Belgium :
TeeKay-421: (joined date : September 22nd, 2007)
The Belgian Star Wars Fanclub, TeeKay-421 vzw (non-profit organisation) was founded in 1997 by Laurent Bettens, Christiaan Vertez and Tim Veekhoven. The goals of the fanclub were to unite the fans in Belgium and to bring them news and information about Star Wars. In 1998 our website went online and in 1999 TeeKay became a non-profit organisation.
TeeKay publishes four magazines each year, gives a membership card to our members to get a deduction at certain stores, organises several meetings a year (such as a quizmeeting), runs several contests on the site and has a website and messageboards. We also participate at events such as ‘Star Wars, The Exhibition’ and F.A.C.T.S. The magazine is written in Dutch and features original articles written by our own TeeKay editors. The magazine covers most aspects of the Star Wars fandom, from source articles, interviews, reviews and reports about events.
TeeKay has also organised several charity actions and works together with Rebel Legion Benelux and Yodapedia, the Dutch Star Wars Wiki. In 2007 TeeKay celebrated it’s 10th anniversary. This was only possible because of the hard work of many volunteers.
England :
Lightsabre: (joined date : January 20th, 2008)
Lightsabre was founded in 1999 by Mark Newbold, Louis Turfrey, Jonathan Hicks and Paul Squire. Continuing the work of the Wirezone site which had been online in various forms since 1996, Lightsabre brought to the internet fan fiction stories started back in 1982 by Newbold and continued in the medium of audio dramas, roleplay games and written fiction.
The site quickly grew, changing designs and growing to include roleplay articles, links sections and in 2000 the first interview guest, Kevin J Anderson.
By 2005 the site had relaunched and today is best known for its interviews, which it hosts every week with guests including Rick McCallum, Lorne Peterson, Dennis Muren, Irvin Kershner and Billy Dee Williams.
Galactic Empire Network: (joined date : January 30th, 2008)
GEN - A fan site dedicated to celebrating the Star Wars Saga and its fans.With Images, Sounds, Forums, Interactive Maps, Fiction, Fonts, News, (Star Wars AND Entertainment)...and much much more.
Founded in February 1999 celebrating the release of the then forthcoming Star Wars - Episode I : The Phantom Menace, GEN provided all kinds for the Star Wars fan in all of us and still does. Primarily a news site focusing on all StarWars fandom GEN offers fan in the UK and worldwide a place to chat in the forums about their fave Star Wars things aswell as hosting an excellent Interactive Flash-Based Star Wars Galaxy Map.
Hungary :
Starwars.Hu: (joined date : January 18th, 2008)
Starwars.hu, the largest Hungarian Star Wars fan site was founded in 1999 due to the huge anticipation. The portal is based on a huge encyclopedia consist of not only translated English articles but Hungarian fan writings.
Nowadays the most popular part of the site is the news section with daily news from every corner of the Star Wars universe. As a main feature we make interviews with the prominent members of the saga and fan base.
Although we are totally independent from Hungarian Star Wars clubs, we are proud for our more than 50000 registered users and the more than 1000 visitors who check our site daily.
In the near future we plan to deploy a brand new version of starwars.hu, so stay tuned!
Italy :
Allied - Force: (joined date : July 31st, 2008)
The Italian Star Wars Fan Club “Allied Force” (AFFC) was founded in 2006 in Pisa, by Flavio Francesco Tasende, Francesco Micaelli, Mariachiara Micaelli, Daniele Ferdinando Cartoni, Matteo Franconi and Adriano Frondoni; in 2007 it became a no-profit organization and in June 2008 it became a SWORA member.
Allied Force was born thanks to our passion for Star Wars, but it deals also with Science Fiction and Cinema in general, and we even shoot movies with our members. We have a web site, where we bring news and information about Star Wars and a forum where our registred users and members can communicate and share this passion. Every member has a personal area in the website.
Until now our Organization participated to many national events (p.e. Lucca Comics and Games, Romics, Yavincon, Movieland, …) but also international ones (p.e. Celebration Europe). Sometimes we are also asked to organize an activity in order to entertain young children and teach them about building simple costumes.
We recently appeared on TV in Canale 50 and this fall we well be interviewed by MTV during the European Cosplay Summit. We also appeared in Living Force magazine, a science fiction newspaper.
