Now in its 30th year, the 2024 Aurealis Awards, Australia’s premier speculative fiction award, attracted more than 830 entries across 15 categories, including 34 nominations in the tri-annual Sara Douglass Book Series Award (totalling over 120 books), and record numbers in the Children’s Fiction category.
Aurealis Awards judging coordinator Tehani Croft said, “We are extremely grateful to our 50-plus judges for the enormous task they take on. While some panels do have relatively small numbers of entries, others regularly read 50 or more book-length works or over 100 short stories each year. We also sometimes see unusually large entry numbers in categories like Children’s Fiction and Graphic Novel, which was the case this year, and it’s always wonderful to see growth in traditionally smaller fields.”
Congratulations to this year’s finalists. The winners will be celebrated at the 2024 Aurealis Awards ceremony, which will take place online at 4pm AEST on Sunday 4 May, 2025.
NOTE: A shortlist for the Convenors’ Award for Excellence is not published. The eligible nominations for this special Award will be shared on the Aurealis Awards website, with the winner announced at the ceremony.
The finalists for the 2024 Aurealis Awards are:
BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION
Andromache Between Worlds, Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Bother with the Bonkillyknock Beast, Karen Foxlee & Freda Chiu (ill.) (Allen & Unwin)
The Apprentice Witnesser, Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)
Landovel, Emily Rodda (Allen & Unwin)
The Midwatch, Judith Rossell (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Bravepaw and the Heartstone of Alluria, L M Wilkinson & Lavanya Naidu (ill.) (Albert Street Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY
“Time’s Key”, Emily Larkin (Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk & Dystopia, Rhiza Edge)
“Maiden’s Dawn”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars, Deadset Press)
“The Audition”, Juliet Marillier (Borderlands: Riding the Slipstream, Ford Street Publishing)
“In a League of Her Own”, Jeanette O’Hagan (Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk & Dystopia, Rhiza Edge)
Waking Flora, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
“What are False Stars to a God?”, Alexander Te Pohe (Avast!, Fremantle Press)
BEST HORROR SHORT STORY
“Hackles”, Jeff Clulow (Remixed Myths, Third Eye Press)
“Changeling”, Michael Gardner (Aurealis #167, Chimaera Publications)
“Flesh of My Flesh”, Ben Matthews (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, IFWG Publishing)
“These Pale Shadows”, Kirstyn McDermott (Nosferatu Unbound, IFWG Publishing)
“Envelopes”, Matt Tighe (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, IFWG Publishing)
“An Object of Vision”, Guan Un (Fission #4, British Science Fiction Association)
BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY
“The Beautiful Thing You Once Were”, J Ashley-Smith (Bourbon Penn 33)
“Lacebound”, Eliza Baker (Aurealis #170, Chimaera Publications)
“Remembering the Hungry Ghosts”, Emmi Khor (Best Australian Yarn 2024, The West Australian Newspaper)
Bonnets at Dawn, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
“Market of Loss”, Matt Tighe (Aurealis #176, Chimaera Publications)
“Before the Forest”, Kell Woods (Reactor Magazine)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY
“The Combat Pilot’s Dictionary”, Arden Baker (Aurealis #167, Chimaera Publications)
“Dog of War”, Colin Clark (Aurealis #170, Chimaera Publications)
“The Last Reader”, Greg Foyster (Conflux 2024, CSFG/Conflux)
“The Station”, Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker (New Australian Fiction 2024, New South Books)
“Life In The Dirt”, Henry Neilsen (Aurealis #173, Chimaera Publications)
“In War with Time for Love of You”, Carol Ryles (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth, and Babies, IFWG Publishing)
BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK
Action Tank: Book 3, Mike Barry (Mike Barry Was Here)
The Star Tide Shores, Henry Goeldner (Kickstarter)
In Utero, Chris Gooch (Top Shelf)
Your Highness, Your Highness, N S Kane, Chris Pitcairn (ill.) (N S Kane Comics)
The Sweetness Between Us, Sarah Winifred Searle (Allen & Unwin)
Titans: Out of the Shadows, Tom Taylor, Travis Moore (ill.) (DC Comics)
