Australian horror fiction literary award
The Australian Shadows Awards, also known as the Australasian Shadows Awards, are annual literary awards established by the Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) in 2005 to honour the best published works of horror fiction written or edited by an Australian/New Zealand/Oceania resident in the previous calendar year.
Awards criteria and history
Works are judged on their overall effect within the horror genre based on the author's skill, delivery, and the work's lasting resonance. Each year, a director is appointed by the AHWA to administer the award. Shortlists for each category are determined by a panel of judges, and the shortlisted nominees are announced in March/April every year.
From 2005 to 2008, the Australian Shadows Award evaluated novels, anthologies, and short stories against each other in a single category. In 2009, the award was expanded into three categories: Short Fiction, Long Fiction, and Edited Publication.
From 2011, the award was restructured to consist of five categories: Novel; Long Fiction (novellas and novelettes); Short Fiction (short stories); Collection (single author collections); and Edited Publication (anthologies and magazine issues). In 2013, the 'Long Fiction' award category was renamed 'Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction' in honour of New Zealand/Australian author Paul Haines.
The Australian Shadows Awards were sponsored by Altair Australia Books in its first two years, through the donation of two statuettes created by dark fantasy artist Brom (supplied by The Franklin Mint). Currently, winners of the awards receive a hand crafted trophy from the masters of the horror special effects industry, Nightshade FX.
Winners and nominees
In the below list, the years correspond to the year of the book's eligibility; the awards are always announced the following year. If the short story was originally published in an anthology with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the anthology title and anthology publisher's name is included.
2016
Award Director: Claire Fitzpatrick
Short fiction
Winner
Nominees
- "D Is for Death", Pete Aldin (C is for Chimera)
- "Midnight in the Graffiti Tunnel", Terry Dowling (Dreaming in the Dark)
- "Protege", Anthony Ferguson (Monsters Among Us)
- "No Other Men in Mitchell", Rose Hartley (Nightmare 2/16)
- "Selfie", Lee Murray (SQ Mag 5/16)
- "What the Sea Wants", Deb Sheldon (SQ Mag 2/16)
- "Uncontainable", Helen Stubbs (Apex Magazine 12/16)
- "All Roll Over", Kaaron Warren (In Your Face)
- "Fade to Grey", Janeen Webb (Dreaming in the Dark)
Collected works
Winner
Nominees
Edited Work
Winner
Nominees
- Dreaming in the Dark, Jack Dann, ed. (PS Australia)
- At the Edg'e, Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray, eds. (Paper Road)
Novel
Winner
- The Grief Hole, Kaaron Warren (IFWG)
Nominees
- Hollow House, Greg Chapman (Omnium Gatherum)
- The Devil’s Prayer, Luke Gracias (self-published)
- Presumed Dead, Rick Kennett (self-published)
- The Invasion, Brett McBean (Sinister Grin)
- Into the Mist, Lee Murray (Cohesion)
- Unbidden, TJ Park (HarperImpulse)
- Devil Dragon, Deborah Sheldon (Severed)
Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction
Winner
- "Tipuna Tapu", Dan Rabarts (And Then…: The Great Big Book of Awesome Adventure Tales, Vol I)
Nominees
- "Box Of Bones", Jeremy Bates (Ghillinnein)
- "Served Cold", Alan Baxter (Dreaming in the Dark)
- "The Eschatologist", Greg Chapman (Voodoo)
- "The Heart of the Mission", Matthew R. Davis (Oz Horror Con)
- "Burnt Sugar", Kirstyn McDermott (Dreaming in the Dark)
2017
Award Director: J. Ashley Smith
The Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism
Winner
- The Body Horror Book, Claire Fitzpatrick (Oscillate Wildly Press)
Nominees
- "101 Weird Writers #46 – Ryūnosuke Akutagawa", Kat Clay (Weird Fiction Review)
- Literary Serial Killer Fiction: The Evolution of a Genre, William Cook (Victoria University, Wellington NZ)
- It Follows is the Millennial STD Parable of Our Time, Maria Lewis (SBS)
- "A Shared Ambition: Horror Writers in Horror Fiction", Kyla Lee Ward (AHWA, Midnight Echo #12)
Written Work in a Comic/Graphic Novel
No award.
