Category Archives: Awards

Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

Aurora Awards and other news from CSFFA

In this newsletter:

 

  1. 2024 Prix Aurora Awards Finalists
  2. Update on the Aurora Award Voters Package
  3. CSFFA Hall of Fame Update
  4. 2024 Professional Development Grant Recipient
  5. Personnel Changes on CSFFA’s Board of Directors

2024 Prix Aurora Award Finalists

This ballot is for works originally done in 2023 by Canadians.  The Aurora Awards are nominated by members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.  The top five nominated works were selected.  Additional works were included where there was a tie for fifth place.  An online awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, August 11th, 2024, at 5pm EDT, with hosts Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz Anderson.

Best Novel

Bad Cree, Jessica Johns, HarperCollins Canada
The Marigold, Andrew F. Sullivan, ECW Press
Moon of the Turning Leaves, Waubgeshig Rice, Random House Canada
Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey
The Valkyrie, Kate Heartfield, HarperVoyager

Best Young Adult Novel

The Crystal Key: The Dream Rider Saga, Book 2, Douglas Smith, Spiral Path Books
Flower and Thorn, Rati Mehrotra, Wednesday Books
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, Cherie Dimaline, Tundra Books
The Grimmer, Naben Ruthnum, ECW Press
The Stars of Mount Quixx, S.M. Beiko, ECW Press

Best Novelette/Novella

Green Fuse Burning, Tiffany Morris, Stelliform Press
I AM AI, Ai Jiang, Shortwave Media
“The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World”, Nalo Hopkinson,
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, Random House
Pluralities, Avi Silver, Atthis Arts
Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee, Tordotcom

Best Short Story

“At Every Door A Ghost”, Premee Mohamed, Communications Breakdown, MIT Press
“The Dust Bowl Café”, Justin Dill, Augur Magazine, Issue 6.1
“If I Should Fall Behind”, Douglas Smith, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sept/Oct Issue
“Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont”, P.A. Cornell, Fantasy Magazine, Issue 96
“Sink Your Sorrows to the Sea”, Chandra Fisher, Saltwater Sorrows, Tyche Books

Best Graphic Novel/Comic

Atana and the Firebird, Vivian Zhou, HarperCollins
A Call to Cthulhu, Norm Konyu, Titan Nova
Carson of Venus, Ronn Sutton (artist), Martin Powell (writer), and Maggie Lopez (colourist), webcomic
Cosmic Detective, Jeff Lemire and Matt Kindt, art by David Rubin, Image Comics
It Never Rains, Kari Maaren, webcomic
The Secret of the Ravens, written and illustrated by Joanna Cacao, with lettering by Kyla Aiko, Clarion Books
Wychwood, Ally Rom Colthoff, webcomic

Best Poem/Song

“As a, I want to, so I can”, Kelley Tai, Heartlines Spec, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 2023
“Awakening”, Tiffany Morris, Nightmare Magazine, Issue 134
“Lying Flat”, Lynne Sargent, Strange Horizons, Issue 9 October 2023
“predictive text”, Dominik Parisien, Augur, Issue 6.1
“Scarecrow”, David Shultz, Polar Starlight, Issue 9
“A Siren’s Call, A Banshee’s Wail, A Grandmother’s Dream”, Ai Jiang, Uncanny Magazine, Issue Fifty Four

Best Related Work

GAME ON!,  Stephen Kotowych & Tony Pi, editors, Zombies Need Brains LLC
No One Will Come Back for Us and Other Stories, Premee Mohamed, Undertow Publications
On Spec Magazine, Diane L. Walton, Managing Editor, The Copper Pig Writers’ Society
Skin Thief: Stories, Suzan Palumbo, Neon Hemlock Press
Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One, Stephen Kotowych, editor, Ansible Press

Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration

Augur Magazine, Issue 6.1, cover art, Lorna Antoniazzi
Endless Library � Fantasy, interior art, Marcco Marin,
Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume One, Ansible Press
Green Fuse Burning, cover art, Chief Lady Bird, Stelliform Press
The Machines That Make Us, cover art, Brent Nichols, Tyche Books
The Passion of Ivan Rodriguez, cover art, Kayla Kowalyk, Tyche Books
Tales & Feathers Magazine, Issue 1, cover art, Jade Zhang

Best Fan Writing and Publication

Maria’s Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Short Fiction Roundup, Maria Haskins
Polar Borealis Magazine, Issues: 24, 25, 26, and 27, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
Polar Starlight Magazine, Issues: 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, edited by Rhea E. Rose
The Travelling TARDIS, Jennifer Desmarais, JenEric Designs
Young People Read Old SFF, edited by James Davis Nicoll, online

Best Fan Related Work

ephemera Reading Series, KT Bryski and Jen R. Albert, co-chairs, online
Scintillation 4, Jo Walton and René Walling, co-chairs, Montreal
Sip & Read / Sip & Social @ Librairie Saga Bookstore, Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso, bookstore owner
When Words Collide, Randy McCharles, chair, Calgary
The Worldshapers Podcast, Edward Willett, online

Note: Can*Con recused themselves from this year’s ballot even though they had enough nominations.

