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Aurealis Awards finalists and winners in each category are selected by our judges.
Panel sizes may vary among categories – and from year to year – depending on the perceived workload required and the availability of judges for a particular category. However, each panel will consist of at least three judges one of which will be the panel convenor.
Judges are volunteers and are drawn from the speculative fiction community; from diverse professions and backgrounds, and may include academics, booksellers, librarians, published authors, publishing industry professionals, reviewers and enthusiasts. The only qualification necessary is a demonstrated knowledge of and interest in their chosen category.
Being an Aurealis Awards judge involves reading entries in a single category, which may comprise several dozen novels and/or more than a hundred short stories in the process of evaluating the year’s entries. Judges may keep their reading copies of entries.
It is vital that judges be able to work as part of a team and meet stringent deadlines. Most of the judges’ discussions are conducted via an online forum or email.
All discussions are confidential between the judges in each panel and the judging coordinator and/or the Aurealis Awards management team, as required. The Aurealis Awards judging coordinator will have no input into these decisions unless a panel of judges is unable to reach a consensus.
Judges from previous Aurealis Awards processes are welcome – indeed encouraged – to re-apply. But, in the interests of transparency and impartiality, no one may judge the same category for more than two consecutive years, and a break of two consecutive years is required before a judge can reapply to be a judge in that particular category again.
Because fantasy and science fiction are the largest categories, they have been split into two separate judging panels, one for novels and one for short stories.
The Aurealis Awards accept some short fiction (up to ten thousand words) electronically. Judges of short fiction must be willing to accept and read some entries in this format.
The winner of the Peter McNamara Convenors' Award for Excellence will be reached by a consensus of the convenors of each of the judging panels.
Each judge receives one complimentary ticket (non-transferrable) to the Aurealis Awards 2010 ceremony to be held in late April/early May 2011 in Sydney.
2011 Judging Panels
Judging Coordinator: Tehani Wessely
Bios 2011
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Science Fiction: Novel
convenor - Alex Adsett
Alex Adsett is a publishing consultant with 15 years experience in publishing and bookselling. She offers business and contract advice to authors, publishers and booksellers, helping them review and negotiate their contracts, including print and ebook publishing agreements, film and translation. She has worked as a specialist science fiction and fantasy bookseller in Australia and the UK, and is passionate about the ongoing publication of the genre and Australian spec fic authors. Alex appeared on a publishing panel at Aussiecon 4, regularly speaks at writers' festivals around Australia and has been an Aurealis Judge since 2007. www.alexadsett.com.au
Jim Ivins
Jim Ivins is a recovering academic with a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and a life-long addiction to science, technology and pizza. He has worked as a manual labourer, a barman, an impoverished researcher, and most recently as a prize-winning lecturer in software engineering. Jim has been a fan of speculative fiction since the age of about five, when his mother let him stay up late to watch George Pal's 1960 version of The Time Machine on the telly. A few years ago, he joined the Online Writers’ Workshop for SF, F & H, and recently completed his second novel while desperately trying to find a publisher for the first. He lives in Perth with his wife, three chickens, and a pizza oven he built from scratch.
Gillian Polack
Gillian Polack writes, edits, reviews and critiques speculative fiction. She is well known as a scholarly expert on medieval times and has a particular interest in food history. Gillian has acted as an Aurealis judge in the past, and is currently undertaking an SF-based doctorate at UWA.
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Science Fiction: Short Story
convenor - Rob Riel
Rob Riel has been an avid reader of SF since the days when a young bloke could buy the latest Heinlein or Asimov novel for well under a dollar. He’s been a (very occasional) contributor of short fiction to the genre, and for some years managed the SFWoE competition in Australia. Rob has worked as a sailor, metallurgist, university lecturer in English, electron microscopist, and disability services specialist. Ten years ago he established Picaro Press, which specialises in poetry publication using print-on-demand technology. He has twice received Australia Council grants for New Work, and has published two books. Rob lives in Cardiff, NSW, with partner Judy Johnson, whose second novel has just been accepted by Harper Collins for their Fourth Estate imprint.
John Richards
John Richards is a Melbourne-based writer and reviewer. He is the co-creator and writer of Outland, a six-part narrative comedy about gay science fiction fans for ABC1, and a presenter of Boxcutters, Australia's top TV-discussion podcast. Along with his Boxcutters' co-host Josh Kinal he has presented panels, discussions and live presentations for The Australian Centre For The Moving Image, Screen Futures at BMW Edge, The Wheeler Centre, Aussiecon 4 (the 68th World Science Fiction Convention) and Continuum 7. He has written comedy for JJJ, RRR and Radio National, reviewed arts and theatre for publications including Melbourne Star Observer, CANVAS, Stage Left, AussieTheatre.com, The Pun, The Trip and MCV and co-wrote the hit single “Tingly” (performed by Frente's Angie Hart) which made JJJ's Hottest 100. His shoulder can be glimpsed in the feature film The Extra, he once met Limahl, and Doctor Who's Katie Manning has rubbed her feet on his head.
