awarded the Service to SFWA Award. It was very exciting. I’d known about it for awhile, but I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody till after the Nebulas. Here’s the speech I gave, and here’s the link to the ceremony, complete with James Patrick Kelly’s introduction of me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FdCCOjFKtE [Her introduction begins at 23:00. – Update noted – the preview does not display here, but you should still be able to view it by clicking the link]


NEBULAS SERVICE AWARD SPEECH
Thank you, Jim, for that great introduction
and thanks to all of you for this lovely award.

I don’t really deserve it.
In the first place, if the service was emceeing the Nebulas,
that was really fun

In the second place, if it was teaching at Clarion and Clarion West,
I loved doing that,
and I’ve been rewarded every day 
by the wonderful things my students have accomplished
and the awards they’ve won.
You Clarion people are great!

In the third place, if my service was being a committee member, 
I’ve been writing for YEARS about the horrors of committees,
how they constantly get off-topic
and spend hours on pointless minutiae
and squabble over things that DO NOT MATTER.

I even wrote a story
about the worst committee of all time
the one where archangels were put in charge of planning the Apocalypse,
and how they spent hours deciding who the Antichrist should be

and fighting over what the heavenly choirs should sing--
"I mean, the Hallelujah Chorus has been done to death!"--

and whether that pale horse of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
was white or gray or a palomino or what.

As you might expect, the planning didn’t work out,
and the story was called "Why The World Didn’t End Last Tuesday,"

So I figured my ending up on SFWA committees 
was my punishment for that story
and all the other stuff I’d written
and said
and thought.

But the thing is, it worked out great.

I got to work with terrific people.

Sane and sensible and intelligent 
people like
Jack Williamson,
Jeff Carver,
Chuck von Rospach,
Kevin O’Donnell,
Terra LeMay,
and James Patrick Kelly
on the Nebula Rules Committee

and deeply dedicated and caring people like
Lou Berger,
Robert Silverberg,
Anatoly Belikovsky,
Jerry Pournelle,
James Patrick Kelly,
and Oz Drummond
on the Emergency Medical Fund Committee

Plus Cat Rambo
and Mary Robinette Kowal
and countless other officers and members through the years.

Every one of them has worked much harder
and deserves this award more than I do.

AND they’re only a small segment
of all the people who have worked
and continue to work to make SFWA such a vital and thriving organization.

This award should go to all of them.

But I’m very grateful that you decided to give it to me.

Oh, and I’d like to apologize for all the mean things I’ve said about committees.

Mostly.

This award is a wonderful honor. Thank you so much.

Connie Willis

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