Hugo awards Science fiction awards held in China under fire for excluding authors

[LisaM]

8. I don't think the award is "trashed" either, just for the one year.

It is a dilemma for the organizers (mostly volunteer) and the conference, just as you say, it's hard to find locations outside of Europe and North America (though some states are starting to pose their own challenges with their new laws). The problem as I understand it is that distasteful - for lack of a better term - regimes are willing to pay sub rosa for events like this to acquire legitimacy as a destination. This is true in sports, too, Qatar for the World Cup and Saudi Arabia in golf and now tennis.