The "Left Coast Crime Convention," the "Western Regional Mystery Conference" hereto referred to as "LCC," is an event sponsored by fans of Mystery Literature, for fans of Mystery Literature. LCC is an annual convention. The intent is to provide an event where fans of the Mystery genre can gather in convivial surroundings to pursue their interests in the genre.

LCC is a non-profit enterprise which must be incorporated locally by each LCC volunteer-based committee for the duration of the event. Sponsorship by existing non-profit organizations is encouraged as long as they adhere to LCC bylaws.

Past, present and future LCC are not responsible for the debts incurred by any previous or subsequent LCC events.

LCC will feature a Guest(s) of Honour (GoH), who is to be treated as a literary treasure. All expenses within reason incurred by the the GoH will be the responsibility of that year's LCC. In the event that LCC has more than one GoH, at least one GoH must reside or have novels set in the Western Region.

Fan Guest(s) of Honour are to be treated in the same manner as author GoHs.

Any LCC may create any new guest designation other than Lifetime Achievement.

LCC will do its best to extend hospitality to its entire membership.

A standing committee shall be established to:

• Register and maintain the name Left Coast Crime and the Western Regional Mystery Conference with continuing trademark protection.
• Maintain the LCC mailing list.
• Maintain the continuity of LCC.
• To review and oversee the site selection for future LCC.
• To select the site for upcoming LCC conferences, based on bids from viable bidding committees.
• To act as executive committee to represent the membership should an emergency arise.
• To remove accreditation from any site committee that imperils the viability of future LCC. This includes failure to secure a venue one year in advance, violation of LCC bylaws or the appearance that the committee will be unable to properly stage the event.
• To review the financial report prepared by each LCC committee.

LCC is the "Western North American Regional Mystery Conference" as defined by the Mountain Time Zone and all time zones westward to Hawaii.

The LCC rotates north to south on an annual basis. Conventions held in the Northern Region are held in even-numbered years, Southern Region in odd-numbered years.

Regions defined as follows:

Northern Region

Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon
United States: Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, California (north of Santa Clara County), Nevada (north of Las Vegas)

Southern Region

United States: New Mexico, Arizona, Texas (El Paso only), Hawaii, Nevada (south of Lake Tahoe), California (Santa Clara county and southward),
Mexico

LCC will held in the first quarter of the calendar year.

LCC will not be held for more than two consecutive years in the same region if at all possible.

Bidding For Future LCCs

Bids for future LCC must be submitted to the standing committee no later than 45 days prior to the commencement of the current year's LCC.

Bidding committees must:

• Submit a resume of its committee members with its bid
• Submit a site for the event
• Submit a letter of intent from event site

Bids for future LCC maybe accepted up to 3 years in advance.

If no bid is received, the standing committee may solicit bids.

The awarding of LCC locations to a bidding committee shall be made by majority vote of the standing committee.

In case of a tie vote in the standing committee, the bids will be put to a vote of the general membership at the current LCC.

"None of the Above" will be an option placed on any such ballot. If "None of the Above" wins, all competing bids are excluded from consideration. The standing committee will solicit alternative bids, and from those choose the one they feel most qualified.

The current LCC committee will provide the LCC in the immediate year following the minimum by way of support:

• One page of advertising in program book
• A space to sell memberships at current event
• One free attending membership to current event

Extending this support to other future LCC concoms would be commendable but is not mandatory.

Name Badges

It is the intention of LCC to be an egalitarian gathering of mystery fans that does not create a distinction between fans of the mystery genre professional and otherwise. Therefore:

• Names printed on badges should be readable at 5 feet.
• The only designations allowed on badges are - Dealer, Exhibitor, Staff/Committee and Program Participant. (This is done for security reasons only.)
• Ribbons or other items that differentiate participants are prohibited.

Dealers and Exhibitors

A space (bookroom) must be made available for the sale and display of goods of interest (books) to the membership of LCC.

Acceptance to the book room is based on seniority.

Acceptance of other dealers is at the discretion of current committee after obigations to Legacy Dealers have been taken care of. (A Legacy Dealer is someone who has done 7 of the last 10 LCCs.)

Hours: The dealers' room will open to the membership no earlier than 9 AM local time. The room will be open a minimum of twenty hours over the course of the event.

A dealers' room contains more than one bookseller or exhibitor.

Each exhibition space will include a membership to the event.

LCC must receive a hold harmless agreement from exhibitor in order to participate in LCC.

Tables for non-profit literary fan groups should be provided free of charge, if possible.

Awards

The Lefty, an award for the best humorous mystery, is to be awarded at each Left Coast Crime. Books eligible for the award must have been published for the first time in the United States in the calendar year preceding the convention. Books which appeared in other countries in earlier years are still eligible as long as they meet the American publication requirement. Nominations are to be solicited from registered members of the convention beginning on Jan. 1 of the year in which the convention is held. The short list shall consist of the five books receiving the most nominations. All registered members of the convention are eligible to vote. Final balloting and tabulation shall be conducted at Left Coast Crime with the winner announced during the convention, preferably at the banquet. The physical properties of the award are left to the discretion of the each host Left Coast Crime committee.

Furthermore, up to three other awards may be awarded at the discretion of individual Left Coast Crime conventions in categories to be chosen by the current organizing committee. Subsequent committees may but are not required to continue any of these awards.

Membership on the Standing Committee shall include:

The immediate past year's chair, the current chair and accredited future chairs.

To maintain the continuity of LCC, the Standing Committee will contain a maximum of 5 permanent committee whose qualifications are:

• Having attended a minimum of 5 non-profit mystery conventions, of which at least 3 must be LCC;
• Worked on at least 3 previous non-profit literary events, and in a committee position on at least two of those events.

Permanent Membership on the standing committee is for the lifetime of LCC or until formal resignation.

It is the responsibility of the Permanent Standing Committee to deal with site selection of future LCCs.

The permanent members of the standing committee are the court of last resort in disputes arising from site selection.

The permanent committee members are the living memory of LCC. They provide a resource and recourse for future LCC committee. (The wheel need not be reinvented.)

Member at large:

Any person with interest in LCC may submit their name for consideration for membership on the standing committee to the standing committee.

If accepted by standing committee, the term is for 2 years.

The standing committee will approve new members by a majority vote.

The member(s) of at large will be full voting members of the standing committee.

The Current LCC Committee:

• 2005: El Paso - Mary Sarber
• 2006: Bristol, UK - Myles Allfrey and Adrian Muller
• 2007: Seattle - Andi Shechter

The Permanent Committee:

• Tom Schantz
• Thom Walls
• Bryan Barrett

List of LCC Honourees

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