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Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction facts for kids

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Aurealis Award for best children's fiction
Presented by Chimaera Publications,
Continuum Foundation
Country Australia
First awarded 2013 (merging two previous categories)
Currently held by Karen Foxlee

The Aurealis Awards are special awards given out every year in Australia. They celebrate amazing Australian writers who create stories in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. These awards are presented by two groups: Chimaera Publications and WASFF.

To win an award, a book or story must be published by an Australian writer. It also needs to come out between January 1st and December 31st of the year before the awards. The awards ceremony happens the next year. What started as a small gathering of about 20 people has grown into a big two-day event with over 200 attendees!

Since they began in 1995, the Aurealis Awards have recognized many types of speculative fiction. This is a big term for stories that imagine things that aren't real, like magic or future technology.

Current award categories include:

  • Science fiction (for novels and short stories)
  • Fantasy (for novels and short stories)
  • Horror (for novels and short stories)
  • Speculative young adult fiction (for novels and short stories)
  • Collections of stories
  • Anthologies (books with stories by different authors)
  • Graphic novels or illustrated works
  • Children's books
  • A special award for overall excellence in speculative fiction

Publishers pay close attention to these awards. They see them as a way to find the best new books in science fiction and fantasy. Big publishers like HarperCollins and Orbit support the awards. This shows that winning an Aurealis Award is a truly important honor.

How Winners Are Chosen

A group of judges decides who wins the Aurealis Awards. First, many books are nominated. This creates a "long-list" of possible winners. Then, the judges narrow it down to a "short-list" of finalists.

Sometimes, two entries might be so good that the judges decide they are equally deserving. In this case, they can declare a tie. However, judges are encouraged to pick just one winner if possible. If the judges all agree that none of the nominated works are good enough, they can choose "no award" for that category.

The judges themselves are chosen through a public application process. The Award's management team carefully selects them.

Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction

This article focuses on the Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction. This award replaced two older categories in 2013. Before 2013, there were separate awards for:

In 2013, this combined award was simply called the Aurealis Award for Best Children's Book.

Winners and Nominees

The table below shows all the books that were nominated and won the Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction. The years listed are when the books were published. The award ceremonies always happen the following year.

  • The years link to articles about literature from that year.
  • Entries with a light yellow background are the winners.
  • Entries with a white background are the nominees that made the short-list.
  • If a story was part of a bigger book or magazine, the book title is listed after the publisher's name.

As of the 2021 awards (given out in May 2022), these authors have received the most nominations in this category:

  *   Winners and joint winners
  *   Nominees on the shortlist

Year Author(s) Work(s) Publisher Ref
2013 Murray, KirstyKirsty Murray* The Four Seasons of Lucy McKenzie Allen & Unwin
Carmody, IsobelleIsobelle Carmody Kingdom of the Lost, book 2: Cloud Road Penguin Books Australia
French, JackieJackie French Refuge HarperCollins
Hunt, JulieJulie Hunt Song for a scarlet runner Allen & Unwin
Tan, ShaunShaun Tan Rules of Summer Hachette Australia
Tanner, LianLian Tanner Icebreaker: The Hidden 1 Allen & Unwin
2014 Wilkinson, CaroleCarole Wilkinson* Shadow Sister: Dragonkeeper 5 Black Dog Books
Flanagan, JohnJohn Flanagan Slaves of Socorro: Brotherband 4 Random House Australia
Foxlee, KarenKaren Foxlee Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy Hot Key Books
Jorgensen, NormanNorman Jorgensen & James Foley The Last Viking Returns Fremantle Press
Rossell, JudithJudith Rossell Withering-by-Sea ABC Books
Tanner, LianLian Tanner Sunker's Deep Allen & Unwin
2015 McKinlay, MegMeg McKinlay* A Single Stone Walker Books Australia
Banks, AngelicaAngelica Banks A Week Without Tuesday Allen & Unwin
Heath, JackJack Heath The Cut-Out Allen & Unwin
McKinlay, MegMeg McKinlay Bella and the Wandering House Fremantle Press
Tait, A. L.A. L. Tait The Mapmaker Chronicles: Prisoner of the Black Hawk Hachette Australia
2016 Kane, KimKim Kane* When the Lyrebird Calls Allen & Unwin
Banks, AngelicaAngelica Banks Blueberry Pancakes Forever Allen & Unwin
Battersby, LeeLee Battersby Magrit Walker Books Australia
Crisp, CalebCaleb Crisp Somebody Stop Ivy Pocket Bloomsbury
Elliott, MickMick Elliott The Turners Hachette Australia
Rodda, EmilyEmily Rodda The Hungry Isle Omnibus Books
2017 Townsend, JessicaJessica Townsend* Nevermoor Hachette Australia
MacDibble, BrenBren MacDibble How to Bee Allen & Unwin
Moriarty, JaclynJaclyn Moriarty The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone Allen & Unwin
Rodda, EmilyEmily Rodda The Shop at Hoopers Bend HarperCollins Australia
Sandhu, JoJo Sandhu The Exile Penguin Random House Australia
Tanner, LianLian Tanner Accidental Heroes Allen & Unwin
2018 Russon, PenniPenni Russon* The Endsister Allen & Unwin
Lim, RebeccaRebecca Lim The Relic of the Blue Dragon Allen & Unwin
Moriarty, JaclynJaclyn Moriarty The Slightly Alarming Tales of the Whispering Wars Allen & Unwin
Tanner, LianLian Tanner Secret Guardians Allen & Unwin
Wang, GabrielleGabrielle Wang Ting Ting the Ghosthunter Penguin Random House Australia
Williams, RhiannonRhiannon Williams Ottilie Cotter and the Narroway Hunt Hardie Grant Egmont
2019 MacDibble, BrenBren MacDibble* The Dog Runner Allen & Unwin
Kaufman, AmieAmie Kaufman Scorch Dragons HarperCollins
Lim, RebeccaRebecca Lim Race for the Red Dragon Allen & Unwin
McRitchie, RebeccaRebecca McRitchie (with Sharon O'Connor, illustrator) Jinxed! the Curious Curse of Cora Bell HarperCollins
Rodda, EmilyEmily Rodda (with Marc McBride, illustrator) The Glimme Scholastic
Waugh, HeatherHeather Waugh The Lost Stone of SkyCity Fremantle Press
2020 Fraillon, ZanaZana Fraillon* The Lost Soul Atlas Lothian
Johnson, Nicholas J.Nicholas J. Johnson Tricky Nick Pan
MacDibble, BrenBren MacDibble Across the Risen Sea Allen & Unwin
Watts, FrancesFrances Watts The Chicken's Curse Allen & Unwin
Wilkinson, LiliLili Wilkinson (with Dustin Spence, illustrator) Hodgepodge: How to make a pet monster Allen & Unwin
Williams, SeanSean Williams Her Perilous Mansion Allen & Unwin
2021 Foxlee, KarenKaren Foxlee* Dragon Skin Allen & Unwin
Ciddor, AnnaAnna Ciddor The Boy Who Stepped Through Time Allen & Unwin
Foley, JamesJames Foley Stellarphant Fremantle
Fraillon, ZanaZana Fraillon & Phil Lesnie The Curiosities Hachette Australia
Gale, EmilyEmily Gale & Nova Weetman Elsewhere Girls Text
Snelling, NicholasNicholas Snelling Barebum Billy BAD DAD
2022 La'Brooy, MelanieMelanie La'Brooy The Wintrish Girl UQP
Carless, VictoriaVictoria Carless Gus and the Starlight HarperCollins
Foxlee, KarenKaren Foxlee (with Frieda Chui, illustrator) The Wrath of the Woolington Wym Allen & Unwin
Fraillon, ZanaZana Fraillon & MacDibble, BrenBren MacDibble The Raven's Song Allen & Unwin
Gale, EmilyEmily Gale The Goodbye Year Text
Waugh, H. M.H. M. Waugh Mars Awakens Allen & Unwin
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