Andrea Hairston accepted her 2011 award for her novel Redwood and Wildfire at WisCon 36 in May 2012. She was also WisCon’s co-Guest of Honor with Tiptree Award motherboard chair Debbie Notkin.
Andrea’s art award is a double doll designed and created by Madeleine Robins. The fabric was designed by Nalo Hopkinson, who also provided design assistance. This doll represents the character Redwood until you flip up the skirts and turn the doll the other way up, at which point it becomes Wildfire.
Hairston also received $1000 in cash, the traditional chocolate (this year’s was handmade by Alan Bostick), a plaque, a Tiptree t-shirt designed by Freddie Baer, and a Space Babe pin. The impromptu chorus known as “the Tips” serenaded her with a song based on Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” accompanied by David Emerson on electric piano. For the duration of the convention, she got to wear the Tiptree tiara, designed by Elise Matthesen.