SHareCon

Because Google has removed all content from v-shconinfo google group — the group we use for the con and for the zoom links — and will not allow messages to the v-shconinfo group, I’m going to have to sub in all the current members who have registered for the con to a different list. So if you have registered for SHareCon, please check your anti-virus programs and make sure you’ll be allowed to receive emails from V-SHareCon@googlegroups.com. Your first message to the list will be moderated, but all others will go through. Please send a test message to the new group so we can be sure you’re on board. We have no way of knowing when or if Google will respond to our requests for a review of v-shconinfo and reopen it.

Flamingo

Here are some things you should do to be ready:

Remember Important Dates:

The con officially starts on September 27. Pre-con Zoom refresher starts at noon EDT. The Welcome is at 1 pm EDT. (Schedule with relevant time zones for your location will be live soon.)

Have you registered?

As of September 16^th we have 87 fans who’ve registered for the con. Deadline to register is September 23rd.

The SHareCon Countdown Calendar starts on Tuesday, September 17, and runs for 10 days before the con. That means we’ll open a new “door” every day for 10 days, like we do for the Advent Calendar. Only this Calendar runs backwards, starting with Day 10. Then Day 9, Day 8…

Bingo Cards will be emailed to registered con goers who’ve asked for them on September 24.

The Con will be coming to you live via Zoom.

Links will be provided through email to the groups’ mailing list: V-SHconinfo@googlegroups.com. You have to be registered so you can be added to the mailing list. Links to the con’s events will not be posted in public places. Please don’t share the links to anyone who is not registered for the con.

We strongly recommend that you update your Zoom program now. Programs that aren’t updated could have problems. Check with a search function like Google to find out how to check your version of Zoom on your specific system and how to upgrade if you need to. (If you haven’t used Zoom since the last SHareCon, you probably need to update.)

Links and more information about our Discord will be sent out closer to the con.

Click here for the
2024 Virtual Con Schedule.

What can we look forward to at the con?

Panels, games, surprises, and lots and lots of vids! All the usual suspects and all of it focused on two special men!

Okay, so we’ve got a lot to do so, and as Dobey would say, we better hit the streets and get hot! SHareCon 2024 will be here before you know it.

Flamingo

Fans have been asking if there’ll be a zine for this year’s con. The answer is no… and yes!

The 2023 SHareCon zine cost twice as much to produce as previous zines. How much? You don’t wanna know! The labor involved was substantial. And the lack of feedback was disappointing. Realistically, producing a give-away zine for the con is no longer practical. Since the zine has offered a snapshot of our fandom since the 1990s, losing it saddens us.

So, we’re going to try something new. Using a format that works—the Advent Calendars—we’re building a Countdown to SHareCon Calendar.

Starting ten days before the con, we’ll reveal once a day new stories, poems, art, or anything our creative fans send us. (We’d prefer new vids go to the con’s premiere vid show.) We’ll review your work as we do for the Advent Calendar, that is, checking for typos or errors—not editing.

We’re hoping the Countdown Calendar will build anticipation for the con and create a new snapshot of the fandom. Best of all: it’s free. And it will be easy to leave feedback.

Submissions should be short, 7,500 words or less (with some wiggle room). Submissions can be slash, gen, and on any topic that includes our favorite boys or characters from the show. Other than length, there are no limitations. Deadline for submissions is August 1^st.

The Countdown will start on September 17th and will end on the 26^th, the night before the con. Ten days of fun! Your work can be reposted elsewhere when SHareCon 2024 is over, on September 30th.

So don’t wait! Send your submissions to countdown@starskyhutchcalendar.net.

Special thanks to Cyanne for once again setting up a new calendar and for Suzan for gifting us her artwork.

Your countdown wranglers,
Daisy, Babs, and Flamingo

We had a great time at our hybrid in-person/virtual SHareCon in 2023. And we’re hoping to do that again in 2025. But in the meantime… Virtual SHareCon will soon be here! The fun starts Friday, September 27, and runs through Sunday, September 29. We’ll have panels, games, vids, and more, all of it focused on our two favorite cops, Starsky and Hutch. Interested?

Registration is open! It’s free. Registering helps us gauge attendance and ensure everyone attending is an adult. Registration info will not be shared. Registration closes 9pm Eastern on September 15th, so don’t delay!

Want to stay up-to-date on all the updates? There are so many ways! Join the SHareCon Mailing list on Google Groups, or join the Starsky/Hutch Bromance group on FaceBook or the Virtual SHareCon group also on Facebook.

Feel free to ask questions in any of these forums, but if you’d rather ask something more privately, you can email Flamingo at flamingoslim@ourlakehouse.net.

We’ve created a Panel Survey for SHareCon 2023 and we’re getting ready to send out individual email invitations for you to access it. If you are interested in attending the con even part of the time, you’ll have a chance vote for your favorites.

We only have slots for 8-10 panels at SHareCon, so we want to pick topics with the most interest. So, if you are registered as an in person or virtual con goer, you will receive an email with a link to the survey. This link is for you alone. Please do not forward it to anyone else.

There are 46 panels suggested. Choose yes or no for each panel. You must answer each one and click SUBMIT at the end to record your votes. The survey times out in 15 minutes. You can only complete the survey once. The survey closes at midnight EDT on September 15^th.

