The final ballot for the 2006 Ditmar Awards has been announced. The Ditmars are the Australian equivalent of the Hugo Awards (i.e., awards for the best science fiction of the year as voted by the readers and fans). They have been awarded every year since 1969, and this year’s winners will be announced on 9 June at Convergence 2, the 46th Australian National SF Convention.
This year’s nominees are:
Novel:
* The Silver Road by Grace Dugan (published by Penguin)
* The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliot (ABC Books)
* Prismatic by Edwina Grey (Lothian)
* Carnies by Martin Livings (published by Lothian)
* The Mother by Brett McBean (Lothian)
Novella/Novelette:
* “Aftermath” by David Conyers (Agog! Ripping Reads, Agog! Press)
* “The Dead of Winter” by Stephen Dedman (published in Weird Tales issue #339)
* “World’s Whackiest Upper Atmosphere Re-Entry Disasters Dating Game” by Brendan Duffy (Agog! Ripping Reads, Agog! Press)
* “The Devil in Mr Pussy (Or how I found God inside my wife)” by Paul Haines (c0ck, Couer de Lion Publishing)
* “The Souls of Dead Soldiers are for Blackbirds, Not Little Boys” by Ben Peek (Agog! Ripping Reads, Agog! Press)
* “Under the Red Sun” by Ben Peek (Fantasy Magazine #4)
Short Story:
* “Surrender 1: Rope Artist” by Deborah Biancotti (Shadowed Realms #9)
* “Honeymoon” by Adam Browne and John Dixon (c0ck, Couer de Lion Publishing)
* “The Fear of White” by Rjurik Davidson (Borderlands #7)
* “Burning from the Inside” by Paul Haines (Doorways for the Dispossessed, Prime Books)
* “Cold” by Kirstyn McDermott (Shadowed Realms #9)
* “The Bat’s Boudoir” by Kyla Ward (Shadowed Realms #9)
Collected Work:
* The Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, Vol.2 edited by Bill Congreve & Michelle Marquardt (Mirrordanse Books)
* Doorways to the Dispossessed edited by Paul Haines and Geoffrey Maloney (Prime Books)
* Agog! Ripping Reads edited by Cat Sparks (Agog! Press)
* c0ck edited by Keith Stevenson & Andrew Macrae (Coeur de Lion Publishing)
* Eidolon I edited by Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy Byrne (Eidolon Books)
Artwork:
* The Devoured Earth cover art by Greg Bridges (HarperCollins Press)
* 26Lies/1Truth cover art by Andrew MacRae (Wheatland Press)
* Agog! Ripping Reads cover art by Cat Sparks (Agog! Press)
* Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century cover art by Cat Sparks (Wesleyan University Press)
* The Arrival cover art by Sean Tan (Lothian)
Fan Writer:
* Shane Jiraiya Cummings
* Stephanie Gunn
* Danny Oz
* Miranda Siemienowicz
* Mark Smith-Briggs
* Matthew Tait
Fan Artist:
* Christopher Johnstone
* Jon Swaby
Fan Production:
* Tabula Rasa website by David Carroll
* The Bullsheet website & ezine by Edwina Harvey & Ted Scribner
* ASIF website edited by Alisa Krasnostein
* Inkspillers website by Tony Plank
* Outland directed by John Richards
Fanzine:
* AntipodeanSF edited by Ion Newcombe
* ASIF: Australian Specfic in Focus edited by Alisa Krasnostein
* Captain’s Log, the Austrek clubzine
* Ethel the Aardvark, the MSFC clubzine
* HorrorScope edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Professional Achievement:
* Angelia Challis for establishing Brimstone Press as a mass market publisher
* Bill Congreve for Mirrordanse Press and two issues of the Australian Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy
* Russell B. Farr for Ticonderoga Publications
* Gary Kemble for work on ABC’s Articulate and promoting the genre through radio and other mediums
* Alisa Krasnostein for providing new paying markets for readers and writers of both fiction/non-fiction, art as well as forums for reviews/interviews within the speculative fiction genre, enhancing the profile of Australian speculative fiction
* Justine Larbalestier for editing Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century
Fan Achievement:
* Marty Young for his work establishing and promoting the Australian Horror Writers Association
* Alisa Krasnostein for establishing ASIF
* Tony Plank for establishing and maintaining the Inkspillers website
New Talent:
* Stephanie Campisi
* David Conyers
* Shane Jiraiya Cummings
* Alisa Krasnostein
* Brett McBean
The William Atheling Jr Award:
* Robert Hood for “Man and Super-Monster: A History of Daikaiju Eiga and its Metaphorical Undercurrents” (Borderlands #7)
* Justine Larbalestier for Daughters of Earth: The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction
* Kathryn Linge for her review “Through Soft Air” (ASIF)
* Miranda Siemienowicz for her review of Paraspheres appearing in Horrorscope
* Grant Watson for “Bad Film Diaries—Sink or Swim: The Truth Behind Waterworld” (Borderlands #8)
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Update on 11 June 2007: The winners have been announced. They are listed in this article.