| Aurealis Award for best science fiction short story | |
| Awarded For: | Excellence in science fiction short stories |
| Presenter: | Chimaera Publications, Continuum Foundation |
| Country: | Australia |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Holder: | Joanne Anderton |
| Website: | Official site |
The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works in order to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers".[1] To qualify, a work must have been first published by an Australian citizen or permanent resident between 1 January and 31 December of the corresponding year;[2] the presentation ceremony is held the following year. It has grown from a small function of around 20 people to a two-day event attended by over 200 people.[3]
Since their creation in 1995, awards have been given in various categories of speculative fiction. Categories currently include science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative young adult fiction—with separate awards for novels and short fiction—collections, anthologies, illustrative works or graphic novels, children's books, and an award for excellence in speculative fiction.[1] The awards have attracted the attention of publishers by setting down a benchmark in science fiction and fantasy. The continued sponsorship by publishers such as HarperCollins and Orbit has identified the award as an honour to be taken seriously.[4]
The results are decided by a panel of judges from a list of submitted nominees; the long-list of nominees is reduced to a short list of finalists.[1] The judges are selected from a public application process by the Award's management team.[5]
This article lists all the short-list nominees and winners in the best science fiction short story category, as well as short stories that have received honourable mentions or have been highly commended. Since 2003, honourable mentions and high commendations have been awarded intermittently. Brendan Duffy and Sean Williams are the only people to have won the award multiple times, with two wins each. Stephen Dedman holds the record for most nominations and that for most nominations without winning, having been a losing finalist six times.
In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the story's eligibility; the ceremonies are always held the following year. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a blue background have won the award; those with a white background are the nominees on the short-list. If the short story was originally published in a book with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the book title is included after the publisher's name.
Winners and joint winners
Nominees on the shortlist
| Year | Author(s) | Short story | Publisher or publication | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asimov's | [6] | |||
| "" | Asimov's | |||
| "" | Interzone (#100) | |||
| "" | Legend (New Legends) | [7] | ||
| "" | Eidolon | |||
| "" | MirrorDanse (Borderline) | [8] | ||
| "" | Eidolon (Australian magazine) | |||
| "" | Eidolon | |||
| "" | Interzone (#106) | |||
| "" | Aurealis (#16) | |||
| & Jack Dann* | "" | DAW (Black Mist and Other Japanese Futures) | [9] | |
| "" | Eidolon | |||
| "" | Eidolon | |||
| "" | Interzone (#118) | |||
| Roc (The Horns of Elfland) | ||||
| "" | Voyager (Dreaming Down-Under) | [10] | ||
| "" | Asimov's | |||
| "" | Asimov's | |||
| "" | Voyager (Dreaming Down-Under) | |||
| "" | Aurealis (#20-21) | |||
| "" | Asimov's | [11] | ||
| "" | Interzone (#146) | |||
| "" | Eidolon | |||
| "" | Interzone (#146) | |||
| "" | F&SF | |||
| "" | Eidolon | [12] | ||
| "" | Orb | |||
| "" | Eidolon | |||
| "" | Allen & Unwin (White Time) | |||
| "" | Eidolon | |||
| Aurealis (#27-28) | [13] | |||
| CSFG Publishing (Nor of Human...) | ||||
| F&SF | ||||
| Aurealis (#27-28) | ||||
| F&SF | ||||
| F&SF | [14] | |||
| Redsine | ||||
| Aurealis (#29) | ||||
| Agog! (Agog! Fantastic Fiction) | ||||
| Redsine | ||||
| Agog! (Agog! Terrific Tales) | [15] | |||
| Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine | ||||
| Orb | ||||
| Agog! (Agog! Terrific Tales) | ||||
| CSFG Publishing (Elsewhere) | ||||
| Agog! (Agog! Smashing Stories) | [16] | |||
| Oceans of the Mind | ||||
| Prime Books (Tales from the Crypto-System) | ||||
| Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine | ||||
| Orb | ||||
| Aurealis (#36) | [17] | |||
| Aurealis (#33-35) | ||||
| Fables and Reflections | ||||
| Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine | ||||
| Aurealis (#36) | ||||
| Bulletin Summer Reading Edition | [18] | |||
| Prime Books (Through Soft Air) | ||||
| Agog! (Agog! Ripping Reads) | ||||
| Science Fiction Chronicle | ||||
| On Spec (#69) | [19] | |||
| Ticonderoga Publications (Fantastic Wonder Stories) | ||||
| Elise Bunter (Shadow Plays) | ||||