Voters Package Update

 

The ballot has been announced and we want to send our heartfelt congratulations to each and every nominee. It is an exciting time and now it is your turn to read and immerse yourself in some great work.

The Voter’s Package has a lot of moving parts that take some time to get all gathered into one place and put into the wonderful package we all look forward to. We are in the home stretch to get it out to you so you have as much time as possible to read. You will be able to get the package the week of May 20th. Watch the newsletters, our website and social media for availability.

Remember you are voting for the best of the best so give time and consideration to the material so kindly provided by the publishers, authors, and creators. That way you can make informed choices about what really speaks to you. Read. Enjoy. Vote. If you have any questions or are having problems with the download just drop us at line on our website.

Happy reading!

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CSFFA Hall of Fame Update

The 2024 CSFFA Hall of Fame inductees have been selected.

We wish to thank the jury for their work:
Ryah Deines; Gordon Johansen; Rebecca Lovatt; Michelle Sagara; and David Clink, chair.

We will officially announce the inductees later this summer.

We would like to take this moment to thank all of the nominees.
Those who were not selected will remain nominees for future years.

CSFFA members are encouraged to nominate Canadian SFFH creators. The nomination form can be found here. The Hall of Fame honours Canadian creators who have made a significant 20+ year impact in the speculative fields (SFFH). For more information on eligibility, see here.

2024* CSFFA Professional Development Grant Recipient

We launched our Professional Development Grant to further the growth of new writers or new to the genre to the wonderful world of science fiction and fantasy. We’re thrilled to announce the recipient for our first 2024 PD Grant period: Paola Ferrante.

Paola Ferrante is a woman writer living with depression. Her speculative short fiction collection, Her Body Among Animals (Book*hug 2023), received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, made the 2023 CBC Books fall reading list, and was eligible for a CSFFA Prix Aurora Award. Paola will use the grant for a book coach and editorial feedback to continue developing and completing revisions of her first novel, Completables.
(*we conduct two rounds of applications per year, and if you fit the eligibility bill, you are encouraged to apply in our next round by the Aug. 31st deadline).

Personnel Changes on CSFFA’s Board of Directors

Goodbye Clint, Goodbye Jeanette, Welcome Aymen

Clint Budd has retired as a CSFFA director. CSFFA as it is today is the result of years of his leadership as President of the Board. Clint stepped down as President in October, 2019. Until April 2023 Clint also annually organized the CSFFA Hall of Fame jury.

Clint is a CSFFA Hall of Fame nominee: read more about Clint here.

Jeanette Dover joined CSFFA’s Board of Directors as Treasurer in the summer of 2019. CSFFA had the benefit of Jeanette’s time for nearly five years. Jeanette also worked with board member Shannon Allen: Shannon administers CSFFA’s Professional Development Grant.

During the April 2024 Board meeting your Board voted to appoint Aymen Saidane as CSFFA’s new Treasurer.

Aymen’s bio (members will see it as part of the 2024 AGM documents): “Succeeded Jeanette Dover in April. Operations Manager at ECW Press and instructor of Publishing Finance at Humber College. Dreams of living on the moon in retirement.”

Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

February 2024 CSFFA Newsletter: Aurora 2024 Updates

An update regarding the Aurora Awards, received from the CSFFA

Winter is almost over (we hope) and with it the first stage of 2024’s Aurora Awards process. Please see below for specific updates.

In this newsletter:

  1. Aurora Award Updates for February 2024
  2. An Aurora Awards History Tidbit

Aurora Awards Updates for February 2024Eligibility Lists Close Soon

Depending on when you read this, the lists for this year’s works eligible to be nominated for the 2024 Aurora Awards closes soon.  The lists will be closed at 11:59 pm EST on Saturday, February 24th.

Over the following week our eligibility team of volunteers will review all works that are still pending.  If you see something that was missed, please email us.  If it is not too late, we will try to add it.

