2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards

The 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards winners were announced today at CoNZealand. The awards recognize excellence in science fiction, fantasy and horror by New Zealanders.

The winners were decided by a vote of the members of SFFANZ, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand Inc. and of the national convention, which CoNZealand also is in 2020.

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS

Best Novel

  • The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach, Little Hook Press

Best Youth Novel

  • The Clockhill and the Thief by Gareth Ward, Walker Books Australia

Best Novella / Novelette

  • From a Shadow Grave by Andi C. Buchanan, Paper Road Press

Best Short Story

  • “A Shriek Across the Sky” by Casey Lucas, Sponge Magazine 

Best Collected Work

  • Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy: Volume 1 edited by Marie Hodgkinson, Paper Road Press

Best Professional Artwork

  • Cover for Dragon Pearl created by Vivienne To

Best Professional Production/Publication

  • Swords: The Webcomic by Matthew Willis

Best Dramatic Presentation

  • Doctor Who: “The Elysian Blade” by David Bishop, BBC Audio

FAN AWARDS

Best Fan Artwork

  • Deet by Laya Rose

Best Fan Production/ Publication

  • Plant Life by Laya Rose

Best Fan Writing

  • “SITREP” by Alex Lindsay, A monthly column in Phoenixine

SPECIAL AWARDS

Best New Talent

  • Sascha Stronach

Services to Fandom

Grace Bridges

Grace Bridges chaired GeyserCon and does a great deal to support writers and artists both nationally and internationally. She represents NZ well on an international stage and encourages young creators to practice and pursue their own dreams. She plays well with others and is a good example of positive fandom.

Grace Bridges has been an integral member of New Zealand’s fan community for over a decade. A writer, graphic artist, cosplayer, publisher, editor, gamer, speaker, panellist, mentor, and strong community activist. Grace fully embraces her role as both a creator and a fan of science fiction and fantasy. Her formal roles include serving as chair of the GeyserCon National science fiction and fantasy convention in Rotorua in June 2019, as a member of the Core of SpecFicNZ for close to a decade (and President of the group for much of that), and as an active member of Young New Zealand Writers (promoting and developing young creatives in science fiction and fantasy) from 2017 onwards. She promotes New Zealand genre work and fandom both locally and internationally and advocates for a science fiction and fantasy community which encourages inclusiveness for all. Most of Grace’s spare time over the past ten years has been devoted to growing and supporting our fan community—usually while dressed as Capt. Kathryn Janeway or as your favourite TimeLord—making her a highly worthy recipient of this award.

Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

Melanie Harding-Shaw

Mel has been instrumental in bridging the gap between Kiwi SFF and Worldcon. She has organized a local group of Wellington writers across the SFF spectrum,including those who are familiar with Kiwi fandom and those who have historically worked in the literary scene. She is also coordinating Kiwi SFF participants at CoNZealand, both ensuring a wide variety of voices and encouraging those who might not otherwise attend to consider doing so. She is involved both with SpecFicNZ and the New Zealand Society of Authors to bring all authors of speculative work together to share knowledge and resources and celebrate Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror writing in Aotearoa.

11 thoughts on “2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards

  1. Heh, this gives me memories of when I fed the results to Mike hot off the presses in 2017 when I was at Lexicon 🙂

  2. Danny Sichel: Apparently everyone who was a CoNZealand member a) was eligible to vote in the Vogels and b) was supposed to have access to a voter packet.

    Yes, that was reported here at the beginning of May. It doesn’t look as though it ever made it into a CoNZealand member newsletter, though.

  3. @JJ, I missed that report here on File770. I certainly saw NOTHING in a ConZealand Newsletter about it, and that makes me sad and angry.

  4. I’ve seen a post from someone who said they were the newsletter editor up to March, when lockdown kicked in and they had to step back a bit to deal with personal things. By the time they felt up to taking it on again, the job had been turned over to someone else, although the committee page doesn’t show the new person’s name; I’m guessing they were not a Kiwi. It’s such a shame that the SJVs weren’t better-promoted to all of the members of CoNZealand.

    I’m hoping that one of the NZ writers will coordinate with as many of the SJV finalists as possible to make an alternate packet download, maybe one that they could make available on Google Drive by authorizing the e-mail addresses of people who send them a copy of their CoNZealand registration confirmation e-mail.

  5. Pingback: CoNZealand Announces Availability of Sir Julius Vogel Award Voter Packet | File 770

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