In speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, SF, crossgenre, etc.) in Canada there are several awards. One is the Prix Aurora Award, voted on by anyone who is Canadian, to choose the best in short and long fiction, art as well as fan achievements. There are awards for English and French works.
The award categories are under revision and the site is being updated but for this year these are the categories:
- Best Long Form (English & French)
- Best Short Form (English & French)
- Best Work in English & French, Other
- Artistic Achievement
- Fan Achievement (Fanzine)
- Fan Achievement (Organizational)
- Fan Achievement (Other)
Long form constitutes any novels over 40,000 words. Short form includes novellas, novelettes, short stories and flash fiction, basically anything under 40,000 words. Other Work is an unfortunate category that will be split up in the future. It includes magazines, poems, graphic novels, screenplays, etc. The rest is self-explanatory.
Anyone who is Canadian can nominate a work. This first step has a mail-in deadline of February 5th, or an email deadline of February 15th. Works nominated are tallied and the top 5 go on the Aurora ballot. People can then pay to vote for the shortlisted works. The awards are given out at Canvention in May so voting will be some time before then once the works have been tabulated.
If you would like to nominate Canadian works published in 2009, you can go to: http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/ or to AuroraNominationForm. I have three pieces eligible. Two poems, “The Drowning Ones” in OnSpec #77, “Finding Dionysus” published in Barton College’s Crucible magazine, and the story “The Boy Who Bled Rubies” published in Don Juan and Men. If anyone would like to read my pieces, to decide if you want to nominate (not that that would mean I get on the ballot) you can comment here I’ll send you the file.
Some but not all of Canadian authors’ works are listed on the Canadian SF Database (because each author enters their work they may be listed in different ways or not yet listed). The works go by year. http://www.canadiansf.com/ So that’s it, go and nominate some Canadian works of speculative fiction for the Prix Aurora Award.
Colleen Anderson 