Aurealis Award for best horror short story

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, and horror writers".[2] 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;[3] 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.[4]

Aurealis Award for best horror short story
The Aurealis Award design is often placed on the winning book's cover as a promotional tool.[1]
Awarded forExcellence in horror fiction short stories
CountryAustralia
Presented byChimaera Publications,
Continuum Foundation
First awarded1995
Currently held byChris Mason (writer)
WebsiteOfficial site

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.[2] 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.[5]

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.[2] Ties can occur if the panel decides both entries show equal merit, however they are encouraged to choose a single winner.[6] The judges are selected from a public application process by the Award's management team.[7]

This article lists all the short-list nominees and winners in the best horror short story category, as well as short stories that have received honourable mentions or have been highly commended. A work of fiction is defined as a short story if it is fewer than 40,000 words long.[3] Since 2001, honourable mentions and high commendations have been awarded intermittently. Paul Haines has won the award four times, while three people have won the award twice – Simon Brown, Kaaron Warren and Sean Williams. Warren holds the record for most nominations, with nine. Robert Hood holds the record for most nominations without winning, having been a losing finalist four times.

Winners and nominees

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
1995Francis Payne*"Olympia"Bambada Press (Olympia)[8][9]
1995Terry Dowling"Scaring the Train"MirrorDanse (The Man Who Lost Red)[8][9]
1995Leanne Frahm"Entropy"Sybylla (She's Fantastical)[8][9]
1995Philip Neilsen"Rock and Roll Has to Die"Reed Books (Dark House)[8][9]
1995Kaaron Warren"Skin Holes"Penguin (Strange Fruit)[8][9]
1996Sean Williams*"Passing the Bone"Eidolon (Australian magazine)[10]
1996Stephen Dedman"Never Seen by Waking Eyes"F&SF[10]
1996Terry Dowling"Beckoning Nightframe"Eidolon (Australian magazine)[10]
1996Patricia MacCormack"The Bloom of Decay"Bloodsongs[10]
1996Kaaron Warren"The Hanging People"Bloodsongs[10]
1997Terry Dowling*"Jenny Come to Play"Eidolon (Australian magazine)[11]
1997Bill Congreve"The Mullet That Screwed John West"MirrorDanse (Epiphanies of Blood)[9][11]
1997J. M. Earle"Ten Minutes of Midnight"Aurealis[11]
1997Sean Williams"The Freezing of Sarah"Bloodsongs[11]
1998Kaaron Warren*"A Positive"Bloodsongs[12]
1998Paul Brandon"The Marsh Runners"Voyager (Dreaming Down-Under)[9][12]
1998Glyn Parry"Dawn Chorus"Moonstone (Fantastic Worlds)[9][12]
1998Aaron Sterns"The Third Rail"Voyager (Dreaming Down-Under)[9][12]
1998Kaaron Warren"The Glass Woman"Aurealis[12]
1999Sean Williams & Simon Brown*"Atrax"Ticonderoga (New Adventures in Sci-Fi)[9][13]
1999Allan Baillie"The Mouth"Longman (SpinOuts)[9][13]
1999Stephen Dedman"Honest Ghosts"Gothic.net[13]
1999Kain Massin"Escape from Stalingrad"Harbinger[13]
1999Alison Venugoban"Funeral Rights"Harbinger[13]
2000Deborah Biancotti*"The First and Final Game"Altair[14]
2000Jack Dann"Marilyn"Eidolon (Australian magazine)[14]
2000Stephen Dedman"A Sentiment Open to Doubt"Ticonderoga Online[14]
2000Robert Hood"That Old Black Graffiti"Hodder (Tales from the Wasteland)[9][14]
2000Michael Pryor"Sewercide"Aurealis[14]
2001Simon Haynes*"Sleight of Hand"Potato Monkey[15]
2001Stephen Dedman"Probable Cause"Orb[15]
2001Robert Hood"Rotten Times"Aurealis[15]
2001Rick Kennett & Paul Collins"Whispers"Cosmos Books (Stalking Midnight)[9][15]
2001Alison Venugoban"Happy Birthday to Me"CSFG Publishing (Nor of Human...)[9][15]
2002Kim Westwood*"Oracle"Redsine[16]
2002Stephen Dedman"Wastelands"Agog! (Agog! Fantastic Fiction)[9][16]
2002Claire McKenna"What the Tide Brings"Fables and Reflections[16]
2002Chris McMahon"Within Twilight"Redsine[16]
2003Simon Brown*"Love is a Stone"HarperCollins (Gathering the Bones)[9][17]
2003Stephen Dedman"The Wind Shall Blow For Ever Mair"HarperCollins (Gathering the Bones)[9][17]
2003Sue Isle"Amy's Stars"Orb[17]
2003Kyla Ward"Kijin Tea"Agog! (Agog! Terrific Tales)[9][17]
2003Janeen Webb"Blake's Angel"HarperCollins (Gathering the Bones)[9][17]
2004Paul Haines*"The Last Days of Kali Yuga"NFG[18]
2004Stephen Dedman"Twilight of the Idols"DAW (Conqueror Fantastic)[9][18]
2004Richard Harland"The Border"Agog! (Agog! Smashing Stories)[9][18]
2004Ben Peek"Dr Who (or the day I learned to love Tom Baker)"Wakefield Press (Forever Shores)[9][18]
2004Alinta Thornton"Kathleen, Furnished with Bees"Dark Animus[18]
2005Lee Battersby*"Pater Familias"Shadowed Realms[19]
2005James Cain"The Ride"Dark Krypt[19]
2005Paul Haines"Doof, Doof, Doof"Dark Animus[19]
2005Chuck McKenzie"Eight-Beat Bar"Aurealis[19]
2005Cat Sparks"Macciato Lane"Ticonderoga Online[19]
2006Stephen Dedman*"Dead of Winter"Weird Tales[20]
2006Margo Lanagan"Winkie"Allen & Unwin (Red Spikes)[9][20]
2006Chris Lawson"Hieronymous Boche"Eidolon Books (Eidolon I)[9][20]
2006Kaaron Warren"Dead Sea Fruit"Fantasy Magazine[20]
2006Kaaron Warren"Woman Train"CSFG Publishing (The Outcast)[9][20]
2007Anna Tambour*"The Jeweller of Second-Hand Roe"Subterranean[21]
2007Terry Dowling"Toother"Night Shade Books (Eclipse One)[21][22]
