Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story
# Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story

The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works in order to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers". To qualify, a work must have been first published by an Australian citizen or permanent resident between 1 January and 31 December of the corresponding year; the presentation ceremony is held the following year. It has grown from a small function of around 20 people to a two-day event attended by over 200 people.

Since their creation in 1995, awards have been given in various categories of speculative fiction. Categories currently include science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative young adult fiction—with separate awards for novels and short fiction—collections, anthologies, illustrative works or graphic novels, children's books, and an award for excellence in speculative fiction. The awards have attracted the attention of publishers by setting down a benchmark in science fiction and fantasy. The continued sponsorship by publishers such as HarperCollins and Orbit has identified the award as an honour to be taken seriously.

The results are decided by a panel of judges from a list of submitted nominees; the long-list of nominees is reduced to a short-list of finalists. Ties can occur if the panel decides both entries show equal merit, however they are encouraged to choose a single winner. The judges may declare a "no award" if there is unanimous agreement that none of the nominees are worthy. The judges are selected from a public application process by the Award's management team.

This article lists all the short-list nominees and winners in the best fantasy short story category, as well as short stories that have received honourable mentions or have been highly commended. Since 2003, honourable mentions and high commendations have been awarded intermittently. Thoraiya Dyer holds the record for most wins, having won three times. Angela Slatter holds the record for most nominations, having been nominated seven times. Adam Browne, Kaaron Warren, and Suzanne J. Willis share the record for most nominations without winning, each having been losing finalists three times.

## Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the story's eligibility; the ceremonies are always held the following year. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a blue background have won the award; those with a white background are the nominees on the short-list. If the short story was originally published in a book with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the book title is included after the publisher's name.

