Obligitory pre-awards selfie

Obligatory pre-awards selfie

As some of you know, the 19th Aurealis Awards ceremony was held on Saturday night. Being a nominee I moved heaven and earth (and my family’s budget) to attend. It was a fun night, meeting other writers and judges and some of the fantastic team who pulled this whole event together.

Simon Brown and Sean Williams were the masters of ceremonies and didn’t fail to make me laugh even once. The Great Hall at University House in Canberra was a beautiful place for the ceremony to be held as well.

I was surprised to learn that the category Short Circuit was shortlisted in (Best Fantasy Short Story) received 194 nominations. Knowing my story was amongst the top 5 is such an honour, and to be in that category with writers who I own books of (like Kim Wilkins and Jay Kristoff) is genuinely thrilling.

I also added more than a few books to my ‘to read’ pile as each nominated piece was given a short synopsis before the winners were announced.

A very cool band played songs to open, close, and during the intermission. The Fildenstar suited a speculative fiction awards ceremony in both lyrics and sound and I’ll be keeping an eye out for their performances in future.

So, with new books to read and some new friends to catch up with I’ll have to leave you all with the advice that it is a fun night, well worth attending!

Also, if you want more pics and info, Sean the Blogonaut gathered a bunch of social media outbursts that puts the whole night in view for you. Here it is.