Guest of Honor Spotlight: Publisher Paizo Inc.
Washington-based Paizo Inc. is the publisher of the award-winning Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, Pathfinder Tales novels, Starfinder science-fantasy roleplaying game, and numerous board games and accessories. In the 15+ years since its founding, Paizo has received more than 100 major awards and has grown to become one of the most influential companies in the hobby games industry.
Jenny Jarzabski (she/her; all pronouns) is Creative Manager of Starfinder at Paizo Publishing. Jenny’s work in tabletop gaming includes dozens of published credits ranging from rule books to epic adventure campaigns. After a successful open playtest in 2024, Jenny and the Starfinder team are excited to launch Second Edition this year and have many exciting announcements coming up! Jenny is passionate about collaborative science-fantasy worldbuilding, tabletop RPGs as an industry and hobby, and big stompy robots–also known as mechs! Jenny believes playing games can help everyone to sparkle and shine their brightest.
As a developer at Paizo, Mike Kimmel is one of the creators of the upcoming Starfinder 2nd Edition Roleplaying Game. Mike has over 15 years of freelance writing experience in the tabletop games industry and seven years of experience running a community for aspiring freelancers. He spent nearly a decade as a teacher and literacy specialist before transitioning to a full-time career in game writing. Mike passionately believes in fostering diverse, welcoming communities of gamers and game creators; that’s how meaningful, lasting stories and friendships are made. Mike lives in the Pacific Northwest with his spouse, two children, two dogs named after authors, and a cat named after a Star Trek character.
2025 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced
The judges of the 2025 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, along with the Philip K. Dick Trust, are pleased to announce the six nominated works published in 2024 that comprise the final ballot for the award:
- CITY OF DANCING GARGOYLES by Tara Campbell (Santa Fe Writers Project)
- YOUR UTOPIA: STORIES by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur (Algonquin Books)
- TIME’S AGENT by Brenda Peynado (Tordotcom)
- THE PRACTICE, THE HORIZON, AND THE CHAIN by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)
- ALIEN CLAY by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit)
- TRIANGULUM by Subodhana Wijeyeratne (Rosarium Publishing)
First prize and any special citations will be announced on Friday, April 18, 2025, at Norwescon 47. Plans for the ceremony will be posted on the Norwescon site.
Club Tables Going Fast!
We only have a couple more club table spots left! Applications are still open to bring your club, group, convention, or organization that promotes science, science fiction, fantasy, costuming/cosplay, or other fannish pursuits to Norwescon 47. Come meet our fabulous members, advertise your organization, and support fandom of all kinds. Apply on the Club Tables page of our website.
Enter Single Pattern Contest or Masquerade for the Chance to Win Norwescon 48 Membership
Show off your mad costume skills at Norwescon this year! Enter our Single Pattern Contest and have fun with our unisex sweatshirt and pants pattern. Rules and entry forms can be found on the SPC Page.
Or go for broke and enter our Masquerade. All skill levels welcome! Masquerade entrants have a chance to win a membership to Norwescon 48. We look forward to seeing you shine! Rules and entry forms can be found on the Masquerade Page.
Suite Applications Now Available
If you are interested in reserving a suite for the convention, good news! The suite application form is now active on the website. This form must be completed and submitted for review and approval.
Volunteer for Norwescon 47
Are you or a friend coming to Norwescon and looking for something to do during or before the convention? Consider joining our volunteer staff! We have positions open for people of varying skill types and interests.
If you are media savvy, we are looking for streaming and social media assistants. If you feel especially good at making people feel welcome, we are looking for convention lounge hosts, registration team members, and programming services team members. We have these positions, and many more, up for grabs over on the Open Volunteer Positions page on the Norwescon website.
Call for Assistance with Website Accessibility Review
Hello ConCom! In cooperation with our member services team’s work on ensuring our physical spaces are accessible for our disabled members, our publications and website teams are working on ensuring that our online publications, including our website, email newsletters, and social media posts, are properly set up for full accessibility, including compatibility with assistive technology software and hardware.
We’d like to know: If you are an assistive technology user, would you be willing to volunteer some time to go through our website and let us know if you encounter any difficulties or incompatibilities, or if you find any areas that have escaped our notice and could use improvement?
If you do not use assistive technology but know someone who does, might they be willing to assist with this effort? And of course, even if you don’t have the time, energy, or spoons to assist, if you are an assistive technology user who ever does encounter any difficulties with our website or other publications, we welcome comments at either website@norwescon.org or accessibility@norwescon.org.