BEST COLLECTION
Pick Your Potion, Ephiny Gale (Foxgrove Press)
Kindling, Kathleen Jennings (Small Beer Press)
The Heart of the Labyrinth and Other Stories, D K Mok (self-published)
BEST ANTHOLOGY
Fission #4, Eugen Bacon & Gene Rowe (Eds.) (The British Science Fiction Association)
Found 2: More Stories of Found Footage Horror, Andrew Cull & Gabino Iglesias (Eds.) (Vermilion To One Press)
Celestial Bodies, Aidan Demmers (Ed.) (Tiny Owl Workshop)
Far-Flung, Samuel Maguire (Ed.) (Tiny Owl Workshop)
Calvaria Fell: Stories, Cat Sparks & Kaaron Warren (Meerkat Press)
New Adventures in Space Opera, Jonathan Strahan (Ed.) (Tachyon Publications)
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Plagued Lands, Nikki Brooke (Crow Knight Film & Publishing Realm)
Aisle Nine, Ian X Cho (HarperCollins Publishers)
They Watch From Below, Katya de Becerra (Page Street YA)
Liar’s TestAmbelin Kwaymullina (Text Publishing)
Anomaly, Emma Lord (Affirm Press)
Deep is the Fen, Lili Wilkinson (Allen & Unwin)
BEST HORROR NOVELLA
“We Who Remain”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars, Deadset Press)
“A Daredevil Duchess’s Guide to Castle Hauntings”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Castle of Secrets, self-published)
“Bell, Book and Lamp”, Angela Slatter (Bound in Blood, Titan Books)
“Maleficium”, Kyla Lee Ward (Discontinue If Death Ensues, Flame Tree Publishing)
Shattered, Pauline Yates (Black Hare Press)
BEST FANTASY NOVELLA
“Another Tide”, Will Greatwich (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Firkin Press)
“Doors”, Nikky Lee (Don’t Forget to Shut the Gate, Northshore Press)
Talon Marked, Sue-Ellen Pashley (Deadset Press)
“A Daredevil Duchess’s Guide to Castle Hauntings”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Castle of Secrets, self-published)
Hotel Charybdis, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)
“The Good Old Days”, Craig Rosenberg (Uncertainties VII, Swan River Press)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA
The Javan War, John Birmingham & Jason Lambright (Gigantic Bombs Corporation)
“Captain Santiago and the Sky Dome”, Tracy Cooper-Posey, (Celestial Hearts, Tandy Lion)
“We Who Remain”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars, Deadset Press)
“Daisie and Maisie, External Hull Repair Experts”, Sean Monaghan (Analog Science Fiction Science Fact, Dell Magazines)
Ghost of the Neon God, T R Napper (Titan Books)
“Shadow Films”, Ben Peek (Lightspeed #164)
BEST HORROR NOVEL
Remedy, J S Breukelaar (PS Publishing)
Rock Zombie, A B Finlayson (self-published)
The Count, David-Jack Fletcher (Slashic Horror Press)
Jasper Cliff, Josh Kemp (Fremantle Press)
Carve Your Soul to Pieces, Ben Pienaar (self-published)
Bodily Harm, Deborah Sheldon (Undertaker Books)
BEST FANTASY NOVEL
Thoroughly Disenchanted, Alexandra Almond (HarperCollins Publishers)
Kavithri, Aman J Bedi (Gollancz)
The She-Wolf of Baker Street, Narrelle M Harris (Clan Destine Press)
The End and Everything Before It, Finegan Kruckemyer (Text Publishing)
The Briar Book of the Dead, A G Slatter (Titan Books)
Skysong, C A Wright (Pantera Press)
BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Transported, Kate Fitzpatrick (New Found Books)
Inheritance, Genevieve Gannon (Pantera Press)
The Temp, Martin Livings (self published)
Big Time, Jordan Prosser (University of Queensland Press)
Temporal Boom, J M Voss (Shawline Publishing Group)
Juice, Tim Winton (Hamish Hamilton / Penguin Random House)
SARA DOUGLASS BOOK SERIES AWARD
The Aurora Cycle: Aurora Rising (2019) / Aurora Burning (2020) / Aurora’s End (2021), Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
Warrior Bards: The Harp of Kings (2019) / A Dance with Fate (2020) / A Song of Flight (2021), Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The Last Binding: A Marvellous Light (2021) / A Restless Truth (2022) / A Power Unbound (2023), Freya Marske (Tor)
Deepwater Trilogy: Monstrous Heart (2020) / Deepwater King (2021) / Firetide Coast (2022), Claire McKenna (Harper Voyager UK / Harper Collins Australia)
The Old Kingdom: Sabriel (1994) / Lirael (2001) / Abhorsen (2003) / Clariel (2014) / Goldenhand (2016) / Terciel and Elinor (2021), Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)
The Radiant Emperor: She Who Became the Sun (2021) / He Who Drowned the World (2023), Shelley Parker-Chan (Mantle)