2007Richard Harland"Special Perceptions"Ash-Tree Press (At Ease with the Dead)[9][21]
2007Rick Kennett"The Dark and What It Said"Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine[21]
2007Ben Peek"Black Betty"Lone Star Stories[21]
2008Kirstyn McDermott*"Painlessness"Greatest Uncommon Denominator[23]
2008Lee Battersby"In From the Snow’"HarperVoyager (Dreaming Again)[9][23]
2008Deborah Biancotti"Pale Dark Soldier"Midnight Echo[23]
2008Trent Jamieson"Day Boy"Murky Depths[23]
2008Ian McHugh"Bitter Dreams"Galaxy Press (L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXIV)[9][23]
2009Paul Haines* (tie)"Slice of Life – A Spot of Liver"The Mayne Press (Slice of Life)[9][24]
2009Paul Haines* (tie)"Wives"Coeur de Lion Publishing (X6)[9][24]
2009Felicity Dowker"Jesse's Gift"Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine[24]
2009Christopher Green"Having Faith"Nossa Morte[24]
2009Andrew J. McKiernan"The Message"Midnight Echo[24]
2010Richard Harland*"The Fear"Brimstone Press (Macabre: A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears)[25]
2010Bob Franklin"Take the Free Tour"Affirm Press (Under Stones)[26]
2010Paul Haines"Her Gallant Needs"Twelfth Planet Press (Sprawl)[26]
2010Robert Hood"Wasting Matilda"Constable & Robinson (Zombie Apocalypse!)[26]
2010Martin Livings"Lollo"Apex Publishing (Close Encounters of the Urban Kind)[26]
2011Paul Haines* (tie)"The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt"Brimstone Press (The Last Days of Kali Yuga)[27]
2011Lisa L. Hannett* (tie)"The Short Go: a Future in Eight Seconds"Ticonderoga Publications (Bluegrass Symphony)[27]
2011Deborah Biancotti"And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living"Gilgamesh Press (Ishtar)[28]
2011Margo Lanagan"Mulberry Boys"Tor Books (Blood and Other Cravings)[28]
2011Angela Slatter"The Coffin Maker's Daughter"Quercus Books (A Book of Horrors)[28]
2012Kaaron Warren*"Sky"Twelfth Planet Press (Through Splintered Walls)[29]
2012Joanne Anderton"Sanaa's Army"Ticonderoga Publications (Bloodstones)[30]
2012Jodi Cleghorn"Elyora"Review of Australian Fiction, Rabbit Hole Special Issue[30]
2012Felicity Dowker"To Wish Upon a Clockwork Heart"Ticonderoga Publications (Bread And Circuses)[30]
2012Robert Hood"Escena de un Asesinato"PS Publishing (Exotic Gothic 4)[30]
2013Kim Wilkins*"The Year of Ancient Ghosts"Ticonderoga Publications (The Year of Ancient Ghosts)[31][32]
2013Joanne Anderton"Fencelines"FableCroft Publishing (The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories)[31]
2013Terry Dowling"The Sleepover"PS Publishing (Exotic Gothic 5)[31]
2013Kirstyn McDermott"The Home for Broken Dolls"Twelfth Planet Press (Caution: Contains Small Parts)[31]
2013Kaaron Warren"The Human Moth"Miskatonic Press (The Grimscribe's Puppets)[31]
2014Angela Slatter*"Home and Hearth"Spectral Press (Home and Hearth)[33]
2014Deborah Biancotti"The Executioner Goes Home"Review of Australian Fiction Volume 11, Issue 6[34]
2014James Bradley"Skinsuit"Island Magazine 137[34]
2014Kirstyn McDermott"By The Moon's Good Grace"Review of Australian Fiction Volume 12, Issue 3[34]
2014Garth Nix"Shay Corsham Worsted"ChiZine Publications (Fearful Symmetries)[34]
2015Joanne Anderton*"Bullets"AHWA (In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep)[35]
2015Lisa L. Hannett"Consorting With Fish"Cohesion Press (Blurring the Line)[36]
2015Lisa L. Hannett"Heirloom Pieces"Apex Publications (Apex Magazine)[36]
2015Deborah Kalin"The Briskwater Mare"Twelfth Planet Press (Cherry Crow Children)[36]
2015Tracie McBride"Breaking Windows"Aurealis 84[36]
2015Kirstyn McDermott"Self, Contained"TDM Press (The Dark)[36]
2016T. R. Napper*"Flame Trees"Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2016[37][38]
2016R. P. L. Johnson"Non Zero Sum" (SNAFU: Hunters)Cohesion Press[37]
2016Garth Nix"Penny for a Match, Mister?"Saga Press (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales[37]
2016Angela Slatter"The Red Forest"PS Publishing (Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales)[37]
2016Kaaron Warren"68 Days"Broken Eye Books (Tomorrow's Cthulhu[37]
2016Durand Welsh"Life, or Whatever Passes For It"Grey Matter Press (Peel Back the Skin)[37]
2017J. Ashley Smith*"Old Growth"IFWG Publishing Australia (SQ Mag 31)[39][40]
2017Kat Clay"Reef"IFWG Publishing Australia (SQ Mag 31)[39]
2017Lisa L. Hannett"Outside, a Drifter"Dim Shores (Looming Low)[39]
2017Deborah Sheldon"Angel Hair"IFWG Publishing Australia (Perfect Little Stitches and Other Stories)[39]
2017Alfie Simpson"The Endless Below"Breach Issue #02[39]
2017J. Ashley Smith"On the Line"Australasian Horror Writer's Association (Midnight Echo 12)[39]
2018Alfie Simpson*"Sub-Urban"Breach 07[41][42]
2018Michael Gardner"The Offering"Aurealis 112[41]
2018Jason Nahrung"Slither"IFWG Publishing Australia (Cthulhu Deep Down Under 2)[41]
2018Jessica Nelson-Tyers"By Kindle Light"AntipodeanSF 235[41]
2018Jessica Nelson-Tyers"Hit and Rot"Breach 08[41]
2018J. Ashley Smith"The Further Shore"Bourbon Penn 15[41]
2019Chris Mason"Vivienne and Agnes"self-published Beside the Seaside – Tales from the Day Tripper[43]
2019Joanne Anderton"Loose Stones"Infinite Threads[44]
2019Grace Chan"The Mark"Verge 2019, ""Uncanny [44]
2019Matthew R Davis"Pilgrimage"Breach #10[44]
2019Terry Dowling"The Unwrapping"Echoes[44]
2019Jason Fischer"Of Meat and Man"SNAFU: Last Stand, Cohesion Press[44]
2019J Ashley Smith"The Moth Tapes"Aurealis #117, Chimaera Publications[44]

