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Notes

  • Note: no award was made in this Division in 1995, 1998 or 1999.

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2020

winner (Short Story) Dingo & Sister Nikky Lee , 2020 single work short story science fiction
— Appears in: Andromeda Spaceways Magazine , March no. 78 2020; (p. 5-27)
In a future Australia devastated by climate change, a young woman relies on her dingo companion as she tries to make it safely across the desert to Alice Springs.
winner (Novel) y separately published work icon The Erasure Initiative Lili Wilkinson , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2020 19523087 2020 single work novel young adult thriller

'I wake up, and for a few precious seconds I don't realise there's anything wrong.
The rumble of tyres on bitumen, and the hiss of air conditioning. The murmur of voices. The smell of air freshener. The cool vibration of glass against my forehead.

'A girl wakes up on a self-driving bus. She has no memory of how she got there or who she is. Her nametag reads CECILY. The six other people on the bus are just like her: no memories, only nametags. There's a screen on each seatback that gives them instructions. A series of tests begin, with simulations projected onto the front window of the bus. The passengers must each choose an outcome; majority wins. But as the testing progresses, deadly secrets are revealed, and the stakes get higher and higher. Soon Cecily is no longer just fighting for her freedom - she's fighting for her life.

'The acclaimed author of After the Lights Go Out returns with another compelling YA thriller - a timely novel about the intensity and unpredictability of human behaviour under pressure.' (Publication summary)

Year: 2019

winner (Short Story) y separately published work icon The Jindabyne Secret Jo Hart , Yallourn North : Deadset Press , 2019 18754614 2019 single work novella science fiction

'The Rise has flooded Australia's coastal areas... but life isn't any easier inland.

'With nothing but a map and a rickety solar truck, Jax journeys to a top-secret government facility at Lake Jindabyne—one of the few freshwater lakes left in Australia. 

'Outraged by the injustice of these people having excess water while his family suffers from dehydration, Jax hatches a plan. At first he starts small—stealing just enough water to ease the parched tongues back home—but with each trip the risks he takes become greater. It is only a matter of time before he gets caught. And the penalty for hydro-theft is death.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

winner (Novel) y separately published work icon Aurora Rising Jay Kristoff , Amie Kaufman , Sydney : Random House Australia , 2019 14936140 2019 single work novel young adult science fiction

'The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch . . .

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates 
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem–that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

NOBODY PANIC.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2018

winner (Short Story) The Sea Maker of Darmid Bay Shauna O'Meara , 2018 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Interzone , September no. 277 2018; (p. 28-39)

'Four young men fishing illegally in the polluted waters off Kurathi City hook something enormous, and with no idea what it is, struggle hard to capture it.'

Source: Rocket Stack Rank (http://www.rocketstackrank.com/2018/09/The-Sea-Maker-of-Darmid-Bay-Shauna-OMeara.html). (Sighted: 21/02/2018)

winner (Novel) y separately published work icon Catching Teller Crow Ambelin Kwaymullina , Ezekiel Kwaymullina , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2018 14072595 2018 single work novel young adult

'Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since she died. Her dad, a detective, is the only one who can see and hear her—and he's drowning in grief. But now they have a mystery to solve together. As it unravels, Beth finds a shocking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another. Told in two unforgettable voices, this gripping novel weaves together themes of grief, colonial history, violence, love and family.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2017

winner (Short Story) y separately published work icon Girl Reporter Tansy Rayner Roberts , United States of America (USA) : Book Smugglers Publishing , 2017 12890563 2017 single work novella science fiction young adult

 From the award-winning author of Cookie Cutter Superhero and Kid Dark Against the Machine comes a brand new novella about girl reporters, superheroes, and interdimensional travel

'In a world of superheroes, supervillains, and a machine that can create them all, millennial vlogger and girl reporter Friday Valentina has no shortage of material to cover. Every lottery cycle, a new superhero is created and quite literally steps into the shoes of the hero before them--displacing the previous hero. While Fry may not be super-powered herself, she understands the power of legacy: her mother is none other than the infamous reporter Tina Valentina, renowned worldwide for her legendary interviews with the True Blue Aussie Beaut Superheroes and her tendency to go to extraordinary lengths to get her story.

This time, Tina Valentina may have ventured too far.

'Alongside Australia's greatest superheroes--including the powerful Astra, dazzling Solar, and The Dark in his full brooding glory--Friday will go to another dimension in the hopes of finding her mother, saving the day, maybe even getting the story of a lifetime out of the adventure. (And possibly a new girlfriend, too.)'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

winner (Novel) y separately published work icon In the Dark Spaces Cally Black , Richmond : Hardie Grant Egmont , 2017 11497676 2017 single work novel young adult science fiction

'The latest winner of the Ampersand Prize is a genre-smashing kidnapping drama about Tamara, who's faced with an impossible choice when she falls for her captors.

'Yet this is no ordinary kidnapping. Tamara has been living on a freighter in deep space, and her kidnappers are terrifying Crowpeople – the only aliens humanity has ever encountered. No-one has ever survived a Crowpeople attack, until now – and Tamara must use everything she has just to stay alive.

'But survival always comes at a price, and there’s no handbook for this hostage crisis. As Tamara comes to know the Crowpeople's way of life, and the threats they face from humanity's exploration into deep space, she realises she has an impossible choice to make. Should she stay as the only human among the Crows, knowing she'll never see her family again … or inevitably betray her new community if she wants to escape?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2016

winner (Young Adult) Pretty Jennie Greenteeth Leife Shallcross , 2015 single work short story fantasy
— Appears in: Strange Little Girls 2015;
winner (Novel) y separately published work icon Lady Helen and the Dark Days Pact The Dark Days Pact Alison Goodman , South Sydney area : HarperCollins Australia , 2017 9704450 2017 single work novel young adult fantasy

'Summer, 1812

'After the scandalous events at her presentation ball in London, Lady Helen has taken refuge at the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton, where she is training to be a Reclaimer with the covert Dark Days Club.

'As she struggles to put aside her genteel upbringing and take up the weapons of a warrior, Helen realizes that her mentor, Lord Carlston, is fighting his own inner battle. Has the foul Deceiver energy poisoned his soul, or is something else driving him towards violent bouts of madness? Either way, Helen is desperate to help the man with whom she shares a deep but forbidden connection.

'When Mr Pike, the hard bureaucratic heart of the Dark Days Club, arrives in Brighton, no one is prepared for the ordinary evil he brings in his wake. He has a secret task for Helen and Mr Hammond, and the authority of the Prince Regent. They have no choice but to do as he orders, knowing that the mission will betray everyone around them and possibly bring about Lord Carlston's annihilation.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Works About this Award

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