We missed the final ballot for this year’s Ditmar Awards (for works published in 2010) due to the rotating schedule of the award (last year, the ballot was released in August, and the awards in September). Our apologies.
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). This year’s award winners were announced last weekend, during Swancon 36, which was also this year’s Australian National Convention.
The winners, and the ballot from which they came, are:
Best Novel: Power and Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Voyager)
Other nominees:
Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson (Hachette)
Madigan Mine by Kirstyn McDermott (Pan Macmillan)
Stormlord Rising by Glenda Larke (Voyager)
Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot Books)
Best Novella or Novelette: “The Company Articles of Edward Teach” by Thoraiya Dyer (Twelfth Planet Press)
Other nominees:
“Acception” by Tessa Kum (Eneit Press)
“All the Clowns in Clowntown” by Andrew J. McKiernan (Brimstone Press)
“Bleed” by Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet Press)
“Her Gallant Needs” by Paul Haines (Twelfth Planet Press)
Best Short Story (tie):
“All the Love in the World” by Cat Sparks (Sprawl, Twelfth Planet Press)
“She Said” by Kirstyn McDermott (Scenes from the Second Storey, Morrigan Books)
Other nominees:
“Bread and Circuses” by Felicity Dowker (Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
“One Saturday Night With Angel” by Peter M. Ball (Sprawl, Twelfth Planet Press)
“The House of the Nameless” by Jason Fischer (Writers of the Future XXVI)
“The February Dragon” by Angela Slatter and Lisa L. Hannett (Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
Best Collected Work: Sprawl edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press)
Other nominees:
Baggage edited by Gillian Polack (Eneit Press)
Macabre: A Journey through Australia’s Darkest Fears edited by Angela Challis and Marty Young (Brimstone Press)
Scenes from the Second Storey edited by Amanda Pillar and Pete Kempshall (Morrigan Books)
Worlds Next Door edited by Tehani Wessely (FableCroft Publishing)
Best Artwork: The Lost Thing short film (Passion Pictures) by Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan
Other nominees:
Cover art for The Angaelien Apocalypse/The Company Articles of Edward Teach (Twelfth Planet Press) by Dion Hamill
Cover art for Australis Imaginarium (FableCroft Publishing) by Shaun Tan
Cover art for Dead Sea Fruit (Ticonderoga Publications) by Olga Read
Best Fan Writer: Alexandra Pierce, for body of work including reviews at Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus
Other nominees:
Robert Hood, for Undead Backbrain
Chuck McKenzie, for work in Horrorscope
Tehani Wessely, for body of work including reviews at Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus
Best Fan Artist: Amanda Rainey, for Swancon 36 logo
Other nominees:
Rachel Holkner, for Continuum 6 props
Dick Jenssen, for cover art of Interstellar Ramjet Scoop
Best Fan Publication in Any Medium: Galactic Suburbia podcast by Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Alex Pierce
Other nominees:
Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus edited by Alisa Krasnostein et al.
Bad Film Diaries podcast by Grant Watson
Terra Incognita podcast, Keith Stevenson
The Coode Street podcast by Gary K. Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan
The Writer and the Critic podcast by Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond
Best Achievement: Alisa Krasnostein, Kathryn Linge, Rachel Holkner, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Tehani Wessely, Snapshot 2010
Other nominees:
Lisa L. Hannett, for cover design for The Girl With No Hands and Other Tales (Ticonderoga Publications)
Helen Merrick and Andrew Milner for Academic Stream for Aussiecon 4
Amanda Rainey for cover design for Scary Kisses
Kyla Ward for Horror Stream and The Nightmare Ball for Aussiecon 4
Grant Watson and Sue Ann Barber for Media Stream for Aussiecon 4
Best New Talent: Thoraiya Dyer
Other nominees:
Lisa L. Hannett
Patty Jansen
Kathleen Jennings
Pete Kempshall
William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review: Tansy Rayner Roberts for A Modern Woman’s Guide to Classic Who
Other nominees:
Leigh Blackmore for Marvels and Horrors: Terry Dowling’s Clowns at Midnight
Damien Broderick for editing Skiffy and Mimesis: More Best of Australian Science Fiction Review
Ross Murray for The Australian Dream Becomes Nightmare
Other awards handed out at the convention include:
The A. Bertram Chandler Award: Paul Collins
The Norma K. Hemming Award: Anita A. Bell for Diamond Eyes
The Peter McNamara Award: Lucy Sussex