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. 

https://forms.gle/psoNJhSjYu9HFfbb9

Now in its 30th year, the 2024 Aurealis Awards, Australia’s premier speculative fiction award, attracted more than 830 entries across 15 categories, including 34 nominations in the tri-annual Sara Douglass Book Series Award (totalling over 120 books), and record numbers in the Children’s Fiction category. 

Aurealis Awards judging coordinator Tehani Croft said, “We are extremely grateful to our 50-plus judges for the enormous task they take on. While some panels do have relatively small numbers of entries, others regularly read 50 or more book-length works or over 100 short stories each year. We also sometimes see unusually large entry numbers in categories like Children’s Fiction and Graphic Novel, which was the case this year, and it’s always wonderful to see growth in traditionally smaller fields.”

Congratulations to this year’s finalists. The winners will be celebrated at the 2024 Aurealis Awards ceremony, which will take place online at 4pm AEST on Sunday 4 May, 2025.

NOTE: A shortlist for the Convenors’ Award for Excellence is not published. The eligible nominations for this special Award will be shared on the Aurealis Awards website, with the winner announced at the ceremony.

​The finalists for the 2024 Aurealis Awards are:

BEST CHILDREN’S FICTION

Andromache Between Worlds, Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins Publishers)

The Bother with the Bonkillyknock Beast, Karen Foxlee & Freda Chiu (ill.) (Allen & Unwin)

The Apprentice Witnesser, Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)

Landovel, Emily Rodda (Allen & Unwin)

The Midwatch, Judith Rossell (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)

Bravepaw and the Heartstone of Alluria, L M Wilkinson & Lavanya Naidu (ill.) (Albert Street Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

“Time’s Key”, Emily Larkin (Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk & Dystopia, Rhiza Edge)

“Maiden’s Dawn”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars, Deadset Press)

“The Audition”, Juliet Marillier (Borderlands: Riding the Slipstream, Ford Street Publishing)

“In a League of Her Own”, Jeanette O’Hagan (Stepping Sideways: Worlds of Steampunk & Dystopia, Rhiza Edge)

Waking Flora, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)

“What are False Stars to a God?”, Alexander Te Pohe (Avast!, Fremantle Press)

BEST HORROR SHORT STORY

“Hackles”, Jeff Clulow (Remixed Myths, Third Eye Press)

“Changeling”, Michael Gardner (Aurealis #167, Chimaera Publications)

“Flesh of My Flesh”, Ben Matthews (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, IFWG Publishing)

“These Pale Shadows”, Kirstyn McDermott (Nosferatu Unbound, IFWG Publishing)

“Envelopes”, Matt Tighe (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, IFWG Publishing)

“An Object of Vision”, Guan Un (Fission #4, British Science Fiction Association)

BEST FANTASY SHORT STORY

“The Beautiful Thing You Once Were”, J Ashley-Smith (Bourbon Penn 33)

“Lacebound”, Eliza Baker (Aurealis #170, Chimaera Publications)

“Remembering the Hungry Ghosts”, Emmi Khor (Best Australian Yarn 2024, The West Australian Newspaper)

Bonnets at Dawn, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)

“Market of Loss”, Matt Tighe (Aurealis #176, Chimaera Publications)

“Before the Forest”, Kell Woods (Reactor Magazine)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY

“The Combat Pilot’s Dictionary”, Arden Baker (Aurealis #167, Chimaera Publications)

“Dog of War”, Colin Clark (Aurealis #170, Chimaera Publications)

“The Last Reader”, Greg Foyster (Conflux 2024, CSFG/Conflux)

“The Station”, Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker (New Australian Fiction 2024, New South Books)

“Life In The Dirt”, Henry Neilsen (Aurealis #173, Chimaera Publications)

“In War with Time for Love of You”, Carol Ryles (Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth, and Babies, IFWG Publishing)

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL / ILLUSTRATED WORK

Action Tank: Book 3, Mike Barry (Mike Barry Was Here)

The Star Tide Shores, Henry Goeldner, Livio Baggio (ill.) (Kickstarter)

In Utero, Chris Gooch (Top Shelf)

Your Highness, Your Highness, N S Kane, Chris Pitcairn (ill.) (N S Kane Comics)

The Sweetness Between Us, Sarah Winifred Searle (Allen & Unwin)

Titans: Out of the Shadows, Tom Taylor, Nicola Scott (ill.) (DC Comics)

BEST COLLECTION

Pick Your Potion, Ephiny Gale (Foxgrove Press)

Kindling, Kathleen Jennings (Small Beer Press)

The Heart of the Labyrinth and Other Stories, D K Mok (self-published)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

Fission #4, Eugen Bacon & Gene Rowe (Eds.) (The British Science Fiction Association)

Found 2: More Stories of Found Footage Horror, Andrew Cull & Gabino Iglesias (Eds.) (Vermilion To One Press) 

Celestial Bodies, Aidan Demmers (Ed.) (Tiny Owl Workshop)

Far-Flung, Samuel Maguire (Ed.) (Tiny Owl Workshop)

Calvaria Fell: Stories, Cat Sparks & Kaaron Warren (Meerkat Press)

New Adventures in Space Opera, Jonathan Strahan (Ed.) (Tachyon Publications)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Plagued Lands, Nikki Brooke (Crow Knight Film & Publishing Realm)