Honourable mentions and high commendations

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
2001Kirstyn McDermott"Smile for Me"Redsine[9]
2001Stephen Dedman"Ravens"Interzone[9]
2002Robert Hood"Number 7"MirrorDanse (Immaterial)[9]
2002Deborah Biancotti"Silicon Cast"Redsine[9]
2004Paul Haines*"They Say It’s Other People"Agog! (Agog! Smashing Stories)[9]
2005Peter Barber*"Dust"Aurealis[9]
2005Shane Jiraiya Cummings*"Revision Is Murder"Simulacrum[9]
2005Greg Guerin*"The Deviation Road"Borderlands[9]
2005Paul Haines*"The Light in Autumn’s Leaves"Borderlands[9]
2005Martin Livings*"In Nomine Patris"Shadowed Realms[9]
2006Jacinta Butterworth"Love Affair"Coeur de Lion Publishing (C0ck)[9][45]
2006Dirk Flinthart"One Night Stand"Agog! (Agog! Ripping Reads)[9]
2006Margo Lanagan"Under Hell, Over Heaven"Allen & Unwin (Red Spikes)[9]
2006A. M. Muffaz"Mosquito Story"Fantasy Magazine[9]
2007Margo Lanagan"She-Creatures"Night Shade Books (Eclipse One)[9][22]
2007Martin Livings"There was Darkness"Ticonderoga (Fantastic Wonder Stories)[9]
2007Miranda Siemienowicz"Lion’s Breath"Island[9]

See also

  • Ditmar Award, an Australian science fiction award established in 1969

References

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