The 2023 Aurealis Awards were presented on May 18 by the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild. The award recognizes the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers.

2023 AUREALIS AWARDS

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION

• Spellhounds, Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin) 

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK

• Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures, Jason Pamment (Allen & Unwin)

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

• “Follow The Water”, J Palmer (Where the weird things are Vol 2, Deadset Press) 

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY

• “Death interrupted”, Pamela Jeffs (Body of work, Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild)

BEST HORROR NOVELLA

• “Quicksilver”, J S Breukelaar (Vandal: Stories of damage, Crystal Lake Entertainment)

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY

• “12 days of Witchmas”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Patreon, self-published)

BEST FANTASY NOVELLA

• Gate sinister, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY  

(TIE)

• “Hollywood animals”, Corey J White (Interzone #295)
• “Customer service”, Emily Wyeth (Mother’s milk, Sempiternal House)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA

• Once we flew, Nikky Lee (self-published)

BEST COLLECTION

• Firelight, John Morrissey (Text Publishing)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

• The book of witches, Jonathan Strahan (Ed.) (HarperVoyager)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

• When ghosts call us home, Katya de Becerra (Macmillan)

BEST HORROR NOVEL

• Bunny, S E Tolsen (Pan Macmillan Australia)

BEST FANTASY NOVEL 

• The will of the many, James Islington (Text Publishing)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• Time of the cat, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)

CONVENORS’ AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE 

• “Science fiction for hire? Notes towards an emerging practice of creative futurism” by Helen Marshall, Kathleen Jennings & Joanne Anderton (Text Journal of Writing and Writing Courses, 27(2))