The shortlist for the Ditmar Awards has been released and I’m on it. Twice. Which means I’m double-decker chuffed, as my five year old son would say.
The Ditmars are voted on by the Australian spec fic community (where the Aurealis Awards are a juried prize).
First, Flame Trees was nominated in the Best Short Story category. Flame Trees was also shortlisted for an Aurealis Award. I’m extremely pleased that my near-future tale of a Vietnamese refugee living in Australia (with flashbacks to the horrors of a war in Vietnam) has resonated with readers and judges.
Second, I’ve been nominated for Best New Talent. It’s my second time in this category and, as such, my last chance to win it. At 40 I don’t feel that new, and I’m not convinced on the talent, but hey, I’ll take your votes people.
I’m pleased to see both Kaaron Warren and DK Mok nominated for best novel, plus many other friends and drinking buddies in the community. Talented bunch, well deserved. 
I’m told voting can be done here.
Prediction: the Best Fan Artist nominee has a pretty good shot.
The full list:
Best Novel
- The Grief Hole, Kaaron Warren, IFWG Publishing Australia
- The Lyre Thief, Jennifer Fallon, HarperCollins
- Squid’s Grief, D.K. Mok, D.K. Mok
- Vigil, Angela Slatter, Jo Fletcher Books
- The Wizardry of Jewish Women, Gillian Polack, Satalyte Publishing
Best Novella or Novelette
- “All the Colours of the Tomato,” Simon Petrie, in Dimension6 9
- “By the Laws of Crab and Woman,” Jason Fischer, in Review of Australian Fiction, Vol 17, Issue 6
- “Did We Break the End of the World?”, Tansy Rayner Roberts, inDefying Doomsday, Twelfth Planet Press
- “Finnegan’s Field,” Angela Slatter, in Tor.com
- “Glass Slipper Scandal,” Tansy Rayner Roberts, inSheep Might Fly
- “Going Viral,” Thoraiya Dyer, inDimension6 8
Best Short Story
- “Flame Trees,” T.R. Napper, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, April/May 2016
- “No Fat Chicks,” Cat Sparks, in In Your Face, FableCroft Publishing
- “There’s No Place Like Home,” Edwina Harvey, in AntipodeanSF 221
Best Collected Work
- Crow Shine, Alan Baxter, Ticonderoga Publications
- Defying Doomsday, Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench, Twelfth Planet Press
- Dreaming in the Dark, Jack Dann, PS Publishing
- In Your Face, Tehani Wessely, FableCroft Publishing
Best Artwork
- cover and internal artwork, Adam Browne, for The Tame Animals of Saturn, Peggy Bright Books
- illustration, Shauna O’Meara, forLackington’s 12
Best Fan Publication in Any Medium
- 2016 Australian SF Snapshot, Greg Chapman, Tehani Croft, Tsana Dolichva, Marisol Dunham, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Stephanie Gunn, Ju Landéesse, David McDonald, Belle McQuattie, Matthew Morrison, Alex Pierce, Rivqa Rafael, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Helen Stubbs, Katharine Stubbs and Matthew Summers
- The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
- Earl Grey Editing Services (blog), Elizabeth Fitzgerald
- Galactic Chat, Alexandra Pierce, David McDonald, Sarah Parker, Helen Stubbs, Mark Webb, and Sean Wright
- Galactic Suburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts
- The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond
Best Fan Writer
- James ‘Jocko’ Allen, for body of work
- Aidan Doyle, for body of work
- Bruce Gillespie, for body of work
- Foz Meadows, for body of work
- Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work
Best Fan Artist
- Kathleen Jennings, for body of work, including Illustration Friday series
Best New Talent
- T. R. Napper
- Marlee Jane Ward
William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review
- Kat Clay for essays and reviews inWeird Fiction Review
- Tehani Croft & Marisol Dunham, for Revisiting Pern: the Great McCaffrey Reread review series
- Tsana Dolichva, for reviews, inTsana’s Reads and Reviews
- Kate Forsyth, forThe Rebirth of Rapunzel: A Mythic Biography of the Maiden in the Tower, FableCroft Publishing
- Ian Mond, for reviews, inThe Hysterical Hamster
- Alexandra Pierce, for reviews, inRandomly Yours, Alex
- Gillian Polack, forHistory and Fiction: Writers, Their Research, Worlds and Stories, Peter Lang
