About us

OH!CON is an annual comic con held in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.  It's a day celebrating sci-fi, fantasy, games, comics and all that sort of stuff.

The first OH!CON ran in October 2022 and has been held each October since. We have a page where you can find out all about our past OH!CONs.

We're independent, volunteer run and led, and supported by some great sponsors and donors.

We're smaller than many mainland cons – we average between 450 to 500 attendees – and our focus is on creativity and inspiration. Come along and you'll find a day packed with talks, workshops and interesting interactive activities, but a lot less emphasis on merchandise stalls and autograph opportunities than at big mainland cons. 

In 2024, we won the Scottish category of Creative Lives, a national award for community and volunteer led organisations that promote creativity.

The organisation

We're a not-for-profit organisation (technically, we’re a Community Interest Company registered in Scotland, company number SC760447).

Our purpose is to organise and run an annual comic con in the Western Isles. We also run nerdy outreach events throughout the year.

We have a board of 5 directors responsible for running the company (the dull bits) and a larger group of volunteers who plan and run the events (the fun bits). All directors and volunteers are unpaid and without their time, effort and enthusiasm, OH!CON would not be possible.

The funding

As well as time, effort and enthusiasm, it also takes money to run a comic con. We’re funded in three ways: sales, grants and donations.

All proceeds from ticket sales and merchandise are invested back into OH!CON.

We greatly appreciate the generosity of the organisations that have supported us with grants:

• Creative Scotland
• Scottish Book Trust
• Point and Sandwick Trust
• Maoin nan Ealan Gàidhlig

Western Isles Libraries, An Lanntair and UHI have all supported us with staff time, premises and other assistance.

If you would like to support this year’s OH!CON through a donation, sponsorship or help in kind, take a look at our get involved page..

Charity donations

We also aim to raise money for charity through OH!CON. To date, we have been able to give over £2000 to local good causes.

The name

We're often asked, "why are you called OH!CON?"

Some people say that OH!CON is short for “Oh! There’s a comic con there?”. Others say that is is a contraction of Outer Hebrides Comic Con. The real explanation, tragically, has been lost to the mists of time, so we can't say for sure.

However, what we are sure about is that it’s pronounced ‘oh con’, not ‘oh aitch con’.