Nominations Open in March

Nominations will open on Saturday, March 2nd.  CSFFA members have until Saturday, April 6th at 11:59 pm EST to enter your choices.  One special feature of the nomination process is that you can return as many times as you wish to add or modify your choices.  After our deadline our webmaster will lock all nominations that members have entered.

For those new to the awards, you may enter up to five choices in each category.  Each entry in a category must be unique.  If you submit the same work more than once ALL of them will be voided.  If you accidentally duplicate one you can always use the “blank” record that it at the top of each dropdown list.  Please be careful and review your choices before you submit them. Nominate what you know and enjoyed.

Special request when you nominate or ask others to nominate

Please do NOT ask friends or family to get a membership to just nominate or vote (later) for your works if they are not SF/Fantasy fans.  Members are encouraged to nominate in multiple categories.  The awards are for fans of the genre.  This is not a popularity contest to see who has the largest family.

We want people to get memberships who read Science Fiction, Fantasy, and/or Horror to help us determine the best works that were done last year.

Awards

The 2023 Hugo Awards: A report on censorship and exclusion

This is a must read report on what happened to the 2023 Hugo Awards. Also on File 770, letters from Kat Jones and Diane Lacey. 

Click here to read the report: 2023 Hugo Awards Censorship Report_Final

Extract below:

LEAKED EMAILS AND FILES REVEAL POLITICAL CONCERNS RESULTED IN INELIGIBILITY ISSUES WITH 2023 HUGO AWARDS

By Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford: Emails and files released by one of the administrators of the 2023 Hugo Awards indicate that authors and works deemed “not eligible” for the awards were removed due to political considerations. In particular, administrators of the awards from the United States and Canada researched political concerns related to Hugo-eligible authors and works and discussed removing certain ones from the ballot for those reasons, revealing they were active participants in the censorship that took place.

When the Hugo Award voting and nomination statistics were released, no detailed explanation was given for why multiple authors and works were deemed “not eligible” even though they had enough nominations to make the award’s final ballot. The only official explanation came from overall Hugo Awards administrator Dave McCarty, who said “After reviewing the Constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible.”

However, emails and files released by another member of that Hugo administration team, Diane Lacey, shows that the rules “we must follow” were in relation to Chinese laws related to content and censorship.

Awards

Hugo controversy in mainstream press

IN THE GUARDIAN.The Guardian’s report “Science fiction awards held in China under fire for excluding authors” includes quotes from Xiran Jay Zhao and Paul Weimer.

…No reason was given for the exclusions, which were only revealed on 20 January when the Hugo awards published the full nomination statistics for last year’s prize. Certain titles were listed as having been given votes, but were marked with an asterisk and the words “not eligible”, with no further details given….

…Concerns have been raised that the authors were targeted for political reasons, connected to the fact that the ruling Chinese Communist party exerts a tight control on all cultural events that take place inside its borders.

Dave McCarty, the head of the 2023 Hugo awards jury, wrote on Facebook: “Nobody has ordered me to do anything … There was no communication between the Hugo administration team and the Chinese government in any official manner.”

McCarty did not respond to a request from the Guardian for comment, but shared what he said was the official response from the awards administration team on Facebook: “After reviewing the constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible.” He declined to elaborate on what the rules were.

READ MORE:

https://file770.com/hugo-controversy-hits-mainstream-news-a-chengdu-vice-chair-comments-in-social-media/

Awards

Hugo Awards: Nomination Stats questioned

Nomination stats for the Hugos awarded at Chengdu, China, have finally been published, and a can of worms exploded all over social media, lots landing on Dave McCarty, the Hugo administrator.

Some works were declared ineligible, no reason given beyond:

After reviewing the Constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible.

When asked which rules, the answer was:

After reviewing the Constitution and the rules we must follow, the administration team determined those works/persons were not eligible.

Theories are tending toward the committee not wanting trouble with the government of China. And if that is the case, then we need to be a whole lot more careful about site selection. WSFS does have to comply with the local laws. Kevin Standlee used the example of, “what if we had the World Con in Florida”. Now there’s a scary scenario!

Lots of commentary from fans and pros alike on File770.com.

This particular thread is worth reading: https://file770.com/chengdu-hugo-administrator-dave-mccarty-fields-questions-on-facebook/

 

 

 

Awards, Fanzines

FAAN Awards for zines published in 2023

From Nic Farey,the Voter’s Guide to FAAN Awards.

Attached: The Incompleat Register 2023 voters’ guide for this year’s FAAn Awards for excellence in fanzines, fanwriting and fanart. Incompleat2023

The awards are sponsored by the current Corflu (COR41U, to be held in Las Vegas) and the results will be announced at the banquet on Sunday March 3 2024 – membership of Corflu (or anything else) is not a requirement for voting, which is open to anyone with an interest in fanzines.

