As I mentioned earlier this month, nominations are now open for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards 2009, New Zealand’s equivalent of the Hugo Awards. They recognise excellence in a number of fields related to science fiction, fantasy and horror. The 2009 Awards are for works published in 2008.
Nominations close on 28 February 2009. You can find details of the categories and how to nominate on the SFFANZ site, and also lists of works eligible to be nominated (these lists are not comprehensive, and can be added to as further works are nominated).
Anyone can nominate works for the awards, although voting is restricted to members of SFFANZ and/or the 2009 National Science Fiction Convention, Conscription.
So who are the contenders? I’m not well qualified to talk about the fan or media categories, but I can think of a few possible contenders for Best Novel, Best Collected Work and Best Short Story. I should emphasise here that what follows is my opinion – it’s up to the organising committee to decide what works qualify in which categories.
Best Novel
There are a very healthy number of contenders listed on the SFFANZ site.
My personal favourite is Helen Lowe’s Thornspell. Other contenders include two SF novels published by writers better known for work in other genres: The Jigsaw Chronicles by Kevin Ireland, and Chinese Opera by Ian Wedde. And one mustn’t forget Jack Ross’s EMO!
Best Collected Work
On the SFFANZ list, Transported is the only short story collection listed for 2008 – a worrying state of affairs, as there needs to be competition in each category! I intend to nominate JAAM 26, since it contains quite a few eligible short stories, as suggested below.
Best Short Story
There are lots of candidates here! Here is my list – again, not an official list – of stories from JAAM 26 and Transported which I think are eligible. I have only listed the stories from JAAM 26 which seem to me to fit within the relevant genres. The list from Transported is quite short, as stories have to be first published in 2008 to be eligible, and many stories in Transported are reprints.
JAAM 26
Tracie McBride, Last Chance to See [sf]
Renee Liang, Voodoo [fantasy/horror]
Esther Deans, Breathing in Another Language [fantasy/magic realism]
Ciaran Fox, In the End Our Apathy Will Desert Us [sf]
Darian Smith, Banshee [fantasy]
Helen Lowe, Ithaca [alternate history/mythology]
Michael Botur, Historic Breakfasts [alternate history]
Lyn McConchie, Just a Poor Old Lady [horror]
If you think your story should be on this list, please let me know and I’ll add it.
Transported
The New Neighbours [sf]
The Wadestown Shore [sf]
Filling the Isles [sf]
Measureless to Man [alternate history]
The Seeing [sf]
Going Under [sf]
Cold Storage [sf/horror]
Happy nominating!
Hi Tim,I would be glad to nominate JAAM 26 as I believe it has a high quality collection of spec fic stories–feedback I\’m also getting from friends who are spec fic readers but don\’t normally check out more \”literary\” publications. And, in fact, I\’ve already nominated two of the individual short stories, and someone else has nominated Ithaca, so hopefully there\’ll be more from others soon.
Thanks, Helen – I hoped that including speculative fiction stories in a predominantly literary journal would cause this kind of cross-fertilisation, and it seems to be working!The guidelines for JAAM 27 appear to offer the possibility of speculative fiction appearing in the next issue of JAAM, as well.
Please add my science fiction short story, The Derby, to your list of nominees. It appeared in the March 2008 #33 issue of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Thanks,Ripley Patton
Dear Ripley,Just to clarify, has \”The Derby\” already been nominated, or do you want it to be nominated? If it hasn\’t yet been nominated, then you need to arrange for it to be officially nominated, as detailed in the blog post.Also, would you like to take a few words to tell readers about the story?RegardsTim
Tim,The Derby appeared in issue #33 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in March 2008 and has been nominated for the SJVAs Best Short Story category by ASIM. It is a coming-of-age sci-fi tale set during an Alaskan salmon derby. More details can be found on my LJ at http://rippatton.livejournal.comThe Derby will also be available on my Writers Group Website (Wily Writers) as a free download after Feb. 14th 2009. Thanks for asking.
Hey TimThere is also a best publication/ production category for works that are not novels or short stories. Deputy Dan and the Mysterious Midnight Marauder is shortlisted for that which is awesome!Sally