| Jacqui and Keith Smith I am
nominating Jacqui and Keith Smith for Services to Fandom.
I first met Keith Smith and Jacqui Dunford at ConVerge, a regional science fiction
convention held in Wanganui over Labour Weekend in 1988. Keith by then was already a
seasoned convention attendee, but it was Jacqui's first convention. I have photographs
from ConVerge, courtesy of Keith being the nearest thing to an official convention
photographer, both then and now. This service provided by Keith is wonderful if you want
photos. Over the years, there have been a few occasions where I have needed to contact
Keith to supplement my own photographs of a convention.
Keith has been taking photographs at New Zealand conventions for a very long time now,
since WellCon B in 1980 (his first convention), providing a service to fans who want
photographs.
In one of my ConVerge photographs taken by Keith is Jacqui in a Star Trek uniform.
Jacqui has always been into costuming, right from the start, and usually manages to wear a
costume of some sort to a convention. Jacqui and Keith have kept costuming alive at New
Zealand conventions just by being one of the few fans who have often come in costume.
Jacqui was chair of the convention committee of AbbeyCon, a regional convention held up
in Auckland in 1991. I've heard AbbeyCon mentioned numerous times by the fans who
attended, so it must have been good!
Discontinuity or DiscCon for short was an Auckland regional convention held in 1992.
Jacqui was on the convention committee, working hard behind the scenes. This was a
convention that was a lot of fun.
Keith was the Fan Guest of Honour at Conquest 1995. This was the national convention
held in Auckland. Jacqui was by then Jacqui Smith, and was on the convention committee of
Conquest doing the Publicity and Help. Conquest was again quite a lot of fun. Their Con
Book also has a handy bio on Keith which includes "While living in Wellington, in
those early years he had had a hand in helping to run a couple of local minicons".
Keith moved to Auckland in 1990, and became the Treasurer of the Science Fiction Modellers
Club for four years. Keith was also a founding member of Aotearapa (an early New Zealand
fanzine).
Keith was on the convention committee of OdysseyCon 2001, a hugely successful Auckland
national convention where he is listed as the Photographer of SF conventions.
Then there was ConClave in 2006. This was the national convention and Jacqui was the
Con Chair, with Keith as the Secretary. ConClave was enjoyable, fun and one of the more
memorable conventions in recent years for the right reasons.
In between their convention activities, they have also been very active as local fans.
Jacqui has been both Chair and Secretary to the Science Fiction Modellers Club, now known
as Stella Nova. Keith has been Treasurer to Stella Nova. Jacqui is currently the Editor of
Novazine, the fanzine of Stella Nova. Keith is the current serving President of Stella
Nova and is Novazine's chief photographer. Jacqui has also been President of Stella Nova.
When you have been active in fandom for as long as they have, roles get repeated every few
years.
Outside of New Zealand, Jacqui and Keith have attended World Cons - LA Con IV,
Denvention and AussieCon IV. Both are serious fans and enjoy between them - reading, film
and TV media, photography, costuming, role-playing and computer games.
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