As always, the reminder that TIR should not be seen as a definitive list of what you can or cannot vote for. All votes are recorded in good faith, subject to proper categorization.

Ballots must be received by midnight PST, Saturday February 24, 2024.

Faneds (or indeed anyone at all) receiving this are encouraged to publicize the awards, redistribute TIR or indeed engage in advocacy for any favored titles/individuals as a part of promotion of the awards overall.

Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

CSFFA Hall of Fame Inductees, 2023


CSFFA Hall of Fame Inductees, 2023

CSFFA has inducted three people into the Hall of Fame, in 2023. Congratulations to John Robert Colombo, Michelle Sagara, and Clifford Samuels for their induction. Thank you to the 2023 Hall of Fame Jury for their work. Here are very brief bios of the inductees (please visit their web sites for more info about them).

John Robert Colombo has been called “the Master Gatherer” for his compilations of Canadiana. He is a member of the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario, and has written, compiled, and translated more books than any other serious Canadian author. More than 200 titles of his books have been published since 1960. http://colombo.ca/

Michelle Sagara has written over 40 fantasy novels and has been nominated twice for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer (the award underwent a recent name change). She also has a long running book review column, Musing on Books, for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, with over 50 columns. https://michellesagara.com/

Clifford Samuels is the Aurora Awards Administrator and has been a pillar of support for Calgary fandom for almost four decades, his contribution reaching beyond the city, beyond the province, indeed, beyond the country.

See more at the Hall of Fame page: https://www.csffa.ca/the-csffa-hall-of-fame/

Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

Aurora Awards Voting Info & Voters’ Package

From the CSFFA, news of the Aurora Awards.Membership is not expensive, and the voter package is well worth the cost. The deadline for membership is tomorrow!

Aurora Awards Voting Info & Voters’ Package

In this newsletter:

  1. Voting information for this year’s Aurora Awards
  2. Aurora Awards Voters’ Package
  3. Change of dates for membership payments and voters’ package download
  4. Reminder: CSFFA AGM June 25

Voting has begun: how to vote in this year’s Aurora Awards

Voting is open for CSFFA members.  You have until 11:59 pm EDT on July 29th, 2023, to submit your ballot.  Remember, vote for what you know.  You do not have to vote in all categories, and you do not have to rank all nominated works.

We use a ranked or alternate voting method.  To vote, sort your choices from 1 (your favourite) to 5 (your least favourite).  For full details about this and how votes are tabulated, go to our about voting method page, https://www.csffa.ca/about/aurora-awards-voting-method/

Unlike our nomination process, when you submit your ballot, it will be locked, and you will NOT be able to make any changes or return to it another day.  Do not start to vote until you are sure you know everything you wish to vote for.

We are using the same voting form that we used last year.  It is easy to use.  Each category allows you to move your selections either with your mouse or finger (if you have a touch screen) on most devices.  Move your choices above the voting line which says, “No pick underneath this line will be counted”.  As you do this your choice will show you what its ranking is.  If you make a mistake, you can move your choice to a different position or back below the voting line.

For your ballot to count you must click the “Send Ballot” button at the bottom of the form.  This will lock and submit your selections.  Do NOT submit your choices until all of your selections are arranged.  This must be done at the same time since you will not be able to return to edit or add to your ballot once it has been submitted.  If you close the form before you submit all of your choices, they will be cleared and not saved, and you will have to start again.

So, download and read the nominated works that are in our voters’ package.  When you are done, go to our online voting form and rank all of your choices.  When you’ve done this for all the categories that you’re interested in, click the “Send Ballot” button at the bottom of the form to lock and submit them.

Join us for our online awards ceremony at 7 pm EDT on August 19th to find out who takes home this year’s trophies.  We will be live streaming on both Facebook and YouTube.

2023 Aurora Awards Voters’ Package

The Voters’ Package is now available for the 2023 Aurora Awards. It can be accessed and the files downloaded from https://www.csffa.ca/members-home/. You must be logged into your account to access it.

Good luck to all of the nominees. Voting will begin on June 17th and close six weeks later on July 29th. The awards ceremony will be held online starting at 7pm EDT, August 19th, 2023. The ceremony will be hosted by Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz Anderson. Links to both a Facebook and YouTube page for the ceremony will be posted in August.

Change of dates for membership payments and voters package download

We are changing the closing date for people to purchase CSFFA memberships and to download works from our voters’ package.  The new date is 11:59pm EDT, July 22nd, 2023.  This does NOT affect voting for the awards, that date is still one week later, July 29th.