| Agog! () | ||||
| Ticonderoga Publications (Fantastic Wonder Stories) | ||||
| HarperVoyager (Dreaming Again) | [20] | |||
| Ticonderoga Publications (The Workers' Paradise) | ||||
| Cosmos | ||||
| HarperVoyager (Dreaming Again) | ||||
| Twelfth Planet Press (2012) | ||||
| Apex Magazine (Descended From Darkness) | [21] | |||
| Apex Magazine (#4) | ||||
| Abyss & Apex (Q3 2009) | ||||
| Cosmos | ||||
| Asimov's | ||||
| Subterranean Online | [22] | |||
| Twelfth Planet Press (The Company Articles of Edward Teach/The Angaelian Apocalypse) | [23] | |||
| Ticonderoga Publications (Belong) | ||||
| Asimov's | ||||
| Twelfth Planet Press (Sprawl) | ||||
| Coeur de Lion Publishing (Anywhere but Earth) | [24] | |||
| Kayelle Press (Hope) | [25] | |||
| Coeur de Lion Publishing (Anywhere but Earth) | ||||
| Coeur de Lion Publishing (Anywhere but Earth) | ||||
| Midnight Echo | ||||
| Twelfth Planet Press (Cracklescape) | [26] | |||
| "Visitors" | Review of Australian Fiction (Vol 2, No 3) | [27] | ||
| "Beyond Winter's Shadow" | Ticonderoga Publications (Wild Chrome) | |||
| "" | Ticonderoga Publications (Wild Chrome) | |||
| "" | PS Publishing (Exotic Gothic 4) | |||
| "Air, Water, and the Grove" | Pandemonimum Press (The Lowest Heaven) | [28] | ||
| "" | Daily Science Fiction | [29] | ||
| "Mah Song" | FableCroft Publishing (The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories) | |||
| "Seven Days in Paris" | Twelfth Planet Press (Asymmetry) | |||
| "Version 4.3.0.1" | Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (#57) | |||
| "Wine, Women, and Stars" | Analog | [30] | ||
| "" | Review of Australian Fiction (Vol 11, No 6) | |||
| "" | On Spec (#97) | |||
| "Dellinger" | Peggy Bright Books (Use Only As Directed) | |||
| "Happy Go Lucky" | Twelfth Planet Press (Kaleidocscope) | |||
| "All the Wrong Places" | Solaris (Meeting Infinity) | |||
| "2B" | FableCroft Publishing (Insert Title Here) | |||
| "" | Cosmos | |||
| "Alchemy and Ice" | Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (#61) | |||
| "Witnessing" | The Canary Press Story Magazine (#6) | |||
| "Of Sight, of Mind, of Heart" | Clarkesworld (#122) | [31] | ||
| "Trainspotting in Winesburg" | PS Publishing (Concentration) | |||
| "" | Asimov's Science Fiction (Vol. 40 No. 1) | |||
| "" | FableCroft Publishing (In Your Face) | |||
| "68 Days" | Broken Eye Books (Tomorrow's Cthulhu) | |||
| "" | Aurealis (#94) | |||
| "Conversations with an Armoury" | Solaris (Infinity Wars) | |||
| "" | Andromeda Spaceways Magazine (#66) | |||
| "" | Mirren Hogan (Like A Woman) | |||
| "Cards and Steel Hearts" | Falstaff Books (Lawless Lands: Tales from the Weird Frontier) | |||
| "One Small Step" | HarperCollins Publishers (Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology) | |||
| "Hurk + Dav" | Breach Issue #01 | |||
| "" | Aurealis (#108) | |||
| "" | Escape Pod (#612) | |||
| "" | Four Ink Press (Red Hour) | |||
| "On the Consequences of Clinically-Inhibited Maturation in the Common Sydney Octopus" | CSFG Publishing (A Hand of Knaves) | |||
| "" | CSFG Publishing (A Hand of Knaves) | |||
| "Wreck Diving" | Aurealis (#123) | [32] | ||
| "Sky Tears" | Alien Dimensions (#17) | |||
| "Riding the Snails" | Clan Destine Press (War of the Worlds: Battleground Australia) | |||
| "Canute" | Cohesion Press (SNAFU: Last Stand) | |||
| "What We Named the Needle" | Analog (Jul/Aug 2019) | |||
| "Micro" | Kill Your Darlings Speculative Fiction and Fantasy Showcase 2019 | |||
| "Mary, Mary" | Aurealis (#135) | [33] [34] | ||
| "" | Omnium Gatherum (Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women) | |||
| "Pork Belly" | Aurealis (#129) | |||
| "Jack's Fine Dining" | Grimdark Magazine (Neon Leviathan) | |||
| "Andrei Tarkovsky" | Dimension6 (#20) | |||
| "All the Stars in Her Eyes" | Andromeda Spaceways Magazine (#80) |
The honourable mentions and high commendations are announced alongside the list of finalists for their respected year of eligibility.[35] In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the book's eligibility; the ceremonies are always held the following year. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a grey background have been noted as highly commended; those with a white background have received honourable mentions. If the short story was originally published in a book with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the book title is included after the publisher's name.
Highly commended
Honourable mentions
| Year | Author | Short story | Publisher or publication | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vision Writers Group (Glimpses) | |||||
| Vision Writers Group (Glimpses) | |||||
| Vision Writers Group (Glimpses) | |||||
| Vision Writers Group (Glimpses) | |||||
| Borderlands | |||||
| Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine |