Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Aurealis Award for best children's fiction |
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|---|---|
| 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 awesome books in speculative fiction. This means books that are science fiction, fantasy, or horror. These awards are given to Australian writers by a group called Chimaera Publications and WASFF.
To be considered for an award, a book must be written by an Australian citizen or someone who lives permanently in Australia. The book also needs to be published between January 1 and December 31 of the year before the award ceremony. The winners are announced at a fun event the following year. What started as a small gathering has grown into a big two-day event with over 200 people!
Contents
What are the Aurealis Awards?
Since they started in 1995, the Aurealis Awards have recognized many different types of speculative fiction. They have awards for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. There are also special awards for young adult fiction (books for teens) and children's books. These awards are given for both long novels and shorter stories.
Why are these awards important?
The Aurealis Awards are a big deal for publishers. They help show which books are the best in science fiction and fantasy. Big publishers like HarperCollins and Orbit support these awards. This shows that winning an Aurealis Award is a real honor for writers.
How are the winners chosen?
A group of judges decides who wins the awards. First, many books are suggested, creating a "long-list." Then, the judges narrow it down to a "short-list" of finalists. Sometimes, if two books are equally good, they might both win. But usually, the judges try to pick just one winner. If the judges think none of the books are good enough, they can even decide not to give an award that year. The judges are chosen by the Award's management team through a public application process.
Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction
This article focuses on the Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction. This award started in 2013. It replaced two older awards for children's books:
- Aurealis Award for best children's fiction (told primarily through words)
- Aurealis Award for best children's fiction (told primarily through pictures)
In 2013, this award was called the Aurealis Award for Best Children's Book.
Winners and Nominees List
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 next year.
- Books with a light yellow background are the winners or joint winners.
- Books with a white background were nominees on the short-list.
As of the 2021 awards, which were announced in May 2022, some authors have been nominated many times:
- Lian Tanner (4 nominations)
- Bren MacDibble (3 nominations)
- Emily Rodda (3 nominations)
- Angelica Banks (2 nominations)
- Karen Foxlee (2 nominations)
- Rebecca Lim (2 nominations)
- Meg McKinlay (2 nominations)
- Jaclyn Moriarty (2 nominations)
* Winners and joint winners
* Nominees on the shortlist
| Year | Author(s) | Work(s) | Publisher | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Kirsty Murray* | The Four Seasons of Lucy McKenzie | Allen & Unwin | |
| Isobelle Carmody | Kingdom of the Lost, book 2: Cloud Road | Penguin Books Australia | ||
| Jackie French | Refuge | HarperCollins | ||
| Julie Hunt | Song for a scarlet runner | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Shaun Tan | Rules of Summer | Hachette Australia | ||
| Lian Tanner | Icebreaker: The Hidden 1 | Allen & Unwin | ||
| 2014 | Carole Wilkinson* | Shadow Sister: Dragonkeeper 5 | Black Dog Books | |
| John Flanagan | Slaves of Socorro: Brotherband 4 | Random House Australia | ||
| Karen Foxlee | Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy | Hot Key Books | ||
| Norman Jorgensen & James Foley | The Last Viking Returns | Fremantle Press | ||
| Judith Rossell | Withering-by-Sea | ABC Books | ||
| Lian Tanner | Sunker's Deep | Allen & Unwin | ||
| 2015 | Meg McKinlay* | A Single Stone | Walker Books Australia | |
| Angelica Banks | A Week Without Tuesday | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Jack Heath | The Cut-Out | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Meg McKinlay | Bella and the Wandering House | Fremantle Press | ||
| A. L. Tait | The Mapmaker Chronicles: Prisoner of the Black Hawk | Hachette Australia | ||
| 2016 | Kim Kane* | When the Lyrebird Calls | Allen & Unwin | |
| Angelica Banks | Blueberry Pancakes Forever | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Lee Battersby | Magrit | Walker Books Australia | ||
| Caleb Crisp | Somebody Stop Ivy Pocket | Bloomsbury | ||
| Mick Elliott | The Turners | Hachette Australia | ||
| Emily Rodda | The Hungry Isle | Omnibus Books | ||
| 2017 | Jessica Townsend* | Nevermoor | Hachette Australia | |
| Bren MacDibble | How to Bee | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Jaclyn Moriarty | The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Emily Rodda | The Shop at Hoopers Bend | HarperCollins Australia | ||
| Jo Sandhu | The Exile | Penguin Random House Australia | ||
| Lian Tanner | Accidental Heroes | Allen & Unwin | ||
| 2018 | Penni Russon* | The Endsister | Allen & Unwin | |
| Rebecca Lim | The Relic of the Blue Dragon | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Jaclyn Moriarty | The Slightly Alarming Tales of the Whispering Wars | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Lian Tanner | Secret Guardians | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Gabrielle Wang | Ting Ting the Ghosthunter | Penguin Random House Australia | ||
| Rhiannon Williams | Ottilie Cotter and the Narroway Hunt | Hardie Grant Egmont | ||
| 2019 | Bren MacDibble* | The Dog Runner | Allen & Unwin | |
| Amie Kaufman | Scorch Dragons | HarperCollins | ||
| Rebecca Lim | Race for the Red Dragon | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Rebecca McRitchie (with Sharon O'Connor, illustrator) | Jinxed! the Curious Curse of Cora Bell | HarperCollins | ||
| Emily Rodda (with Marc McBride, illustrator) | The Glimme | Scholastic | ||
| Heather Waugh | The Lost Stone of SkyCity | Fremantle Press | ||
| 2020 | Zana Fraillon* | The Lost Soul Atlas | Lothian | |
| Nicholas J. Johnson | Tricky Nick | Pan | ||
| Bren MacDibble | Across the Risen Sea | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Frances Watts | The Chicken's Curse | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Lili Wilkinson (with Dustin Spence, illustrator) | Hodgepodge: How to make a pet monster | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Sean Williams | Her Perilous Mansion | Allen & Unwin | ||
| 2021 | Karen Foxlee* | Dragon Skin | Allen & Unwin | |
| Anna Ciddor | The Boy Who Stepped Through Time | Allen & Unwin | ||
| James Foley | Stellarphant | Fremantle | ||
| Zana Fraillon & Phil Lesnie | The Curiosities | Hachette Australia | ||
| Emily Gale & Nova Weetman | Elsewhere Girls | Text | ||
| Nicholas Snelling | Barebum Billy | BAD DAD | ||
| 2022 | Melanie La'Brooy | The Wintrish Girl | UQP | |
| Victoria Carless | Gus and the Starlight | HarperCollins | ||
| Karen Foxlee (with Frieda Chui, illustrator) | The Wrath of the Woolington Wym | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Zana Fraillon & Bren MacDibble | The Raven's Song | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Emily Gale | The Goodbye Year | Text | ||
| H. M. Waugh | Mars Awakens | Allen & Unwin |
