2013
Eric Gjovaag
A life-long fan of Oz and collector of the Oz books, Eric Gjovaag began attending Oz Club events as a teenager. He continued to support the Club and the Winkie Convention in particular, taking on responsibility through the years for activities such as the quiz, the children’s program, the costume contest, and more. He chaired the 1993 convention and received the 1997 Winkie Award.
As an early adopter of the Internet, Eric launched The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Website in 1996. Today, his award-winning site is arguably the most comprehensive source of Oz information on the Web. Eric developed a virtual tour of Oz websites for the Club’s Oz centennial convention in 2000, where he also served as emcee for the costume contest. He was an active contributor to the Club’s website and served for many years as a moderator of the Club’s online forums.
His novel, Queen Ann in Oz, co-written by Karyl Carlson, was published by the Emerald City Press in 1993. Through the years he has been a frequent contributor to The Baum Bugle, The Oz Observer, and The Oz Gazette, and served as a contributing editor to Oziana. Eric also promotes the Oz Club and general Oz topics at science fiction and comic conventions in the Seattle area. He has been instrumental to the Oogaboo Rendezvous, a gathering of IWOC members in the Northwest who have met for 30 years. Eric is currently working to update the IWOC research, fiction writing, and artwork competitions to make them more appealing and visible.