2022 Aurealis Awards Winners

The 2022 Aurealis Awards winners, recognizing the best in Australian speculative fiction, have been announced.

Best Science Fiction Novel

  • WINNER: 36 Streets, TR Napper (Titan)
  • Hovering, Rhett Davis (Hachette AU)
  • The Stranger, Kathryn Hore (Allen & Unwin)
  • Here Goes Nothing, Steve Toltz (Hamish Hamilton)
  • Bootstrap, Georgina Young (Text)

Best Science Fiction Novella

  • WINNER: Resembling Lepus, Amanda Kool (Grey Matter)
  • “The Goruden-Mairu Job”, TR Napper (Night, Rain, and Neon)
  • “The Sisters of Saint Nicola of The Almost Perpetual Motion vs the Lurch”, Garth Nix (Tor.com 7/13/22)
  • Cobalt Blue, Matthew Reilly (Macmillan)

Best Science Fiction Short Story

  • WINNER: “As Though I Were a Little Sun”, Grace Chan (Fireside 9/22)
  • “Death By Water”, Grace Chan (From the Wasteland)
  • “Fake Plants”, Scott Limbrick (The Furphy Anthology 2022)
  • “Synaesthetics”, Helena O’Connor (Nature 1/22)
  • “Sharing a Meal at the End of the World”, Anya Ow (Haven Speculative 9/22)
  • “One Man Army”, Scott Steensma (Aurealis 11/22)

Best Fantasy Novel

  • WINNER: Path of Thorns, Angela Slatter (Titan)
  • The Not So Chosen One, Kate Emery (Text)
  • The Stone Road, Trent Jamieson (Erewhon)
  • A Restless Truth, Freya Marske (Tor)
  • Blitz, Daniel O’Malley (HarperCollins)
  • Honour Among Ghosts, Sean Williams (Allen & Unwin)

Best Fantasy Novella

  • WINNER: Winterbloom, Kirstyn McDermott (Brain Jar)
  • “The Ocean, the Lighthouse Keeper, and the Sunset”, Lee Cope (The Art of Being Human)
  • Hovering, Dorothy-Jane Daniels (Luna)
  • “Merry in Time”, Kathleen Jennings (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 3/22)
  • “Among the Faded Woods”, Faith Mudge (The Art of Being Human)
  • The Bone Lantern, Angela Slatter (PS Publishing)

Best Fantasy Short Story

  • WINNER: “The Icecutter’s Daughter”, Aiki Flinthart (The Art of Being Human)
  • “Ashes”, Tania Fordwalker (Aurealis 6/22)
  • “Tastes like Home”, Kiera Lesley (Andromeda Spaceways Magazine 3/22)
  • “Salon Faerie”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
  • “Beautiful Horizon”, Steve Simpson (The Purpose of Reality: Solar)
  • “The Past Laid Out On The Table”, Matt Tighe (Cast of Wonders 9/22)

Best Horror Novel

  • WINNER: The Stone Road, Trent Jamieson (Erewhon)
  • Sallow Bend, Alan Baxter (Cemetery Dance)
  • Scavengers, Robert Hood (Clan Destine)
  • The Stranger, Kathryn Hore (Allen & Unwin)
  • Path of Thorns, Angela Slatter (Titan)

Best Horror Novella

  • WINNER: “Kookaburra Cruel”, Aaron Dries (Damnation Games)
  • “Rat’s Alley”, Jeff Clulow (From the Wasteland)
  • “Glyphlight”, Matan Elul (The New Mythic)
  • The New Wife, Kirstyn McDermott (Brain Jar Press)
  • “Among the Faded Woods”, Faith Mudge (The Art of Being Human)
  • “Songs from Dark Annie’s Bower”, Angela Slatter (Gaslight Ghouls: Uneasy Tales of Sherlock Holmes)

Best Horror Short Story

  • WINNER: “They Call Me Mother”, Geneve Flynn (Classic Monster Unleashed)
  • “Nona Doesn’t Dance” Aaron Dries (Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts)
  • “Lidless Eyes that See”, Geneve Flynn (From the Wasteland)
  • “Dread Circus”, Pamela Jeffs (That is TOO Wrong! An Anthology of Offbeat Horror Vol 2)
  • “The Hunt”, Martin Livings (Light Falling From a Long Dead Star)
  • “Beach Memories”, Matt Tighe (The NoSleep Podcast 7/22)

Best Young Adult Novel

  • WINNER: Only a Monster, Vanessa Len (Allen & Unwin)
  • Night Lights, Sarah Epstein (Fourteen)
  • The Rarkyn’s Familiar, Nikky Lee (Parliament House)
  • If You Could See the Sun, Ann Liang (HQ Fiction)
  • We Who Hunt the Hollow, Kate Murray (Hardie Grant Children’s)
  • League of Liars, Astrid Scholte (Allen & Unwin)

Best Young Adult Short Story

  • WINNER: “Tastes like Home”, Kiera Lesley (Andromeda Spaceways 3/22)
  • “Forbidden Voices”, EJ Delaney (Cast of Wonders 9/29/22)
  • “Crone and the Girl”, Pamela Jeffs (The Seasonals)
  • “Tornadoes, Grief and Poutine”, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga (Augur Magazine 11/22)
  • “Enter Elias Schmidt”, Phoenix Raig (The New Mythic)
  • “Witchy Ways”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Witchy Ways)

Best Children’s Fiction

  • WINNER: The Wintrish Girl, Melanie La’Brooy (University of Queensland)
  • Gus and the Starlight, Victoria Carless (HarperCollins)
  • The Wrath of the Woolington Wyrm, Karen Foxlee, illustrated by Frieda Chiu (Allen & Unwin)
  • The Raven’s Song, Zana Fraillon & Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)
  • The Goodbye Year, Emily Gale (Text)
  • Mars Awakens, HM Waugh (Allen & Unwin)

Best Collection

  • WINNER: Here be Leviathans, Chris Flynn (University of Queensland)
  • The Art of Broken Things, Joanne Anderton (Trepidatio)
  • The Fall: Tales from the Gulp 2, Alan Baxter (13th Dragon)
  • Everything Feels Like the End of the World, Else Fitzgerald (Allen & Unwin)
  • Hard Places, Kirstyn McDermott (Trepidatio)
  • Team Queen, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)

Best Anthology

  • WINNER: This All Come Back Now, Mykaela Saunders, ed. (University of Queensland)
  • Queer Weird West Tales, Julie Bozz, ed. (LIBRAtiger)
  • The Art of Being Human, Tehani Croft with Stephanie Lai, eds. (FableCroft)
  • We are Providence, L E Daniels & Christa Carmen, eds. (Weird House)
  • Unlimited Futures, Rafeif Ismail, ed. (Fremantle)
  • Clamour and Mischief, Narrelle M Harris, ed. (Clan Destine)

Best Graphic Novel/Illustrated Work

  • WINNER: The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness, Matt Ottley (Dirt Lane)
  • Nottingham Vol. 2: A King’s Ransom, David Hazan (Mad Cave)
  • Dark Heart #1, Scott Wilson, Katie Houghton-Ward & Justin Randall (Gestalt)
  • Neverlanders, Tom Taylor & Jon Sommariva (Penguin Random House AU)

Convenors’ Award for Excellence

  • WINNER: The Phantom Never Dies, Maria Lewis (Nova)

For more, see the official website.





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