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 20^th. 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!

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.”

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 24^th.

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 2^nd.  CSFFA members have until Saturday, April 6^th 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.

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/

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.

Springtime is almost here, and with it the awards process kicks into high gear! The nomination period for this year’s Aurora Awards have opened. This newsletter also features a call for a CSFFA secretary to join the Board. And if you are considering applying to professional development grant, don’t hesitate as there are only a few weeks left. More information below.

In this newsletter:

1. Aurora Awards News: 2023 Nominations Are Open
2. CSFFA Board of Directors Vacancy
3. CSFFA 2023 Professional Development Grant Deadline: March 31st

Aurora Awards 2023: Nominations Are Open

You can now nominate for the 2023 Aurora Awards for works done in 2022. There are ten (10) categories.  You may nominate up to five (5) different works in each category. You do not have nominate in all categories or select five works in a category. Nominate what you know and what you enjoyed. Do NOT nominate the same work more than once. Duplicate entries of the same work will be voided.

Nominations will be open until 11:59pm EDT on April 22nd. At that time your choices will be locked. You must have a paid CSFFA membership to participate (annual membership is $10). Log into your account and click the Nomination icon on the member’s home page.

Note: The top five works by five different nominees will be chosen to be on the final ballot in each category. If a nominee has two works with the same number of nominations in the top five, they will be asked to select one to be on the ballot.

About the nomination form plus a few tricks:

1. The nomination form consists of ten sections (one for each award category)
2. Each section has five lines of drop-down lists of the approved eligible works in the category you are on. You may only nominate works from the drop-down lists.
3. You can enter your selections in any order and if you wish to remove one, select the blank line at the top of each drop-down list.
4. You do not have to nominate in all the categories, and you don’t have to select five works in a category.
5. Do not nominate the same work more than once. Duplicate selections of the same work will be voided.
6. To move through the drop-down lists, you can either use your mouse to scroll down or you can key in the first letter of a work and the list will move to the first work starting with that letter.
7. You can go to the eligibility lists from the members-only page at any time to view what has been approved and use the URL link to look at online information about it.
8. After you have selected works in a category you must click the Save button or your choices will be lost if you leave the nomination form.
9. Each category has its own save button.If you close the form before you Save or Update your changes they will be lost, and you will have to start again.
10. If you refresh your screen or come back to it later your selections will be visible.You may change your choices at any time. Categories that you have already saved works will display Update rather than Save.
11. You may continue to change your choices until we have closed nominations.
12. Nominate what you know and enjoyed. This is your chance to have a say what is on the final ballot. Make it your own choices.

CSFFA Board of Directors Vacancy

Your CSFFA board needs a secretary!

The secretary is a full member of the board, equally participating in discussions and decisions. Meetings are monthly (except December), the last Tuesday of each month (8 p.m. E.S.T.: attendees are in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia.)

Meetings happen via Zoom. Meetings typically last 60 minutes.

Duty of the secretary is to write the minutes of board meetings. In the event that the secretary can not attend a meeting, the meeting is recorded.

Interested? Email president@prixaurorawards.ca

CSFFA Professional Developmental Grant

Grant deadline one is fast approaching! Get your application in by March 31, 2023, 11:59pm MT. In case you missed any of the details you will find them below.

This grant is to enable CSFFA members to pursue education and professional development that helps them expand their skill set. Starting in 2023 we will be awarding a total of $2,500.00 over the year to new writers, writers new to the genre or writers changing focus, for example short story to novel.

This Grant will be awarded to successful a successful applicant or applicants to cover up to 75% of the cost of developmental avenues such as:

• Courses
• Retreats
• Writing software
• A book coach or editorial fees for their first book

There will be two submission windows in 2023. The first is January 1^st to March 31^st, with funds awarded by May 15^th and June 1^st to August 31^st with funds awarded by Oct 15^th.

Funds will be distributed at the discretion of the Board and based upon applications submitted per submission windows until the full amount of the grant is paid out. Any unawarded funds will be distributed at the discretion of the Board or rolled over into the next grant year.

Successful applicants will be contacted by CSFFA and an announcement will be made on our website, newsletter, and/or during the Aurora Awards.

All decisions by the CSFFA Board are final.

Application Submission Guidelines

1. Applicants must be members of CSFFA in good standing.
2. Current Board Members or family members of the selection committee are not eligible for this grant.
3. Former Board members must have vacated their position for a minimum of one year prior to application.
4. Must be a new writer or new to the genre of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Speculative fiction, or any subgenres of these main genres.
5. Must be unpublished or have publications that are less than 50 copies in speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, or any sub genres of these main genres.
6. Provide contact Information
7. A 1,000-word proposal is to be submitted detailing the following:
8. What the endeavour is, along with a description and weblink
9. A timeline for the endeavour (must be less than one year)
10. Expected results from the endeavour
11. A short bio
12. If awarded, the applicant is asked to submit upon completion a 500-word description on the results and experience of the endeavour. The applicant must also be in agreement that their name and or photo will be used on the website, newsletter or both.

Applications must be submitted by 11:59:59 MT on the last day of each submission period. Any late submissions will be automatically transferred to the next submission period for consideration.

Submission of applications are to be made to PublicityCSFFA@gmail.com

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