Marian Foster
Marian has been reading speculative fiction since she used to steal her fathers Gollancz library books for something to read – such lovely yellow covers! She spent Far Too Much of her life producing a doctoral thesis on Tolkein’s narrative method and writing reviews for Van Ikin's Science Fiction as an editorial adviser for the magazine. There was as period of marking TEE Literature that convinced her that fantasy was alive and well in the western suburbs, and a shorter period of working on a local newspaper where she had a by-line for a minuscule period. Currently she indulges society's need for fantasy by writing and editing correspondence in a state government department. She was an Aurealis judge from 1998 to 2002 and returns to feed her addiction.
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Fantasy: Novel
convenor - Lorraine Cormack
Lorraine Cormack is an experienced book reviewer, currently including regular reviews for ASiF. She is an avid reader across all genres and enjoys discovering good writers who are new to her. She is a founding member of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild. She lives with her family.
Emma Kate
Emma Kate is a qualified teacher librarian with 10 years of experience. She lives with her daughter in Southern Tasmania and recently completed Honours in Classics. She has had one piece of short fiction published, been a judge for the Swancon 2011 short story competition and is a reviewer for ASiF! She reads every night before sleep and sometimes instead of.
Natalie Maddalena
Natalie Maddalena is a freelance editor who specialises in fiction. Her life revolves around the twin suns of fantasy and the written word. She wades through short story slush piles, plays Dungeons & Dragons, reviews speculative fiction novels, adorns her walls with pictures of elves and unicorns, and even aspires to being a fantasy novelist herself. She gave her children the middle names Evenstar and Pendragon after fantasy characters, and they are not old enough yet to hate her for it. She enjoyed being an Aurealis judge so much last year that she has come back for more.
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Fantasy: Short Story
convenor - Ben Payne
Ben Payne is a local writer, editor and publisher. He has been honourably mentioned Ellen Datlow's Year's Best Horror, and has edited or co-edited numerous publications, including Potato Monkey, ASIM, Aurealis, Dog vs Sandwich, Moonlight Tuber and various publications for Twelfth Planet Press. He has been a judge on the Aurealis Awards for the last ten years, and convened the awards on one occasion. His favourite fish is the dugong, and his favourite angle is obtuse.
Josephine Hallmond
Josephine Hallmond has been an avid reader all her life and first discovered fantasy fiction as a pre-teen when she read A Wizard of Earthsea. As a teen, she moved on to The Lord of the Rings and other classic works of fantasy and so began her life-long passion for fantasy. Currently, she reads mainly Young Adult fantasy. In the mundane world, Josephine started her career as an English teacher and now works at the Anglican Church Grammar School as a teacher-librarian. She has also written reviews and reflections for minor and non-profit publications and is the author of an as-yet unpublished work of non-fiction.
Satima Flavell
Perth-based writer, editor and reviewer Satima Flavell has a background in the performing arts and began writing in this area some two decades back. Then she was bitten by the fantasy bug and is now Reviews Editor for The Specusphere (www.specusphere.com). As Carol Flavell Neist, she still reviews theatre and dance – her reviews have appeared in The Australian, The West Australian, Dance Australia and on www.artshub.com.au. In her spare time she writes big fat fantasy novels of her own and edits those of other people.
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Horror
convenor: Kirstyn McDermott
Kirstyn McDermott is a Melbourne-based author who has been working in the darker alleyways of speculative fiction for most of her career. Her short fiction has been published in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies, both in Australia and overseas, and her debut novel, Madigan Mine, was published by Picador Australia in 2010 and is soon to be released in Germany. Her work has been nominated for Bram Stoker and Australian Shadows Awards, and has been the recent recipient of Aurealis, Ditmar and Chronos Awards. While donning a variety of non-writing hats, Kirstyn has co-edited the inaugural issue of Midnight Echo, served as Vice President and later Treasurer of the Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA), and convened Continuum 3, Melbourne’s speculative fiction and pop culture convention. She can be found online (usually far too often) at: www.kirstynmcdermott.com
Stephanie Gunn
Stephanie is a Western Australian writer, reviewer, mother and somewhat lapsed scientist. She has served in the past as an Aurealis Awards and Australian Shadows Award judge, was one of the founding editors and reviewers at Horrorscope and now reviews for ASiF. She can be found at stephaniegunn.com.
Matthew Chrulew
Matthew Chrulew is a humanities researcher and prog rock aficionado who lives in Sydney’s north. He has published over twenty short stories. His 2010 novella The Angælien Apocalypse (Twelfth Planet Press) was a finalist in the Aurealis Awards. Other stories have been shortlisted in the Australian Shadows Award and reprinted in year’s bests. He blogs at http://matthewchrulew.wordpress.com/
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Young Adult
convenor: Kathryn Linge
Kathryn Linge is a university academic and an avid reader. She was nominated for the William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review in 2007 and has been an Aurealis Awards judge since 2008. Kathryn has also won Ditmars for leading the 2007 and 2010 Snapshots of Australian Speculative Fiction, in which up to 90 people in the Australian speculative fiction scene were interviewed within a single week.
