AustLit logo
Best Short Story (2004-)
Best Short Fiction (2000-2003)
Best Australian Short Fiction (1978-1999)
Subcategory of Ditmar Awards
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

History

The category for Best Australian Short Fiction was first awarded in 1978, but was not awarded again until 1981, when the previous category (Best Australian Fiction) was permanently split into Best Australian Long Fiction and Best Australian Short Fiction.

This particular award lasted until 2000, after which it was replaced by Best Short Story.

A category for Novella or Novelette (indexed separately) was added in 2004.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2023

winner Everything So Slow and Quiet Kaaron Warren , 2022 single work short story
— Appears in: The Art of Being Human 2022;

Year: 2022

winner The King in Yella Kaaron Warren , 2021 single work short story horror
— Appears in: Under Twin Suns : Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign 2021;

Year: 2021

winner The Calenture Kaaron Warren , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Of Gods and Globes 2 : A Cosmic Anthology 2020;

Year: 2020

winner Whom My Soul Loves Rivqa Rafael , 2019 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Strange Horizons , 11 November 2019;

Year: 2019

winner The Heart of Owl Abbas Kathleen Jennings , 2018 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Tor.com Fiction , April 2018; The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy : 2019 Edition 2019;

'A composer in an unstable city-state accidentally discovers the perfect singer for his work—a clockwork man—and sows the seeds of revolution.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

X