If you want to get in touch with us visit our website allied-force.net, there is also a little English section which can be developed if our international users grow!
New Zealand :
SWNZ: (joined date : January 4th, 2008)
The principal goal is described on the SWNZ website as being to support and encourage all Star Wars related hobbies in NZ, and to tie together the networks that constitute the wider Star Wars fan base. SWNZ focuses on New Zealand content, but has international appeal in that it highlights the unique contribution made by New Zealand and New Zealanders to the Star Wars Universe, and will chronicle regional events and collectibles not available elsewhere. SWNZ is about enjoying the hype of the new Star Wars films, and about remembering the mythos of the original trilogy. SWNZ strives for original content (there being no need to mimic that which is already done well by the large, well-established Star Wars sites), but maintains tight links and affiliations to like-minded websites all around the globe.
Poland :
Imperial City Online: (joined date : August 27th, 2007)
Imperial City Online was founded in 2001. It is actually a fusion of two websites that existed earlier - Archiwum Star Wars (founded in 1997) and Ord Mantell. The present shape of the web page was created by Pawel "Franki" Plonowski, Grzegorz "IG-88" Niepewny and Marcin "Lord Freejack" Kiezynski.
The main driving force behind ICO is the so-called ICO Squad, our team of newsmen. We're all responsible for certain sections of the website - news, comics, books, etc. We've been fortunate enough to form "alliances" with several other Star Wars oriented sites. We're in constant contact with representatives from different Polish fan-clubs, thanks to whom we're able to post fandom-related news in a quick and reliable fashion. We've also conducted several chat sessions with Star Wars personalities (eg. actor Gerald Home, director Staszek Maderek, translator Maciej Szymanski).
Members of ICO Squad also helped to organise many Polish Star Wars events, the recent Dagobah 2007 convention amongst them. Through our cooperation with the 501st Legion Polish Outpost, we participated in the premiere screening of the Revenge of the Sith and took part in an event promoting the official DVD release of the movie a few months later. We've also helped to organise and supported the Obi-Wan Kenobi Street project, which still is a huge success today.
To get in touch with us, you are very welcome to join our forum - Holonet.pl. With our recently re-opened English speaking section, you can freely exchange thoughts on any Star Wars topic or join discussions in progress.
The Outer Rim: (joined date : July 31st, 2008)
The Outer Rim (abbreviated as TOR) is one of the three biggest Star Wars portals in Poland. It was founded in 2004 in the result of a fusion of three websites (Jedi Temple, Star Wars Endor and Jedi Work) conducted by Darth Fizyk, Darth Mati, Thon and Kirtan Loor, who is responsible for present form of the page. Apart from them, the portal has three more active editors: Jedi Nadiru Radena, Golden Guy and Sebastiannie.
The Outer Rim is dedicated to present its users a wide range of news concerning Star Wars merchandise such as novels, comics and games, but also The Clone Wars and approaching live-action TV series. We also inform fans about forthcoming Star Wars conventions and local gatherings, as well as fan-made products. Apart from that, The Outer Rim concentrates on offering weekly updates of its library of reviews, articles and fan fiction. Fans expecting interactive games can visit our Dejarik section of forum, while RPG-lovers “Hunt for a Jedi”, popular Play-By-Forum game set in the astonishing Knights of the Old Republic era.
If you want to get in touch with us, visit our International Section of Forum, send us an e-mail, or write a Private Message to The Outer Rim Representative on the S.W.O.R.A. Forum.
Portugal :
SW Clube Portugal: (joined date : January 7th, 2008)
The SWCP, STAR WARS Clube Portugal is the first legally-recognized STAR WARS fans club from Portugal in over 30 years. José Fiúza, its current president, had since many years before had the dream of gathering as many fans and collectors under the same flag bringing Portugal to the worldwide fan community. With this objective in mind he joined forces with long-time friend and fellow collector Patrícia Gomes to start SWCP on February 9, 2007. The club has members not only from Portugal, but also from Spain and Brazil.
Since its inception the club as been the source for reliable news in Portuguese, often times with first-hand reports. In 2007 the SWCP co-organized an unofficial commemoration of STAR WARS' 30 years with a collector's exhibit in Lisbon and helped publicize the "The Force Among Us" fan movie/documentary made by Cris and Cortney Macht with a public screening at "Centro Comercial Colombo", the capital's biggest shopping mall (and Europe's largest shopping mall) promoting at the same time a public contest full of prizes that attracted some more members, one of which, João Melo, later joined then club's Administration. Last but not least, the SWCP was present at London's Celebration Europe with five of its members.