Kate Eltham
Kate Eltham is the CEO of Queensland Writers Centre and founder of digital publishing think-tank if:book Australia. She is Co-Director of Clarion South Writers Workshop and, as a board member of Fantastic Queensland, helped coordinate the Aurealis Awards from 2004-2009. Kate is a passionate reader of, and advocate for, young adult fiction.
Tye Cattanach
Tye Cattanach has been the Library Coordinator at Manor Lakes P-12 College since they opened their doors in January 2009. The task of establishing a Prep to Year 12 Library in a rapidly growing school, has been, and continues to be a wonderful challenge. Tye has previously been (for many years) a specialist Young Adult and Children’s bookseller and presents frequently for various organisations and publishing houses on ways to engage reluctant readers, incorporate ICT into literacy, develop library culture and the applications for iPads and other new technologies to encourage reader engagement. She is a member of the executive committee of the Victorian CBCA and in her spare time she hosts The Book Gryffin blog, focusing on Young Adult and Children’s book reviews.
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Children's
convenor: Miffy Farquharson
Miffy Farquharson is a past Aurealis Awards, CBCA Awards and WA Premier's Literary Awards judge. You could say she's addicted to books – and you would be right! By day, Miffy is the mild-mannered Head of Library at Mentone Grammar in Melbourne. By night, she reads, reads, reads and reads a bit more. Miffy's goal is to put the right book, in the right hands, at the right time, and feels that the way to get young people to read is to bring her passion and love of books to them.
Jennifer Hegedus
Jennifer is a primary school teacher currently working as a specialist in the library. She has worked in both NSW and in Queensland where she has been able to experience all roles as a primary school teacher. Her mission is to encourage children to read for pleasure and to experience the fantastic world of books outside of the classroom. Jennifer has worked as a teacher, librarian, postal worker, waitress, paper deliverer, junk mail sorter etc etc. She is a mother of six beautiful children and a grandmother of five of the most amazing grandchildren. Jennifer is an avid reader and any spare time you will find her with a book curled up on her favourite reading chair.
Lyn Battersby
Lyn Battersby is a published short story author and editor. Her work has been nominated for several awards and has appeared both in Australia and Overseas. She has served as a judge for the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards.
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Illustrated work/Graphic novel
convenor: Deborah Biancotti
Deborah Biancotti is an anarchic reader and award-winning writer based in Sydney. Her first published story won an Aurealis Award and her first collection, A Book of Endings, was shortlisted for the William L. Crawford Award for Best First Fantasy book. She’s also served on the committees of the Conflux convention and Speculative Literature Foundation. She can be found online at deborahbiancotti.net.
Zoe Wadsworth
Zoe Wadsworth has been reading anything she can get her hands on for as long as she could remember. She discovered comics when she was 20 and hasn't looked back. Upon reaching university, she quickly fell in love with the Science Fiction Association and after many academic ups and downs, she recently recieved her BA in English, where the highest mark she ever got was for an essay on the history of Batman. Late last year she began blogging at wolverina.net which quickly led to hosting the "How I Got My Boyfriend to Read Comics" podcast.
Andrew Buchanan
Andy is an animator, designer and art researcher. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, which sounds very glamorous but actually means he spends a lot of time in a darkened room, alone. Creepy… Andy has previously lectured in a range of fields related to visual communication, and is currently a PhD student studying surrealism and animation. He has a keen interest in the future of visual narrative and has published research on interactive comics and character design.
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Anthology and collection
convenor: Jason Nahrung
Jason Nahrung has 20 years' experience as a newspaper journalist. He has been a director and judge for the Aurealis Awards. His writing has won the William Atheling Jnr award for Criticism or Review, been highly commended in the Aurealis Awards and been shortlisted in the Ditmars and the Australian Shadows. His debut novel, the paranormal thriller The Darkness Within, has also been published in Germany, and he has had several short stories appear in year's best anthologies. He has an MA in Creative Writing. He lives in Melbourne where he is writing new dark tales. Check out Jason's website.
Katharine Stubbs
Katharine is a reviewer for Hachette Australia with a bit for Ticonderoga Publications on the side. She currently writes, interviews and judges short stories for the website Shades of Sentience, who will publish their second anthology in the next few months. Some day, Katharine would like to be a published author but until then, she is happy re-writing her current MS, reading as much as possible, and travelling.
Amin Chehelnabi
Amin Chehelnabi is a bookseller, writer, and artist with an interest in the Speculative Fiction field and the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Having completed a writing course with Terry Dowling, Rosie Scott, and attended a retreat with Cat Sparks, Robert Hood, and Terry Dowling, his enthusiasm for writing and reading Speculative Fiction has cemented his passion for storytelling, combining elements of fantasy with Persian mythology, and integrating the history of Iran within his stories. He currently attends a writing group, most of whom are graduates of Clarion South and Clarion San Diego workshops, and who have also published stories in their specific fields.
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