The 2016 Australian Shadows Awards winners were announced by the Australian Horror Writers Asssociation on March 29.

The awards honor “the best published works of horror fiction written or edited by an Australian/New Zealand/Oceania resident in the previous calendar year.” Judges determine the shortlists and winners in each category. (The Shadows Awards judges were not listed on the AHWA website.)

BEST SHORT FICTION (Up to 7,500 words)

• HIS SHINING DAY by RICHARD HARLAND (PS Publishing)

BEST COLLECTED WORKS (3 or more short stories by a single author)

• CROW SHINE by ALAN BAXTER (Ticonderoga Publications)

BEST EDITED WORK (3 or more short stories by two (2) or more authors; edited by one or more editors)

• DEAD OF NIGHT Edited by SHANE JIRAIYA CUMMINGS (Published by the AHWA)

BEST NOVEL (At least 40,000 words)

• THE GRIEF HOLE by KAARON WARREN (IFWG Publishing Australia)

PAUL HAINES AWARD FOR LONG FICTION (Between 7,501 to 39,999 words)

• TIPUNA TAPU by DAN RABARTS (Clan Destine Press)

Due to insufficient entries, the 2016 awards dropped the Comics/Graphic Novels category and The Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism.

Today, July 10, the Australasian Horror Writers Association (‘AHWA’) announced plans to add a brand new category to the Australian Shadows Awards:

The award, simply known as the President’s Award, will be an open category where members of the Australasian Horror Writers Association (‘AHWA’) will be able to nominate a member who has not only gone out of their way to promote their work, but assisted with the horror genre in general, as well as enhanced the public perception, reputation and awareness of the Australasian Horror Writers Association in general.

All nominations will be assessed by the AHWA Committee who will cast a vote on the overall winner of the category.

Also, AHWA today released the winners of its 2017 Flash and Short Story Competition.

FLASH AND SHORT STORY COMPETITION

Short Story Winner:

• “Fish” by Chrisi Reardon

Short Story Runner-Up:

• “Byzantium” by Joshua Kemp

Flash Fiction Winner:

• “Elizabeth” by Xanthe Knox.

Flash Fiction Runner-Up:

• “Rambling Man: by Andrew Cull

Both the winner and runner up will receive a Certificate of Achievement in the 2017 competition. The winners will get a hand crafted trophy by Danny Wale at GoreFx.

JUDGES

The Flash and Short Story competition judges for 2017 were.

• Maree Kimberley (2016 short story winner)
• Glenn H. Mitchell (2016 flash fiction winner)
• Deborah Sheldon (2016 short story runner-up)