| Aurealis Award for best collection | |
| Awarded For: | Excellence in speculative fiction collections |
| Presenter: | Chimaera Publications, Continuum Foundation |
| Country: | Australia |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Holder: | Alan Baxter |
| Website: | Official site |
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".[1] 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;[2] 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.[3]
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.[1] 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.[4]
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.[1] The judges are selected from a public application process by the Award's management team.[5]
The award for best collection was first awarded in 2008 along with two other categories; best anthology and best illustrated book or graphic novel to replace the discontinued Golden Aurealis awards.[1] [5]
This article lists all the short-list nominees and winners in the best collection category. As of the 2021 awards, and August 2022, Angela Slatter holds the record for most wins, having won four times. Slatter also holds the record for most nominations, having been nominated ten times.
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 blue background have won the award; those with a white background are the nominees on the short-list.
Winners and joint winners
Nominees on the shortlist
| Year | Author & Editor | Collection | Publisher | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [6] | |||
| Creeping in Reptile Flesh | ||||
| Oceanic | [7] | |||
| & Alisa Krasnostein (editor) | ||||
| & Geoffrey Maloney (editor) | Slice of Life | |||
| & Donna Hanson (editor) | Johnny Phillips Werewolf Detective | |||
| [8] | ||||
| [9] | ||||
| Under Stones | ||||
| Sourdough and Other Stories | ||||
| Dead Sea Fruit | ||||
| Bluegrass Symphony | [10] | |||
| Bad Power | [11] | |||
| Last Days of Kali Yuga | ||||
| Nightsiders | ||||
| Love and Romanpunk | ||||
| That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote | K. J. Bishop | [12] | ||
| Metro Winds | [13] | |||
| Midnight and Moonshine | ||||
| Living With the Dead | ||||
| Through Splintered Walls | ||||
| [14] [15] | ||||
| Asymmetry | ||||
| Caution: Contains Small Parts | ||||
| [16] | ||||
| Secret Lives | ||||
| Angel Dust | ||||
| Difficult Second Album: more stories of Xenobiology, Space Elevators, and Bats Out of Hell | ||||
| Black-Winged Angels | ||||
| To Hold the Bridge | ||||
| Striking Fire | ||||
| Cherry Crow Children | ||||
| (self-published) | ||||
| Prime | ||||
| Crow Shine | ||||
| Concentration | ||||
| Winter Children | ||||
| ||||
| Beneath the Floating City | (self-published) | |||
| Singing My Sister Down and Other Stories | ||||
| Please Look After This Angel & Other Winged Stories | (self-published) | |||
| Perfect Little Stitches and Other Stories | ||||
| Tales from The Inner City | ||||
| Not Quite the End of the World | Brain Jar Press | |||
| Phantom Limbs | ||||
| Exploring Dark Short Fiction 2: A Primer to Kaaron Warren | Dark Moon Books | |||
| Collision: Stories | [17] [18] | |||
| Blackbirds Sing | ||||
| Scar Tissue and Other Stories | ||||
| Five Dragons | ||||
| Stray Bats | ||||
| Men and Machines I: Space Operas and Special Ops | ||||
| PS Publishing | [19] | |||
| Songs for Dark Seasons | Ticonderoga Publications | [20] | ||
| Mother Thorn and Other Tales of Courage and Kindness | Serenity Press | |||
| Castle Charming | (self-published) | |||
| Unreal Alchemy | (self-published) | |||
| Dark Harvest | NewCon Press | |||
| (self-published) | [21] [22] [23] | |||
| Danged Black Thing | Transit Lounge | |||
| Little Labyrinths: Collection Microfictions | Brain Jar Press | |||
| Tartarus Press | ||||
| Four Ink Press | ||||
| 2022 | Joanne Anderton | The Art of Broken Things | Trepidatio Publishing | [24] |
| The Fall: Tales From The Gulp 2 | 13th Dragon Books | |||
| Else Fitzgerald | Everything Feels Like the End of the World | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Chris Flynn | Here be Leviathans | University of Queensland Press | ||
| Hard Places | Trepidatio Publishing | |||
| Tansy Rayner Roberts | Team Queen | self-published |
Egan declined to accept the award for Oceanic.[25]