Balticon 59 took place May 23-26, 2025 at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. The Society had its “usual” presence with a fan table and stalwarts Betsey Wilcox, Will Hamilton, and Ty Arnold travelling in. We had local members Beatrice & Ursula Kondo, Herb Gilliland, and John Tilden to complete the “staffing” of the fan table.

Walt Boyes and Joy Ward were “virtual attendees” who either moderated or participated in several online panels during the con. We were pleased to meet up with many Society members throughout the weekend and give them a special con ribbon to show off their membership status!  We also had Board of Advisors members Charles E. Gannon and David Gerrold (2022 Heinlein Award winner) in attendance at the con.

The Opening Ceremonies include the actual presentation of the Robert A. Heinlein Award, which this year went to Sharon Lee, best known for her work creating the Liaden Universe with Steve Miller. Beatrice did the honors presenting the 2025 award, and Sharon gave a wonderful speech.

On Saturday Sharon had a interesting interview well-conducted by Tom Schaaf. The interview covered Sharon’s entire career and highlighted some work that casual fans might not have been aware of, which leads to new books to check out!

Saturday evening the Heinlein Society hosted a dinner for its membership honoring Sharon.  This year we also had 2017 winner Robert J. Sawyer and his wife Carolyn Clink in attendance. Robert could not attend Balticon the year he won so it was nice for THS to be able to spend some time with him.

Throughout the weekend THS was able to help with membership questions and we had renewals, new members, and an upgrade to a Lifetime Membership by an existing member who realized its value.

Our Heinlein For Heroes book drive has really gained traction at Balticon and this year we had over three large boxes of books donated in total which will be several shipments of books to our serving military, their families, or VA hospitals.

Balticon is a wonderful all-volunteer convention focused on writers and artists. We would love to see more Society members attend next year to share in the fun!