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Notes

  • Note: no award was made in this Division in 1995, 1998 or 1999.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2022

winner (Short Story) Tastes Like Home Kiera Lesley , 2022 single work short story
— Appears in: Andromeda Spaceways Magazine , March no. 86 2022; (p. 94-107)
winner (Novel) y separately published work icon Only a Monster Vanessa Len , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2022 23413099 2022 single work novel young adult fantasy

'Joan Chang-Hunt has no idea she's part monster until she's thrust into a battle between the boy she has a crush on and one of the most ruthless monster families of London. A brilliantly compelling YA fantasy from a dazzling new Australian talent.

'Don't forget the rule. No one can know what you are. What we are. You must never tell anyone about monsters.

'Only a monster would kill a hero. Right?

'Every family has its secrets, but the summer Joan Chang-Hunt goes to stay with her Gran in London, she learns hers is bigger than most. The Hunts are one of twelve families in London with terrifying, hidden powers.

'Joan is half-monster. And what's more, her summer crush Nick isn't just a cute boy - he's hiding a secret as well; a secret that places Joan in terrible danger.

'When the monsters of London are attacked, Joan is forced on the run with the ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family who are sworn enemies of her own. Joan is drawn deeper into a world that simmers with hostilities, alliances and secrets. And her rare and dangerous power means she's being hunted. She'll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

'. . . she is not the hero.'

Source : publisher's blurb

Year: 2021

winner (Novel) y separately published work icon Waking Romeo Kathryn Barker , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2021 20849737 2021 single work novel fantasy science fiction

'What if Juliet Capulet met someone who made her doubt true love? What if Wuthering Heights was a message to a time traveller? A cosmic reimagining of Romeo and Juliet and homage to two literary classics in a compelling novel about fate, love and time travel from an award-winning author.

'YEAR: 2083. LOCATION: LONDON. MISSION: WAKE ROMEO.

'It's the end of the world. Literally. Time travel is possible, but only forwards. And only a handful of families choose to remain in the 'now', living off the scraps that were left behind. Among these are eighteen-year-old Juliet and the love of her life, Romeo. But things are far from rosy for Jules. Romeo is in a coma and she's estranged from her friends and family, dealing with the very real fallout of their wild romance. Then a handsome time traveller, Ellis, arrives with an important mission that makes Jules question everything she knows about life and love. Can Jules wake Romeo and rewrite her future?

'A highly original mashup that delights as it disorients ... and asks what would have happened if two great literary love stories were somehow intertwined.' (Publication summary)

winner (Short Story) Don't Look! Lisa Fuller , 2021 single work short story
— Appears in: Hometown Haunts : #LoveOzYA Horror Tales 2021;

Year: 2020

winner (Short Story) Dingo & Sister Nikky Lee , 2020 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Andromeda Spaceways Magazine , March no. 78 2020; (p. 5-27)
In a future Australia devastated by climate change, a young woman relies on her dingo companion as she tries to make it safely across the desert to Alice Springs.
winner (Novel) y separately published work icon The Erasure Initiative Lili Wilkinson , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2020 19523087 2020 single work novel young adult thriller

'I wake up, and for a few precious seconds I don't realise there's anything wrong.
The rumble of tyres on bitumen, and the hiss of air conditioning. The murmur of voices. The smell of air freshener. The cool vibration of glass against my forehead.

'A girl wakes up on a self-driving bus. She has no memory of how she got there or who she is. Her nametag reads CECILY. The six other people on the bus are just like her: no memories, only nametags. There's a screen on each seatback that gives them instructions. A series of tests begin, with simulations projected onto the front window of the bus. The passengers must each choose an outcome; majority wins. But as the testing progresses, deadly secrets are revealed, and the stakes get higher and higher. Soon Cecily is no longer just fighting for her freedom - she's fighting for her life.

'The acclaimed author of After the Lights Go Out returns with another compelling YA thriller - a timely novel about the intensity and unpredictability of human behaviour under pressure.' (Publication summary)

Year: 2019

winner (Short Story) y separately published work icon The Jindabyne Secret Jo Hart , Yallourn North : Deadset Press , 2019 18754614 2019 single work novella science fiction

'The Rise has flooded Australia's coastal areas... but life isn't any easier inland.

'With nothing but a map and a rickety solar truck, Jax journeys to a top-secret government facility at Lake Jindabyne—one of the few freshwater lakes left in Australia. 

'Outraged by the injustice of these people having excess water while his family suffers from dehydration, Jax hatches a plan. At first he starts small—stealing just enough water to ease the parched tongues back home—but with each trip the risks he takes become greater. It is only a matter of time before he gets caught. And the penalty for hydro-theft is death.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

winner (Novel) y separately published work icon Aurora Rising Jay Kristoff , Amie Kaufman , Sydney : Random House Australia , 2019 14936140 2019 single work novel young adult science fiction

'The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch . . .

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates 
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem–that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

NOBODY PANIC.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2018

winner (Short Story) The Sea Maker of Darmid Bay Shauna O'Meara , 2018 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Interzone , September no. 277 2018; (p. 28-39)

'Four young men fishing illegally in the polluted waters off Kurathi City hook something enormous, and with no idea what it is, struggle hard to capture it.'

Source: Rocket Stack Rank (http://www.rocketstackrank.com/2018/09/The-Sea-Maker-of-Darmid-Bay-Shauna-OMeara.html). (Sighted: 21/02/2018)

winner (Novel) y separately published work icon Catching Teller Crow Ambelin Kwaymullina , Ezekiel Kwaymullina , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2018 14072595 2018 single work novel young adult

'Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since she died. Her dad, a detective, is the only one who can see and hear her—and he's drowning in grief. But now they have a mystery to solve together. As it unravels, Beth finds a shocking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another. Told in two unforgettable voices, this gripping novel weaves together themes of grief, colonial history, violence, love and family.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Works About this Award

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