Drumroll, please: The city picked to host NADWCon 2013 is ...

After giving this (very tough) choice a great deal of thought and discussion, we are delighted to announce that the CITY OF BALTIMORE will be the site for the next North American Discworld Convention in 2013. 

The dates are July 5th - 8th,

Hotel will be announced at a future date 

We believe that Sir Terry and the Discworld fans will be in experienced and capable hands with the Baltimore team and we look forward to working very closely with them as we support their preparations and plans. The steering committee members and our consulting team were extremely impressed with Baltimore's creative and well organized plans for 2013, plans detailed in a comprehensive bid that ultimately came in at over 30 pages.  It was clear to us that this team is a triple threat: they have have the convention, stage and real world skills needed to provide an memorable, well organized and fun convention for all concerned.

Both bidding cities have a great deal to offer visitors and that made the choice all the more difficult.

For those of you who have not been to Baltimore before, we believe that you are going to love what you find.  There is a great deal to see and do in the immediate area (and Washington D.C. is only a short train ride away). The inner harbor hotel they have chosen will fit our needs wonderfully and provide for the kind of mingling and meeting spaces for our guests that we feel is so important the success of this affair.  It is also within easy walking distance of many interesting, historical and family-friendly sites as well as a wide variety of food choices and prices.  The city itself is within easy reach for both our international and U.S. guests and the bid committee has given a great deal of thought to making our time there enjoyable. Wait till you see what they have planned!

The bid chairs were informed yesterday, as were Terry & Rob.  The Baltimore Chair writes: 

I would like to take the opportunity, on behalf of the bid committee, to thank the GoC for their hard work, effort and diligence in the selection process. Having spoken with (the Boston chair) a couple of times over the last few months I'm hoping and sure that there will be collaboration between the Boston and Baltimore bid committees in forming the convention committee at large over the next few weeks.

We look forward to working with the GoC over the next few days, weeks and nineteen months in developing and executing the North American Discworld Convention for 2013. (Our staff members) will be touch next week to discuss the corporate structure required for the convention to operate efficiently and effectively.

Yours Sincerely,

Richard Atha-Nicholls
Chair, North American Discworld Convention 2013

We would like to thank both bid committees and their chairs for their hard work in producing these bids.  Thanks also to our consultants who so generously gave us their time and advice and to the fans for their enthusiasm and patience. 

We know that our Terry, Rob and our attendees appreciate the dedication shown by both groups and we again offer our congratulations to the team in Baltimore. (1) We ask that Discworld fans the world over give them their full support.  The members of the GoC and our consulting team look  forward to working with all here to make NADWCon 2013 the best one yet.   

Update 3:55 PM Richard added this today to answer some questions from our Facebook fans: 

I'm excited to be chairing the Con for 2013 and look forward to sharing all the wonderful things we have planned in due course. Including, what we think, is a great hotel rate. Just bear with us as we get our ducks (or should that be flamingos) in a row. We'll let you know all the details in good time.

Thanks and hope to see you all in Baltimore in 2013,

See you in Baltimore ....

Sincerely,

Dj
Vice Chair,

The Guild of Chelonavigators AKA the NADWCon Steering Committee

(1) We would also like to invite Boston - and any other interested cities - to consider bidding for 2015.