Aisle Nine, Ian X Cho (HarperCollins Publishers)

They Watch From Below, Katya de Becerra (Page Street YA)

Liar’s Test, Ambelin Kwaymullina (Text Publishing)

Anomaly, Emma Lord (Affirm Press)

Deep is the Fen, Lili Wilkinson (Allen & Unwin)

BEST HORROR NOVELLA

“We Who Remain”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars, Deadset Press)

“A Daredevil Duchess’s Guide to Castle Hauntings”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Castle of Secrets, self-published)

“Bell, Book and Lamp”, Angela Slatter (Bound in Blood, Titan Books)

“Maleficium”, Kyla Lee Ward (Discontinue If Death Ensues, Flame Tree Publishing)

Shattered, Pauline Yates (Black Hare Press)

BEST FANTASY NOVELLA

“Another Tide”, Will Greatwich (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Firkin Press)

“Doors”, Nikky Lee (Don’t Forget to Shut the Gate, Northshore Press)

Talon Marked, Sue-Ellen Pashley (Deadset Press)

“A Daredevil Duchess’s Guide to Castle Hauntings”, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Castle of Secrets, self-published)

Hotel Charybdis, Tansy Rayner Roberts (self-published)

“The Good Old Days”, Craig Rosenberg (Uncertainties VII, Swan River Press)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA

The Javan War, John Birmingham & Jason Lambright (Gigantic Bombs Corporation)

“Captain Santiago and the Sky Dome”, Tracy Cooper-Posey, (Celestial Hearts, Tandy Lion)

“We Who Remain”, Nikky Lee (A Night So Dark and Full of Stars, Deadset Press)

“Daisie and Maisie, External Hull Repair Experts”, Sean Monaghan (Analog Science Fiction Science Fact, Dell Magazines)

Ghost of the Neon God, T R Napper (Titan Books)

“Shadow Films”, Ben Peek (Lightspeed #164)

BEST HORROR NOVEL

Remedy, J S Breukelaar (PS Publishing)

Rock Zombie, A B Finlayson (self-published)

The Count, David-Jack Fletcher (Slashic Horror Press)

Jasper Cliff, Josh Kemp (Fremantle Press)

Carve Your Soul to Pieces, Ben Pienaar (self-published)

Bodily Harm, Deborah Sheldon (Undertaker Books)

BEST FANTASY NOVEL  

Thoroughly Disenchanted, Alexandra Almond (HarperCollins Publishers)

Kavithri, Aman J Bedi (Gollancz)

The She-Wolf of Baker Street, Narrelle M Harris (Clan Destine Press)

The End and Everything Before It, Finegan Kruckemeyer (Text Publishing)

The Briar Book of the Dead, A G Slatter (Titan Books)

Skysong, C A Wright (Pantera Press)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

Transported, Kate Fitzpatrick (New Found Books)

Inheritance, Genevieve Gannon (Pantera Press)

The Temp, Martin Livings (self published)

Big Time, Jordan Prosser (University of Queensland Press)

Temporal Boom, J M Voss (Shawline Publishing Group)

Juice, Tim Winton (Hamish Hamilton / Penguin Random House)

SARA DOUGLASS BOOK SERIES AWARD

The Aurora Cycle: Aurora Rising (2019) / Aurora Burning (2020) / Aurora’s End (2021), Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)

Warrior Bards: The Harp of Kings (2019) / A Dance with Fate (2020) / A Song of Flight (2021), Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)

The Last Binding: A Marvellous Light (2021) / A Restless Truth (2022) / A Power Unbound (2023), Freya Marske (Tor)

Deepwater Trilogy: Monstrous Heart (2020) / Deepwater King (2021) / Firetide Coast (2022), Claire McKenna (Harper Voyager UK / Harper Collins Australia)

The Old Kingdom: Sabriel (1994) / Lirael (2001) / Abhorsen (2003) / Clariel (2014) / Goldenhand (2016) / Terciel and Elinor (2021), Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)

The Radiant Emperor: She Who Became the Sun (2021) / He Who Drowned the World (2023), Shelley Parker-Chan (Mantle)

The 2024 Aurealis Awards ceremony will take place online at 4pm AEST on Sunday 4 May, 2025.

While we regret that the anticipated in-person event won’t be possible due to external factors which have impacted the organisation in recent months, we look forward to celebrating with friends and fans across Australia on this special occasion.

Mark your calendars, and May the Fourth be with you!

Entries for the 2024 Aurealis Awards close on Sunday 15 December, 2024.

Don’t miss your opportunity to enter eligible Australian speculative fiction work!

A few reminders:

The 2024 Aurealis Awards are for works of original speculative fiction by authors, editors and illustrators, who are Australian citizens or permanent residents, first published in English between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024.

“First published” includes publication globally, via traditional publishing, self-publishing, digital publishing, web publishing, and publishing through methods such as Patreon subscription or other similar mode. If the work is available to an audience either for purchase or freely accessible, it is considered published.

Works must be published and available to the general public to be eligible. This includes self-published works. Unpublished manuscripts are not eligible for Aurealis Awards.

Check to see if your work has been entered in our updated list here and get your entries submitted via the online form here!