Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales, by Greer Gilman won the Tiptree this year, along with Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga.

Cloud & Ashes is published by Small Beer Press run by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link. Great to see such a wonderful press getting a well-deserved gong. Ooku is the first time manga has been chosen for the award.

On top of that Wives by Paul Haines got a mention in the honors list too! Hopefully nod for Wives and the recognition of two stories from Eclipse 3 - edited by Jonathan Strahan – augur well for the Hugo nominations.

Best Novel
Mirror Space, Marianne de Pierres, Orbit

Best Novella
Horn, Peter M. Ball, Twelfth Planet Press
Wives, Paul Haines, Cour de Lion

Best Novelette
Sister, Sister, Strange Tales III, Angela Slatter, Tartarus Press
Inevitable, The New Space Opera 2, Sean Williams, Harper Collins

Best Graphic Story
Scarygirl, Nathan Jurevicius, Allen and Unwin

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
District 9
Moon

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Caprica Pilot, SyFy

Best Editor, Short Form
Jonathan Strahan
Ellen Datlow
Keith Stevenson

Best Editor, Long Form
Stephanie Smith
Zoe Walton
Bernadette Foley
David G Hartwell

Best Semiprozine
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

Best Fan Writer
Bill Wright, Interstellar Ramjet Scoop

Best Fanzine
A Writer Goes on a Journey

Best Fan Artist
Andrew McKiernan

John W. Campbell Award
Angela Slatter
Peter M Ball
Lezli Robyn

I know there are some international nominations in there but I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.

If you haven’t already, get out there and nominate!

The story so far, for those who’ve missed it: The Hugo Awards are coming to Australia courtesy of Aussiecon 4. Here’s our chance to help some of our best authors get their best work recognised by getting them nominated for an award.

It’s a pretty simple idea – get out there and nominate your favourite Aussie, writers, works, editors and fans.

But the numbers remain stacked against us.

As of January 1, there were 352 Australians registered and eligible to nominate for the Hugos. A healthy number, yes. But a very small one when compared to the 856 Americans eligible to nominate. And breaking those numbers down further says a bit more about why it’s important we get out there and nominate. Of those 856 Americans, 388 are “supporting” members – ie people who are unlikely to attend the convention but have paid a fee to get regular updates and to be eligible to vote in the Hugos. On top of that, add all the members of last year’s Worldcon, held in Montreal, who are also eligible to nominate and vote in the awards this year.

It’s perfectly understandable that US readers have less exposure than locals to great Australian speculative fiction. But if you think local works and authors deserve recognition; if you think it’s possible to make a difference and if you think it’s important to try then check out the Aussiecon 4 website for nomination details. And if you’re Facebook inclined, log in and join the conversation here.

People, it’s time we made the John W Campbell Award into more than just award for new writing talent from North America.

The John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer has been awarded 37 times since it started in 1973. Of those 37 awards, 36 have been awarded to authors from North America. One has gone to an author from the UK – Jeff Noon. Not once has it gone to an Australian, a Kiwi, a South African, a Japanese writer or anyone else. It has only ever been awarded to residents of three countries – the USA, Canada, and England.

Think of the great Australian genre authors starting their careers that we missed out on recognising: Margo Lanagan, Garth Nix, Sean Williams, Greg Egan, Isobelle Carmody and heaps of others.

This is not the fault of the organisers. They run a good award that has drawn attention to some great new talent. It’s our responsibility as a local community.

This photo, from Patick Nielsen Hayden, isn’t a picture of the award. It shows Jay Lake holding a pin Jay is distributing to all previous nominees. At a quick glance it looks like there’s only one (for Kirsten Bishop) of these exquisite creations in Australian hands (or on lapels).

Local writers aren’t even getting nominated. But with Worldcon coming to Melbourne, we’ve got a chance to make amends and focus some attention on some of our best new local writers.

My list of nominations for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer will include:

• Angela Slatter
• Peter M. Ball
• Lezli Robyn
• Jason Fischer

I’ve read a heap of work from each of these writers and I’m very confident they’ll all go a long way.

Nominations close March 13. You can find out more at the Aussiecon 4 website.

Photo by Patrick Nielsen Hayden used under Creative Commons licence.

Interviews and recommendations will be appearing on these blogs from tomorrow:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Looking forward to seeing further discussion of what we should be nominating. Don’t forget, nominations close in a month.

For those who are still catching up the campaign is designed to get more recognition for great Australian writers and great Australian stories by getting people to think about which local works are worth nominating for a Hugo award.

Most of the discussion is on the Facebook group. Log in and check it out here. There’s also some discussion at the Vision Writers Yahoo group if you’re a member.

Some other useful recommendations and pimpage can be found here:

Tansy Rayner Roberts

Alisa Krasnostein

Peter M Ball

Deborah Biancotti

Rachel Swirsky

Paul Haines 

Go read, enjoy and nominate.