Please read the following information carefully before submitting your application as we cannot make exceptions to the requirements.
We are seeking expressions of interest from Australian residents who would like to judge for the 2025 Aurealis Awards. Judges are volunteers and are drawn from the Australian speculative fiction community, from diverse professions and backgrounds, including academics, booksellers, librarians, published authors, publishing industry professionals, reviewers and enthusiasts. The only qualification necessary is a demonstrated knowledge of and interest in their chosen category.
It is vital that judges be able to work as part of a team and meet stringent deadlines, including timely recording of scores and comments for each entry (in a confidential shared file), and responding to panel messages and discussions. Most of the panel discussions are conducted via email, with some panels choosing to have a synchronous online meeting to make final decisions.
All judges must be willing and able to read entries in digital format (usually epub but occasionally PDF), which we accept in all categories. Print is still sometimes sent by entrants but we do not require it.
Panel sizes may vary among categories – and from year to year – depending on the perceived workload required and the availability of judges for a particular category. However, each panel will consist of at least three judges, one of which will be the panel convenor.
Being an Aurealis Awards judge involves reading entries for one panel (which may comprise more than one category). This may consist of several dozen novels and/or more than a hundred short stories / novellas in the process of evaluating the year’s entries. The reading load can become quite heavy at the end of the judging period although we endeavour to obtain works as soon as they are published. Judges may keep their reading copies of entries. Convenors of each panel are also required to participate in the judging of the Convenors’ Award for Excellence, which involves additional consumption of material.
The use of generative artificial intelligence tools during any part of the judging process is strictly forbidden.
Categories are:
- Science Fiction Novel
- Science Fiction Short Story / Novella (two categories sometimes judged by one panel)
- Fantasy Novel
- Fantasy Short Story / Novella (two categories sometimes judged by one panel)
- Horror Novel / Novella / Horror Short Story (three categories judged by one or two panels, depending on availability of judges)
- Young Adult Novel / Young Adult Short Story (two categories sometimes judged by one panel)
- Children’s Fiction
- Collection / Anthology (two categories judged by one panel)
- Illustrated Book / Graphic Novel
Entries to the awards close November 30 2025, with all work published between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025 eligible for entry. Shortlists from each panel will be required by early in 2026 (firm dates will be advised), and prospective judges should be aware that this may be an intensive process.
Dates for Judging (to be confirmed):
- June 29, 2025 – judging applications close
- July 2025 (TBC) – Aurealis Awards entries open
- November 30 2025 – entries close for the regular Aurealis Awards categories
- December 31 2025 – Convenors’ Award for Excellence nominations close
- TBC early 2026– shortlists and finalists must be decided by panels
- TBC 2026 – Awards ceremony
All discussions are confidential between the judges in each panel and the judging coordinator and/or the Aurealis Awards management team, as required. The Aurealis Awards judging coordinator will have no input into these decisions except to mediate panel issues.
Judges from previous Aurealis Awards processes are welcome – indeed encouraged – to re-apply. But, in the interests of transparency and impartiality, no one may judge the same category for more than two consecutive years, and a break of two consecutive years is required before a judge can reapply to be a judge in that particular category again.
Please complete the form below by Sunday 29 June, 2025.
Aurealis Awards 