Membership Payments:  Purchases of CSFFA memberships must be made one week prior to the close of voting.  If you purchase your membership and your account has not been automatically updated, then you must contact us ASAP.  Do NOT wait days, contact us with a copy of your payment notice from PayPal.  We will manually update your account.

Voters Package:  The download form for the voters package will also close one week prior to the close of voting.  If you have not taken what you wish to read it will be unavailable.

The CSFFA board felt that members should be part of the society at least a week prior to when voting closes.  We provide the voters package to help you vote and if you don’t download it until the last few days, you don’t have time to read the works before you vote.  The other reason is that we don’t feel the support team should be scrambling for those who decide to only join at the last moment and have problems.

We hope CSFFA members appreciate that our board members are all volunteers and cannot be monitoring the site 24/7.

Reminder: CSFFA AGM June 25, 2023

To attend the AGM, email president@csffa.ca. You will be emailed a Zoom link a few days before June 25.

The 2023 CSFFA AGM materials and motions can be viewed by logged-in members (Home page -> Annual General Meeting). Members can vote until June 24.

The AGM will begin Sunday June 25, 10 a.m. Pacific/ 11 a.m. Mountain/ noon Central/ 1 p.m. Eastern/ 2 p.m. Atlantic/ and one half-hour later, Newfoundland & Labrador.

 

Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

CSFFA Special Update: AGM Date Changed, Voters Package Ready

Membership in CSFFA is really worth the price if you enjoy reading, and there is a lot of reading in the awards package!  https://www.csffa.ca/ CPL

In this newsletter:

  1. Change of Date for CSFFA AGM
  2. Aurora Awards Voters’ Package

The CSFFA AGM has a new date: June 25, 2023

The CSFFA 2023 AGM now will occur Sunday, June 25. The 2023 CSFFA AGM materials and motions can be viewed by logged-in members (Home page -> Annual General Meeting). Members can vote now on the motions. Voting ends June 24.

The AGM will begin Sunday June 25, 10 a.m. Pacific/ 11 a.m. Mountain/ noon Central/ 1 p.m. Eastern/ 2 p.m. Atlantic/ and one half-hour later, Newfoundland & Labrador.

2023 Aurora Awards Voters’ Package

The Voters’ Package is now available for the 2023 Aurora Awards. It can be accessed and the files downloaded from https://www.csffa.ca/members-home/. You must be logged into your account to access it.

Good luck to all of the nominees. Voting will begin on June 17th and close six weeks later on July 29th. The awards ceremony will be held online starting at 7pm EDT, August 19th, 2023. The ceremony will be hosted by Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz Anderson. Links to both a Facebook and YouTube page for the ceremony will be posted in August.

Awards, CSFFA / Aurora Award / Hall of Fame

Aurora Awards & CSFFA Updates for April 2023

Aurora Awards & CSFFA Updates
for April 2023

In this newsletter:

  1. Aurora Awards 2023 Nominations Deadline Imminent
  2. CSFFA Board of Directors Vacancy

Aurora Awards 2023

Nominations close on April 22, 2023, at 11:59pm EDT.

Yes, there is still time to get your nominations in for this year’s Aurora Awards. As we always say, nominate what you know and enjoyed. This is your chance to put your selections forward.

You are allowed to nominate up to five works in each of the ten categories. Choose from the list of approved works by Canadian’s in 2022. You don’t have to nominate in all the categories. Here a link to this year’s approved works.

A couple of notes about the nomination process

  1. You can change your nominations up until we close nominations on Saturday, April 22nd.
  2. Selections on our nomination form are done by using its drop-down lists of approved works.
  3. When you put in your nominations you MUST click the SAVE or UPDATE button for each category.
  4. When you click the SAVE/UPDATE button, your screen changes to show a message that your selections have been saved instead of your selections. No, your selections have not been lost. If you refresh your screen or leave and come back to this screen your selections will be displayed.
  5. If you select something that you don’t want to nominate, just go to the top of the drop-down list and select the first item which is a blank line.
  6. Don’t wait until the last day since you can always add or remove items at any time until the deadline.

Payment Note:

If you pay your annual CSFFA dues and the system still will not let you in, DO NOT pay a second time. Wait a little bit and try logging in again. Do not wait days. If after an hour you are still having trouble, then please send us an email through our contact form. Include your PayPal receipt information and we will update your account. If you pay with a PayPal account that has a different email address than your CSFFA account PayPal might not get us the right information to update your account automatically.