If you have any questions about the con, or the panels, send an email to mamabird@sharecon.net.

Thanks for helping us choose our panel lineup.

Thanks to everyone who nominated writers for the Paula Wilshe Award for New Writers in SH. The award is a chance to give our newest writers a little love for everything they give us. We had great participation this year.

Congratulations to this year’s 22 nominees. Out of that outstanding list, we have 13 finalists. Picking your favorite won’t be easy. Voting for your favorite author is different than nominating. You can only vote for one finalist one time.

Vote for the finalists here.

Final voting begins now and closes on Sunday, September 17^th. Winners will be announced at SHareCon on Saturday, October 14^th, and posted on line soon after.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and good luck to the finalists.

The Awards Committee,
Cyanne, Flamingo, and Keri

Why do we have an award named for Paula Wilshe?

Paula was a fan who loved to encourage new writers and loved awards. To keep her memory alive and celebrate writers as she did, we started the Paula Wilshe (PW) in 2003. Check out her fanlore page.

Since 2023 is the 20^th anniversary of her passing and the award in her honor, we thought this would be the best year to bring the awards to a close.

Why are we closing the PW award? What happened to all the other awards?

Participation in the SHareCon awards, which include the Paula Wilshe Award for New Writers in SH and the Marian Kelly Hall of Fame awards, has been diminishing every year. The awards require a lot of work with surveys, multiple reminders and announcements, tallying all of the surveys, weeding out ineligible nominations, updating the website, etc.

In the last few years participation has been minimal, with the same loyal fans doing the bulk of nominating and voting. The participation level in the fandom was a clear message that most of the fandom is indifferent to awards. Since it requires a daunting amount of work for those of us running it, we made a collective decision to discontinue the awards.

Who’s eligible for the final Paula Wilshe Award:

Any writer who first published any Starsky & Hutch writing in any format or genre between January 2015 and December 31, 2022. Writers can only win the award once. Check out previous winners (who are no longer eligible) here.

How can I know if my fav writer is eligible for the PW?

Ask them! Or ask other fans. Or ask us. And don’t forget to nominate yourself.

I want to participate. How?

Go to our survey for the PW at https://sharecon.net/lime/index.php/522331

a) Nominate as many writers as you want, but only nominate each writer once.

b) List author names, email address (if you know it), and where we can find their work (if you know), either with a link or your best guess (AO3, FF.net, etc.). If you’re not sure about those details, nominate them anyway.

c) Send any questions about the PW award to award@sharecon.net.

The person I wanted to nominate was already nominated by someone else. So, I don’t need to nominate them, do I?

Actually, you do. The finalists are nominees who received the most nominations. So, the additional nominations help them become finalists.

I sent in nominations already, but want to add more.

Add more nominations by filling out the survey again with new choices, but don’t repeat your previous nominations.

Then what happens?

Writers with the most nominations become finalists. We’ll announce finalists one week after nominations close on July 31, 2023. Finalist voting will begin on August 7, 2023, and close on September 18, 2023.

We’ll announce the winners at SHareCon and post it on line afterwards.

Thank you for helping us make the last Paula Wilshe award possible,

Keri T, Cyanne, and Flamingo
Award Admins

A lot has changed since our last in-person SHareCon in 2019. After two in-person cons in a row in 2018 and 2019, we took a year off and so did the rest of the world thanks to COVID. In 2021, we opted, for safety, to have a virtual con instead. Over a hundred fans in 10 time zones joined us and, thanks to our CONspirators, we had a great time. So we held another virtual con in 2022.

This year, we’re going to combine events, so YES, Virginia (and New York and Hawaii and England and Australia) SHareCon 2023 is happening. We’ll be meeting in person on October 13-16 in Linthicum, Maryland, and at the same time, virtually everywhere else!

We’ll be planning con activities soon, but for those of you who can join us in person, you can register for the con AND reserve your hotel room now.

CON MEMBERSHIP

Membership comes in assorted flavors:

For the in-person con: full attending (all four days) or single day attending (any one day) memberships.

Supporting memberships: For those who want to support the in-person con but can’t attend, we’ve offered supporting memberships. Supporting memberships prices don’t change and don’t have a deadline. Shortly after the con, supporting members are mailed the con zine, schedules, badges, and whatever con goodies we can fit in the mailer. Supporting membership helps pay the con’s bills. Supporting members are also welcome to register for the Virtual con.

Virtual membership: This is your ticket to all the virtual con events. It is free. Just as we did with the two virtual cons, we’ll need your fan name, email address to send you links to the schedule and events, and time zone. Virtual members do not receive the con zine or con materials.

If you are interested in full attending membership, the earlier you register, the cheaper it is. Also, please note in-person membership is limited due to the size of the meeting space, so that gives you two good reasons to register early. Click the Register tab to sign up for the con.

HOTEL REGISTRATION

We have an online link to facilitate your hotel registration: Share CON Hotel or click on the Hotel tab.

The con rate is good from Thursday October 12 through Monday October 16 for anyone in sightseeing in Washington or Baltimore before or after the con.

Please do not register for the hotel through a third party, bonus miles, or internet search. SHareCon will not get credit for those rooms, and if we don’t meet our quota, we can suffer a penalty.

Looking forward to seeing you in person and virtually at SHareCon 2023.

Flamingo