memberships are awarded. The Masquerade is usually held on Saturday night, and awards are given for various categories in Costuming, including creativity, construction and presentation. The Balticon Sunday Night Short Film Festival (BSNSFF) is a no-submission-fee competition traditionally held on Sunday night for short films in the Science Fact, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror genres. Currently, the audience votes to choose winners in animated and live-action categories. Past Balticon Sunday Night Short Film Festival winners: 2006 THE GRANDFATHER PARADOX 2007 HIDE AND SEEK – Chris Romano, Creator/Director 2008 THE END IS NIGHT 2009 Best Animated BURNING SAFARI 2009 Best Live Action The Hunt for Gollum 2010 Best Animated ETA – Henrik Bjerregaard Clausen, director 2010 Best Live Action (tie) ANDROID LOVE – Lee Citron, writer/director 2010 Best Live Action (tie) THE LEGACY – Mike Doto, writer/director 2010 Best Specialty Short THIS TOO SHALL PASS (OK Go) 2010 Director's Choice Animated THE PAINTER OF SKIES – Jorge Morais Valle, writer/director 2010 Director's Choice Live Action MY FRIEND JOSH – Shaun Springer, director 2011 Best Animated ZERO – Christopher Kezelos, director 2011 Best Live Action DEAD ON TIME – Kostos Skiftas, Andreas Lambropoulos, directors 2011 Director's Choice Animated SINTEL – Colin Levy, writer/director 2011 Director's Choice Live Action CORBIN – Brent Weichsel, director Balticon may also premier an independent feature-length film, and a locally (MD, DC, VA, PA) produced feature film some time during the 4-day convention, as well as several hours of panel discussions in Balticon's Filmmaking Program track. History Prior to 1966, BSFS held an annual event for the election of BSFS board of directors. After several years, BSFS rented hotel space and invited an author to speak, as a guest of honor, at its election events. From this point forward, the event became an annual convention known as Balticon. Subsequently, BSFS election functions were moved to a different date. Before 2001, Balticon was held on Easter weekend to take advantage of lower hotel costs and was three days long; however, in 2001 Balticon moved to Memorial Day Weekend and expanded to a full four days. Past conventions Virtual convention Balticon 54 had been scheduled as an in person for 22–25 May 2020, but the in-person convention was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was reorganized to be a free online convention on the same dates. It took place over Zoom, Discord, and Second Life. Balticon 55, May