Awards ...

Okay, I'm going to start out with a blatant plug. The King's Bastard is on the ballot for the David Gemmell Award. If you enjoyed reading my book, please vote for it. Here's the link.

So what is the David Gemmell award? According to the people who run it:

The DGLA aims to:
• Raise public awareness of the Fantasy genre

• Celebrate the history and cultural importance of Fantasy literature

• Appreciate & reward excellence in the field

• Commemorate the legacy of David Andrew Gemmell and his contribution to the Fantasy genre

This award sets out to celebrate fantasy. All the awards I'm going to mention set out to celebrate their genre.

I like awards. I like to find the books that have been short listed and read them to see what's going on in my genre and associated genres. You discover fresh new voices and people who are pushing the envelope of their genre.

So I'll start with the Aurealis Awards. This is Australia's version of the Nebulas, in that the selection is made a peer review. Then there are the Hugos, which are voted on at the World Con. Then there are the RITA Awards from RWAmerica. I go to my favourite sections, the Paranormal and the Regency. That is how I discovered Melissa Marr's books. Then there's the RWAustralia R*BY.

I've done my fair share of setting up awards and working on the committees that run them. The people involved in these awards all deserve a pat on the back. For instance, it takes dedication to judge fantasy section of the Aurealis Awards with over 40 fantasy books to read and you know how big those fantasy books are!

Do you read the books that are shortlisted for awards? How do you keep track of what is happening in your genre?

Aurealis Awards

Jack Dann and myself at the Awards.

Jack had just been given the Peter McNamara award for his contribution to the the speculative fiction genre. That's why he looks a little stunned. Jack can talk under water and this is the first time I've seen him reaching for words.

Brisbane turned on the heat and humidity for the awards so all the people from down south (in Australia that's closer to the Antarctic) were fanning themselves saying How can you bear this?

It was a great evening. The nice thing was that no one was told if they'd won so everyone was genuinely surprised. Richard Harland told me he was 99% sure his book wouldn't win the Picture Book section, but just in case he and Laura Peterson (the illustrator) sent me a speech. I was concentrating on my bit as the presenter of the fantasy awards, when I heard Richard's name. I madly scrambled to find the speech in my bag, in the dark and darted out there to accept the award for them. Honestly, the whole event is so glitzy and professional with the big screen up the back, that if I hadn't grown up with the awards, I'd feel intimidated getting up to speak.


Here's Trent Jamieson and I. His story 'Crack' won the YA short story section. It's a real buzz to see Trent win. This is the second time he's won an Aurealis for a short story. Trent's been part of the VISION writing group almost since it started and part of the ROR writing group. I've read his latest manuscript and it's so inventive, it's sure to sell. So he'll be making the jump from published in short stories to published in novels, soon. My fingers are crossed for Trent.

As you can see, I had my hair straightened for the night, not counting on nearly 100% humidity. It's very hard to be glamorous with blonde ringlets, let alone taken seriously!

Well, the Aurealis Awards are all over for another year. Back to the real world of meeting deadlines and trying to steal time to write in between driving children to school and part time jobs.


Cheers, Rowena