Ion Newcombe

NAFF (the National Australian Fan Fund) assists fans to travel across Australia to attend the Australian National Convention (Natcon) by covering the costs of airfare, accommodation and convention membership. Continuum 15: Other Worlds (Natcon 58) will be held June 7th -10th in Melbourne, Victoria. If you live outside of Victoria and would like to attend Continuum 15, why not nominate as NAFF delegate 2019? Please only nominate if you are sure you can attend the con on those dates. Details about Continuum can be found at continuum.org.au

NAFF delegates are encouraged to provide a trip report and help to organise and run future NAFF races.

Read moreNational Australian Fan Fund Call for Nominations

The 2019 Writers of the Future Golden Pen Award:

• Andrew Dykstal for the story, “Thanatos Drive”

The Illustrators of the Future Golden Brush Award:

• Aliya Chen, illustration of Elise Stephens’s story, “Untrained Luck”

Read more2019 Writers & Illustrators Of The Future Awards

The finalists for the 2019 Hugo Awards, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and for the 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards were announced online in early April by (Worldcon) Dublin 2019.

Voting for the Hugo Awards is open to any supporting or attending member of Dublin 2019. Voting will open later in April 2019. There is no Hugo Award voting at the Worldcon itself. Voting ends before the convention to allow sufficient time to count votes and prepare trophies. Anyone who joins by the end of voting is eligible to vote.

Read moreHugo & Campbell Awards Finalists Announced

The Norma K Hemming Award is presented by the Australian Science Fiction Foundation to mark excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class or disability in a speculative fiction work (e.g. science fiction, fantasy, horror) by Australian citizens and/or residents.

Entries for the 2019 Norma K Hemming Award, covering eligible work from 2018, closed on Thursday 31 January, 2019. In the short form category (work up to 17,500 words), 31 eligible entries were received. In the long form category, 22 eligible entries were received, which included anthologies, novellas, stage plays and novel length works.

Read more2019 Norma K Hemming Award

The Australian Science Fiction Foundation is sponsoring a short story competition through this year’s National SF Convention — Continuum 15.

Theme: Alternative Realities

Junior and open categories are available.

The first-place winner will receive a cash prize.

You may also like to try your hand at a 15 word story, submitted via twitter.

<https://www.continuum.org.au/participate/short-story-competition/>

Read moreContinuum 15 Short Story Competition

The Australian Science Fiction Foundation seeks nominations for the 2019 A. Bertram Chandler Award

To nominate someone whom you believe has made a significant contribution to Australian science fiction and/or Australian fandom, write or email to the ASFF, P.O. Box 215 Forest Hill Vic 3131, or send email to the Awards Administrator.

The nomination needs to detail the nominee’s achievements and why you consider the nominee worthy of the 2019 Award.

Read moreA. Bertram Chandler Award Nominations 2019 Open

After consideration of more than fifty book series entered, totalling over 150 works, the judges of the 2018 Sara Douglass Book Series Award are delighted to announce the finalists for this period.

• Blackthorn & Grim [Dreamer’s Pool (2014), Tower of Thorns (2015), Den of Wolves (2016)], Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Captive Prince [Captive Prince (2014), Prince’s Gambit (2014), Kings Rising (2016)], C S Pacat (Penguin Random House)
• Electric Empire [The Diabolical Miss Hyde (2015), The Devious Dr Jekyll (2015), The Dastardly Miss Lizzie (2017)], Viola Carr (HarperCollins Publishers)
• The Fire Sermon [The Fire Sermon (2015), The Map of Bones (2016), The Forever Ship (2017)], Francesca Haig (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Zeroes [Zeroes (2015), Swarm (2016), Nexus (2017)], Deborah Biancotti, Margo Lanagan & Scott Westerfeld (Allen & Unwin)

  Read more2018 Sara Douglass Book Series Award shortlist

The Continuum Foundation (ConFound), organisers of the 2018 Aurealis Awards, is delighted to announce the finalists for the Awards.

Winners of the 2018 Aurealis Awards, Sara Douglass Book Series Award, and the Convenors’ Award for Excellence will be announced at the Aurealis Awards ceremony taking place in Melbourne on Saturday May 4, 2019. Details of the event and a link to the online ticketing options will be available soon.

For further information about the Awards please contact aurealisawards@gmail.com

2018 Aurealis Awards – Finalists are:

Read moreAurealis Awards 2018 Finalists

Garry Dalrymple, organiser of the Sydney Freecons, has announced a planning meeting for this year’s Sydney Freecons on Sunday Feb 24, and welcomes your attendance to share ideas and plan.

Among the topics Garry would like to discuss are:

• Do we hold one, two or no Freecons this year?
• What dates we should avoid, i.e. a list of the dates of pre-existing meetings / events of similar audience events?
• When should we try for a Saturday, Campsie Library Freecon (May or June)?
• Should we have a two or three day Freecon, in late October or Early November?

  Read moreSydney Freecon 2019 Planning Meeting

Nominations for the 2019 Australian SF (“Ditmar”) awards are now open  and will remain open until one minute before midnight Melbourne time on  Sunday, 24th of March , 2019 (ie. 11.59pm, GMT+10). Postal nominations  must be postmarked no later than Friday, 22nd of March, 2019.

The current rules, including Award categories can be found at:

<https://wiki.sf.org.au/Ditmar_rules>

You must include your name with any nomination. Nominations will be accepted only from natural persons active in fandom, or from full or supporting members of Continuum 15, the 2019 Australian National SF Convention <https://continuum.org.au/>.

Read moreDitmar Nominations 2019 Open