In January 2008 the SWCP became one of the eight founding members of S.W.O.R.A. and suggested the alliance's name, later approved by unanimous vote of all member countries. With an active participation in the S.W.O.R.A.'s destinies, the club will again help further expand the STAR WARS word throughout the planet.
Spain :
Holored Estelar: (joined date : July 31st, 2008)
HoloRed Estelar Sevilla (in English Seville Stellar HoloNet) is a cultural association involved in all Star Wars fields. HoloRed Estelar Sevilla (from now on HES) organizes events on its own devoted only to
Star Wars like expositions, light saber choreographies, lectures and miscellaneous activities, and it
collaborates with another Star Wars followers that request our cooperation.
The fan club started in 1999, after Episode I premièred in Seville. At the beginning, HES did without board of directors but the association's growth forced to change our structure and, in July 2003, HES
was registered as an association in the Spanish Junior Association Registry; five years later HES was
registered as a Cultural Associtaion.
HES members do not need to own a SW costume to be accepted. They meet every two or three weeks in a public park near the Seville ctiy centre to plan about the events and other matters. Paying a symbolic monthly fee everyone helps HES coffers' solvency. Members are allowed to surf by three hidden subforums, to take part in HES internal activities and they have other advantages like, for example, discounts when buying in some comic/freak-stuff shops in Seville. We have a strong unity and friendship component because deep down HES is a heterogeneous group of friends, joined by a common hobby: Star Wars. That is why many of HES members usually do things together like going out for a drink or going to the movies.
Most of HES members live in the capital of Seville (Seville city, where some scenes of Episode II where filmed in Seville's Plaza de España) but other ones live in nearby towns and other cities. Nowadays (July 2008), HES has fifty members aged thirteen to forty and five of them are part of the board or directors which is chosen each year by majority vote.
Turkey :
Yildiz Savaslari: (joined date : August 27th, 2007)
Since its launch in 2005, Yildiz Savaslari (the exact Turkish translation of STAR WARS) has been the largest and most active STAR WARS website in Turkey. Although the website was launched days before Episode III, the preparation and creation of its content started in 2001. Between years 2001-2005, this community served as a costumed fan group named Jedi & Sith.
Today, Yildiz Savaslari has almost all the STAR WARS databank completely in Turkish, and gives its visitors the opportunity to share their fan art, fan stories, and collections. Yildiz Savaslari also has interviews with the stars and well-known people from the STAR WARS saga from time to time, and brings them together with the Turkish fans.
For the first time in Turkey, Yildiz Savaslari begun its monthly podcast in March 2006, the one and only Turkish STAR WARS podcast ever, which brought the latest news from the fandom. An international edition was also produced after SWORA was established. Also, once in every three months, an e-magazine named Yildiz Savaslari is released, which has original content and many different articles about the universe.
Yildiz Savaslari played an important part in the establishment of the Turkish 501st Outpost, and still continues to serve both old and new generation of fans.
U.S.A. :
Galactic Voyage: (joined date : July 31st, 2008)
Galactic Voyage is a Star Wars Fan Site out of North Carolina, USA that was founded in 1999. The goal for Galactic Voyage is to be a major resource of Star Wars information from a fans point of view and interests.
After providing the latest news in the world of Star Wars, the site is best known for the Ships and Characters sections. It was the first, and currently only website to offer Ships and Character entries using Flash Video.
The website also features many other facets like Images, Video Games, Cut Scenes, Fan Art, Music, Fonts, Wallpaper, Fan Fiction, etc. In addition, Galactic Voyage is quickly becoming a vast resource of downloadable video in Fan Films, Video Games, Commercials, etc.
It is a great honor for Galactic Voyage to be a member of SWORA with this fine group of people.
EU Cantina: (joined date : July 31st, 2008)
EU Cantina.net was created for one purpose: To help all Star Wars fans, EU inclined or not, become familiar with the Expanded Universe of the already
amazing galaxy of Star Wars . Old, or new, fans can rely on us to bring
the latest EU news, along with features such as editorials, unique
time-lines and item reviews, knowledge centers for EU items that are big,
guides for getting started in each section of the EU, a podcast, and much,
much more.
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