2021 Aurora Awards Winners

The 2021 Aurora Awards winners were announced October 16, 2021 during a livestreamed ceremony organized by Ottawa’s Can*Con convention.

Best Novel

  • WINNER: Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
  • A Stitch in Time, Kelley Armstrong (KLA Fricke)
  • A Connecticut Gumshoe in King Arthur’s Court, Randy McCharles (Tyche)
  • Beneath the Rising, Premee Mohamed (Solaris)
  • The Oppenheimer Alternative, Robert J. Sawyer (Red Deer)

Best YA Novel

  • WINNER: Flights of Marigold, Susan Forest (Laksa)
  • The Gryphon’s Lair, Kelley Armstrong (Puffin Canada)
  • Return to Atlantis, J.M. Dover (Evil Alter Ego)*
  • Hollow, Rhonda Parrish (Tyche)
  • Wall of Wishes, Suzy Vadori (Old Vines)

Best Novelette/Novella

  • WINNER: “Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County”, Derek Künsken (Asimov’s 7-8/20)
  • “The Immolation of Kev Magee”, L.X. Beckett (Clarkesworld 8/20)
  • “An Important Failure”, Rebecca Campbell (Clarkesworld 8/20)
  • “How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobučar”, Rich Larson (Tor.com 1/15/20)
  • “Go Fish”, Ian Rogers (Tor.com 4/15/20)
  • “To Sail the Black”, A.C. Wise (Clarkesworld 11/20)

Best Short Story

  • WINNER: “All Cats Go to Valhalla”, Chadwick Ginther (Swashbuckling Cats)
  • “The Bone-Stag Walks”, KT Bryski (Lightspeed 8/20)
  • “Night Folk”, Barb Galler-Smith (Galaxy’s Edge 11/20)
  • “Breathe”, Calvin D. Jim (Prairie Gothic)
  • “So You Want to Be a Honeypot”, Kelly Robson (Uncanny 3-4/20)
  • “Grass Gods”, Elizabeth Whitton (Prairie Gothic)

Best Graphic Novel/Comic

  • Gothic Tales of Haunted Futures, S.M. Beiko, ed. (Renegade Arts)
  • Krampus is My Boyfriend!, S.M. Beiko (https://www.smbeiko.com/)
  • Crash and Burn, Kate Larking & Finn Lucullan (Astres)
  • Goblins, Ellipsis Hana Stephens (https://www.goblinscomic.org/)
  • Northwest Resistance, Katherena Vermette, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson (Highwater)

Best Related Work

  • WINNER: On Spec, Diane L. Walton, ed.
  • PodCastle, Jen R. Albert & Cherae Clark, eds., host Setsu Uzumé & producer Peter Adrian Behravesh
  • Augur #3.1 and 3.2, Kerry C. Byrne, Alexander De Pompa & Lawrence Stewen, eds.
  • Prairie Gothic, Stacey Kondla, ed. (Prairie Soul)
  • Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space, Amanda Leduc (Coach House)
  • Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas, Rhonda Parrish, ed. (Tyche)

Best Poem/Song

  • WINNER: “Nidhog”, Jo Walton (The Book of Dragons)
  • “Masquerade”, Colleen Anderson (On Spec #115)
  • “The Death of the Gods”, Leah Bobet (Uncanny 1-2/20)
  • “he scores”, Beth Cato & Rhonda Parrish (Star*Line Spring ’20)
  • “Back Story”, David Clink (Strange Horizons 9/20)
  • “Electra”, Y.M. Pang (Arsenika Winter ’20)
  • “Arachnoid Cyst”, Dominik Parisien (This 3-4/20)
  • “Hamilton Harbour”, Lynne Sargent (A Refuge of Tales)

Best Artist

  • WINNER: Samantha M. Beiko, cover for Flights of the Marigold
  • Lorna Antoniazzi, covers for Augur #3.1 and 3.2
  • Swati Chavda, art, maps, and covers for multiple publications
  • Dan O’Driscoll, cover for Corona Burning
  • Maia Kondla-Wolf, cover for Prairie Gothic

Best Visual Presentation

  • WINNER: The Umbrella Academy
  • Don’t Text Back
  • Murdoch Mysteries, Season 13, Episodes 10-18
  • Trickster, Episodes 1-6
  • Wynonna Earp, Season 4, Episodes 1-6

Best Fan Writing and Publications

  • WINNER: Polar Borealis #13-16, R. Graeme Cameron, ed.
  • BCSFAzine #538-547, R. Graeme Cameron, ed.
  • Clubhouse, R. Graeme Cameron (Amazing Stories)
  • Travelling TARDIS, Jennifer Desmarais (JenEric Designs)
  • Young People Read Old SFF, James Davis Nicoll, ed.
  • Random Musings, Robert J. Sawyer (BCSFAzine #539-547)

Best Fan Related Work

  • WINNER: When Words Collide, Randy McCharles, chair
  • ephemera reading series, KT Bryski & Jen R. Albert
  • AugurCon, Kerry C. Byrne & Terese Mason Pierre
  • 2020 Aurora Awards Ceremony, Mark Leslie Lefebvre & Liz Anderson
  • Speculating Canada, Derek Newman-Stille

The ceremonies also included the induction of authors Monica Hughes and Jean-Louis Trudel, and fan and Godzilla expert Stan G Hyde, into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s (CSFFA) Hall of Fame.

For more information, see the Aurora Awards website.


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