* Winners and joint winners  * Nominees on the shortlist

| Year | Author(s) | Short story | Publisher or publication |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1995 | Karen Attard* | "Harvest Bay" | Eidolon |
| 1995 | Petrina Smith | "Angel Thing" | Sybylla (She's Fantastical) |
| 1995 | John T. Stolarczyk | "Sail On, Sail On" | Aurealis |
| 1995 | Kaaron Warren | "The Blue Stream" | Aurealis |
| 1995 | Andrew Whitmore | "The Other Side of Paradise" | Eidolon |
| 1996 | Russell Blackford* | "The Sword of God" | Penguin (Dream Weavers) |
| 1996 | Isobelle Carmody | "Green Monkey Dreams" | Viking (Green Monkey Dreams) |
| 1996 | Matthew Condon | "Tattoo" | UQP (Original Sin) |
| 1996 | Sara Douglass | "Of Fingers and Foreskins" | Eidolon |
| 1996 | Tim Richards | "Our Swimmer" | Allen & Unwin (Letters to Francesca) |
| 1997 | Lucy Sussex* | "Merlusine" | Roc (The Horns of Elfland) |
| 1997 | Chris Gregory | "Jackie Chan" | Penguin (Twins) |
| 1997 | Le Hang | "The River of Dreams" | Anchor (Influence: Australian Voices) |
| 1997 | Jodie Kewley | "Nicholas Afalling" | Eidolon |
| 1997 | Janeen Webb | "Death at the Blue Elephant" | HarperCollins (Enter: HQ/Flamingo Short Story Collection) |
| 1998 | Stephen Dedman* | "A Walk-On Part in the War" | Voyager (Dreaming Down-Under) |
| 1998 | Kerry Greenwood | "Jetsam" | Voyager (Dreaming Down-Under) |
| 1998 | Sean McMullen | "Queen of Soulmates" | Voyager (Dreaming Down-Under) |
| 1998 | Jane Routley | "To Avalon" | Voyager (Dreaming Down-Under) |
| 1998 | Keith Taylor | "The Bath-house" | Moonstone (Fantastic Worlds) |
| 1999 | Trudi Canavan* | "Whispers of the Mist Children" | Aurealis |
| 1999 | Adam Browne | "Orlando's Third Trance" | HQ Magazine |
| 1999 | Lisa Jacobson | "The Language of Trees" | HQ Magazine |
| 1999 | Lucy Sussex | "The Queen of Erewhon" | F&SF |
| 1999 | Janeen Webb | "Incident on Wolfe Street" | HQ Magazine |
| 2000 | Geoffrey Maloney* | "The World According to Kipling (A Plain Tale from the Hills)" | Aurealis |
| 2000 | Louise Cusack | "Goddess and the Geek" | Voyager (Mystery, Magic, Voodoo & The Holy Grail) |
| 2000 | Chris Kenworthy | "The Fruits of Habit" | Altair |
| 2000 | Margo Lanagan | "The Boy Who Didn't Yearn" | Allen & Unwin (White Time) |
| 2000 | Kaaron Warren | "The Left Behind" | Orb |
| 2001 | Sue Isle* | "The Woman of Endor" | Orb |
| 2001 | Jack Dann | "The Diamond Pit" | Voyager (Jubilee) |
| 2001 | Terry Dowling | "The Lagan Fishers" | Sci Fiction |
| 2001 | Matthew Farrer | "Tales from the True Desert" | CSFG Publishing (Nor of Human...) |
| 2001 | Kaaron Warren | "The Speaker of Heaven" | Orb |
| 2002 | No award given | — | — |
| 2003 | Lucy Sussex* | "La Sentinelle" | Sandglass Enterprises (Southern Blood: New Australian Tales of the Supernatural) |
| 2003 | Lily Chrywenstrom | "Tireki and the Wind" | Fables and Reflections |
| 2003 | Marianne de Pierres | "In the Bookshadow" | Dreamhaven Books (Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores) |
| 2003 | Garth Nix | "Hope Chest" | Penguin Books (Firebirds) |
| 2004 | Richard Harland* | "Catabolic Magic" | Aurealis |
| 2004 | Louise Katz* | "Weavers of the Twilight" | Agog! (Agog! Smashing Stories) |
| 2004 | Lee Battersby | "Tales of Nireym" | Orb |
| 2004 | K. J. Bishop | "Alsiso" | Elastic Press (The Alsisio Project) |
| 2004 | Paul Haines | "The Gift of Hindsight" | Aurealis |
| 2005 | Richard Harland* | "The Greater Death of Saito Saku" | Agog! (Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales) |
| 2005 | Rosaleen Love* | "Once Giants Roamed the Earth" | Aqueduct Press (The Traveling Tide); Agog! (Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales) |
| 2005 | Adam Browne | "Heart of Saturday Night" | Lenox Avenue Ezine |
| 2005 | Terry Dartnall | "Ones and Zeros" | Neverary |
| 2005 | Dirk Flinthart | "The Red Priest's Homecoming" | Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine |
| 2006 | Margo Lanagan* | "A Fine Magic" | Eidolon Books (Eidolon I) |
| 2006 | Lee Battersby | "Dark Ages" | Prime Books (Through Soft Air) |
| 2006 | Stephanie Campisi | "Why the Balloon Man Floats Away" | Fantasy Magazine |
| 2006 | Lucy Sussex | "The Revenant" | Eidolon Books (Eidolon I) |
| 2006 | Anna Tambour | "See Here, See There" | Agog! (Agog! Ripping Reads) |
| 2007 | Garth Nix* | "Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go to War Again" | Jim Baen's Universe |
| 2007 | R. J. Astruc | "The Perfume Eater" | Strange Horizons |
| 2007 | Adam Browne | "An Account of an Experiment by Adam Browne" | Orb |
| 2007 | Angela Slatter | "The Angel Wood" | Shimmer |
| 2007 | Cat Sparks | "A Lady of Adestan" | Orb |
| 2008 | Cat Sparks* | "Sammarynda Deep" | Senses Five Press (Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy) |
| 2008 | Thoraiya Dyer | "Night Heron's Curse" | Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine |
| 2008 | Karen Maric | "The Last Deflowerer" | Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine |
| 2008 | Angela Slatter | "Dresses, Three" | Shimmer |
| 2008 | Kim Westwood | "Nightship" | HarperVoyager (Dreaming Again) |
| 2009 | Christopher Green* | "Father's Kill" | Beneath Ceaseless Skies |
| 2009 | Ian McHugh* | "Once a Month, On a Sunday" | Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine |
| 2009 | Tansy Rayner Roberts | "Siren Beat" | Twelfth Planet Press (Roadkill/Siren Beat) |
| 2009 | Angela Slatter | "Words" | The Lifted Brow |
| 2009 | Lucy Sussex | "Something Better than Death" | Aurealis |
| 2010 | Thoraiya Dyer* (tie) | "Yowie" | Twelfth Planet Press (Sprawl) |
| 2010 | L. L. Hannett and Angela Slatter* (tie) | "The February Dragon" | Ticonderoga Publications (Scary Kisses) |
| 2010 | Elizabeth Carroll | "The Duke of Vertumn's Fingerling" | Strange Horizons |
| 2010 | Andrew McKiernan | "All the Clowns in Clowntown" | Brimstone Press (Macabre: A Journey Through Australia's Darkest Fears) |
| 2010 | Angela Slatter | "Sister, Sister" | Tartarus Press (Strange Tales III) |
| 2011 | Thoraiya Dyer* | "Fruit of the Pipal Tree" | FableCroft Publishing (After the Rain) |
| 2011 | Margo Lanagan | "The Proving of Smollett Standforth" | HarperVoyager (Ghosts by Gaslight) |
| 2011 | Margo Lanagan | "Into the Clouds on High" | Allen & Unwin (Yellowcake) |
| 2011 | Anthony Panegyres | "Reading Coffee" | Overland |
| 2011 | D. C. White | "The Dark Night of Anton Weiss" | Ticonderoga Publications (More Scary Kisses) |
| 2012 | Margo Lanagan* | "Bajazzle" | Twelfth Planet Press (Cracklescape) |
| 2012 | Joanne Anderton | "Sanaa's Army" | Ticonderoga Publications (Bloodstones) |
| 2012 | Isobelle Carmody | "The Stone Witch" | Random House (Under My Hat) |
| 2012 | Deborah Kalin | "First They Came" | Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 55 |
| 2012 | Margo Lanagan | "The Isles of the Sun" | Twelfth Planet Press (Cracklescape) |
| 2013 | Jay Kristoff* | "The Last Stormdancer" | Thomas Dunne Books |
| 2013 | Tracie McBride | "The Touch of the Taniwha" | Dagan Books (Fish) |
| 2013 | Ian McHugh | "Cold, Cold War" | Scott H. Andrews (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) |
| 2013 | Kirstie Olley | "Short Circuit" | Oomph (Oomph: a little super goes a long way) |
| 2013 | Kim Wilkins | "The Year of Ancient Ghosts" | Ticonderoga Publications (The Year of Ancient Ghosts) |
| 2014 | Angela Slatter* | "St Dymphna's School for Poison Girls" | Review of Australian Fiction, Volume 9, Issue 3 |
| 2014 | Thoraiya Dyer | "The Oud" | Crossed Genres Publications (Long Hidden) |
| 2014 | Deborah Kalin | "Teratogen" | Cemetery Dance 71 |
| 2014 | Charlotte Nash | "The Ghost of Hepaestus" | FableCroft Publishing (Cranky Ladies of History) |
| 2014 | Angela Slatter | "The Badger Bride" | Tartarus Press (Strange Tales IV) |
| 2015 | Rowena Cory Daniells* | "The Giant's Lady" | Newcon Press (Legends 2) |
