Presented at:
East – Les Champs, New York, New York on April 3, 1971
West – Hotel Claremont, Berkeley, California on April 3, 1971
South – Bourbon Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana on April 3, 1971

1971 saw three banquets held on the evening of April 3 for the presentation of the Nebula Awards®.  The New York banquet followed a cocktail hour and had an attendance of 110, a decrease from the previous year.  Lester del Rey served as toastmaster, providing a satirical look at SFWA’s problems, although it has been reported that the humor failed and the speech came off as a tirade.  He was followed by a keynote speech on artificial intelligence by Marvin Minsky.  Isaac Asimov announced the winners, and although a press release had been issued the previous day, Asimov accidentally announced that Gene Wolfe had won for “The Island of Dr. Death,” although that year’s “winner” was actually “no award.” Wolfe would eventually win the Nebula for “The Death of Doctor Island” three years later.  Joe Green served as the MC for a steak dinner in New Orleans, which was attended by 30 people.  A keynote speech was given by Jerry Page on the fluctuations of importance and circulation of the fantasy magazines.  Although the evening was dampened by the fact that the only nominee present, R. A. Lafferty, did not win (like Wolfe, he lost to no award), a party followed the banquet.  Finally, a West Coast banquet was held at the Hotel Claremont in San Francisco, where 68 people were hosted by Gregory Benford and Alva Rogers.  Unlike the New York and New Orleans events, prior to the dinner, the West Coasters were able to listen to a series of panels, one a market review, the other a panel on what was wrong with SFWA, as viewed by Richard Lupoff, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and Joe Goers.  This event also hosted a SFWA Business Meeting.  Avram Davidson served as the banquet’s toastmaster and George Clayton Roberts gave a speech about the interface between the present and future. Winners Larry Niven and Fritz Leiber were present, and although Forrest Ackerman accepted on behalf of Theodore Sturgeon, Sturgeon appeared before the end of the evening.