20th World Science Fiction Convention

The 20th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known unofficially as Chicon III (less frequently, Chicon II), was held on 31 August–3 September 1962 at the Pick-Congress Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Because the second Worldcon held in Chicago was officially called, in its publications, the 10th Annual World Science Fiction Convention (and once as the "10th Annual Science Fiction Convention") and not Chicon, the next Chicago Worldcon held in 1962 was occasionally referred to as Chicon II, though Chicon III is the generally accepted and preferred nomenclature.

The chairman was Earl Kemp.

Participants
Attendance was approximately 730.

Guests of Honor

 * Theodore Sturgeon
 * Wilson Tucker (toastmaster)

Programming and events
Following the convention, Advent:Publishers published The Proceedings: Chicon III, edited by Earl Kemp. The book includes transcripts of lectures and panels given during the course of the convention and includes numerous photographs as well. Events at the convention included an address by Willy Ley.

1962 Hugo Awards

 * Best Novel: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
 * Best Short Fiction: the "Hothouse" series (collected as: The Long Afternoon of Earth) by Brian W. Aldiss
 * Best Dramatic Presentation: The Twilight Zone
 * Best Professional Artist: Ed Emshwiller
 * Best Professional Magazine: Analog
 * Best Fanzine: Warhoon, edited by Richard Bergeron

Other awards

 * Special Award: Cele Goldsmith for editing Amazing Stories and Fantastic magazines
 * Special Award: Donald H. Tuck for The Handbook of Science Fiction and Fantasy
 * Special Award: Fritz Leiber and the Hoffman Electric Corporation for the use of science fiction in advertisements

In fiction
S. M. Stirling's 2008 alternate history novel In the Courts of the Crimson Kings begins with a prologue set at this convention, in which a group of the science fiction authors in attendance watch a television broadcast of an American space probe as it lands on an inhabited Mars. Those present include Frederik and Carol Pohl, Poul Anderson, H. Beam Piper, Guest of Honor Theodore Sturgeon, Jack Williamson, Robert and Virginia Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague and Catherine Crook de Camp, John W. Campbell, Frank Herbert, and Leigh Brackett. Heinlein mentions an idea for a novel about Mars he had had but set aside when "the preliminary orbital telescope reports" had come in. (In actual history the completed book, Stranger in a Strange Land, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel at the convention.) The authors comment as the broadcast from the probe reveals a Martian canal and wildlife and then, startlingly, the arrival of human-like Martians in a "land ship" who haul the probe off.