| 2015 | Michelle Goldsmith | "The Jellyfish Collector" | Review of Australian Fiction, Vol. 13, Issue 6 |
| 2015 | Lisa L. Hannett | "A Shot of Salt Water" | TDM Press (The Dark) |
| 2015 | D. K. Mok | "Almost Days" | FableCroft Publishing (Insert Title Here) |
| 2015 | Faith Mudge | "Blueblood" | Ticonderoga Publications (Hear Me Roar) |
| 2015 | Suzanne J. Willis | "Husk and Sheaf" | SQ Mag 22 |
| 2016 | Thoraiya Dyer* | "Where the Pelican Builds Her Nest" | FableCroft Publishing (In Your Face) |
| 2016 | Tamlyn Dreaver | "Watercress Soup" | Andromeda Spaceways Magazine 65 |
| 2016 | Jack Nicholls | "Dune Time" | Tor.com |
| 2016 | Garth Nix | "Penny For a Match, Mister?" | Saga Press (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales) |
| 2016 | David Versace | "The Lighthouse at Cape Defeat" | Aurealis 89 |
| 2016 | Suzanne J. Willis | "The Cartographer's Price" | Mythic Delirium 3.1 |
| 2017 | Tansy Rayner Roberts* | "The Curse is Come Upon Me, Cried" | self-published (Please Look After This Angel & Other Winged Stories) |
| 2017 | Freya Marske | "Hamelin's Graves" | Andromeda Spaceways Magazine 69 |
| 2017 | Angela Slatter | "The Little Mermaid, in Passing" | Review of Australian Fiction Vol 22 Issue 1 |
| 2017 | J. Ashley Smith | "Duplicity" | coeur de lion (Dimension6 #11) |
| 2017 | Marlee Jane Ward | "The Rainmaker Goddess, Hallowed Shaz" | Feminartsy |
| 2017 | Lili Wilkinson | "Oona Underground" | HarperCollins Publishers (Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology) |
| 2018 | J. Ashley Smith* | "The Further Shore" | Bourbon Penn 15 |
| 2018 | Alan Baxter | "Crying Demon" | Grey Matter Press (Suspended in Dusk 2) |
| 2018 | Juliet Marillier | "Army Men" | Lancelot Schaubert (Of Gods and Globes) |
| 2018 | Amanda J. Spedding | "Child of the Emptyness" | Grimdark Magazine 17 |
| 2018 | David Versace | "A Moment's Peace" | CSFG Publishing (A Hand of Knaves) |
| 2018 | Suzanne J. Willis | "Heartwood, Sapwood, Spring" | Ate Bit Bear (Sword and Sonnet) |
| 2019 | Tansy Rayner Roberts | "Dragon By Subscription" | (self-published on Patreon) |
| 2019 | Joanne Anderton | "Loose Stones" | Brio Books (Infinite Threads) |
| 2019 | Aidan Doyle | "1078 Reasons" | Translunar Travelers Lounge |
| 2019 | Aiki Flinthart | "Pigshit and Gold" | Dimension6 18 |
| 2019 | Ephiny Gale Teare | "CurioQueens" | Constellary Tales Magazine 4 |
| 2019 | Juliet Marillier | "Good Dog, Alice" | Titan Books (Wonderland) |
| 2020 | Louise Pieper | "Truth Be Told" | Unnatural Order |
| 2020 | Nikky Lee | "The Dead May Dance" | Midnight Echo 15 |
| 2020 | Garth Nix | "The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword" | Tor.com |
| 2020 | J. Z. Ting | "Terracotta Daughter" | Coppice & Brake |
| 2020 | Suzanne J. Willis | "A Solace of Shadows" | Three Crows Magazine #7 |

## Honourable mentions and high commendations

The honourable mentions and high commendations are announced alongside the list of finalists for their respected year of eligibility. In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the book's eligibility; the ceremonies are always held the following year. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a grey background have been noted as highly commended; those with a white background have received honourable mentions. If the short story was originally published in a book with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the book title is included after the publisher's name.

* Highly commended  * Honourable mentions

| Year | Author | Short story | Publisher or publication |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2003 | Brendan Duffy | "Louder Echo" | Agog! (Agog! Terrific Tales) |
| 2003 | Tracey Rolfe | "Storm in a Chandelier" | Agog! (Agog! Terrific Tales) |
| 2004 | Trudi Canavan* | "A Room for Improvement" | Wakefield Press (Forever Shores) |
| 2006 | Lily Chrywenstrom | "Ghosts of 1930" | Borderlands |
| 2006 | Carol Ryles | "The Bridal Bier" | Eidolon Books (Eidolon I) |