Edited Work
Winner
Nominees
- Midnight Echo #12, Shane Jiraiya Cummings & Anthony P. Ferguson (AHWA)
- Below the Stairs – Tales from the Cellar, Steven Dillon (Things in the Well)
Collected Work
Winner
- Perfect Little Stitches and Other Stories, Deborah Sheldon (IFWG Publishing)
Nominees
Short fiction
Winner
Nominees
- "Outside a Drifter", Lisa L. Hannett (Looming Low Vol.1, Dim Shores Press)
- "The Hand Walker", Rue Karney (Pacific Monsters, Fox Spirit Press)
- "The Circle Line", Martin Livings (Between the Tracks, Things in the Well)
- "The Little Mermaid", in Passing, Angela Slatter (The Review of Australian Fiction, April 2017)
- "The Big Reveal", David Stevens (Kaleidotrope)
The Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction
Winner
- "Ismail's Expulsion", Brian Craddock (Between the Tracks, Things in the Well)
Nominees
- "Hope and Walker", Andrew Cull (Vermillion2One)
- "This Impossible Gift", Matthew R. Davis (Midnight Echo #12, AHWA)
- "No Good Deed", Angela Slatter (New Fears, Titan Books)
- "Furtherest", Kaaron Warren (Dark Screams Vol. 7, Cemetery Dance)
- "Eden in the End", Ashlee Scheuerman (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
Novel
Winner
- Corpselight (Verity Fassbinder Book 2), Angela Slatter (Jo Fletcher Books)
Nominees
- Aletheia, J. S. Breukelaar (Crystal Lake Publishing)
- Slithers, W. W. Mortensen (Self Published)
- Soon, Lois Murphy (Transit Lounge)
- Providence Place, Matthew Tait (Dark Crib Publications)
2018
Award Director: Silvia Brown
Poetry
Winner
- "Revenants of the Antipodes", Kyla Lee Ward (HWA Poetry Showcase, Volume V)
Nominees
- "Polarity", Jay Caselberg (The Literary Hatchet 8-9/18)
- "The Middle of the Night", Rebecca Fraser (Breach #09)
- "Your Mortician Knows", Bee Nielsen (A Little Ray of Obsidian Black)
- "Matinee", Hester J. Rook (Chrome Baby 4/12/18)
Written Work in a Comic/Graphic Novel
Winner
- The Demon: Hell is Earth, Andrew Constant, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy & Chris Sotomayor (DC)
Edited Work
Winner
- Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Horror, Lee Murray, ed. (Adrenaline)
Nominees
- Behind the Mask, Steve Dillon, ed. (Oz Horror Con)
- Cthulhu: Land of the Long White Cloud and Cthulhu Deep Down Under, Volume 2, Steve Proposch, Christopher Sequeira & Bryce J. Stevens, eds. (IFWG)
Collected Work
Winner
Nominees
- Singing My Sister Down and Other Stories, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
- Bones, Andrew Cull (Vermillion2One)
- The Dalziel Files, Brian Craddock (Broken Puppet Books)
- Exploring Dark Fiction #2: A Primer to Kaaron Warren, Eric J. Guignard, ed. (Dark Moon)
- Beneath the Ferny Tree, David Schembri (Close-Up)
Short fiction
Winner
- "Riptide", Dan Rabarts (Suspended in Dusk II)
Nominees
- "The House of Jack’s Girls", Lee Battersby (PseudoPod 10/12/18)
- "The Ward of Tindalos", Debbie Cowens & Matt Cowens (Cthulhu: Land of the Long White Cloud)
- "Planned and Expected", Piper Mejia (Breach #09)
- "Slither", Jason Nahrung (Cthulhu Deep Down Under, Volume 2)
The Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction
Winner
- "The Black Sea", Chris Mason (Beneath the Waves: Tales from the Deep)
Nominees
- "Time and Tide", Robert Hood (Cthulhu Deep Down Under, Volume 2)
- "Thylacines", Deborah Sheldon (Severed)
- "Love Thee Better", Kaaron Warren (Creatures: The Legacy of Frankenstein)
Novel
Winner
Nominees
- Devouring Dark, Alan Baxter (Grey Matter)
- Teeth of the Wolf, Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray (Raw Dog Screaming)
- Contrition, Deborah Sheldon (IFWG)
2019
The winners were announced in June 2019:[1]
Poetry
Winner
- "Taxonomy of Captured Roses", Hester J. Rook (Kaleidotrope, Autumn '19)
Nominees
- "Separation", Jay Caselberg (The Literary Hatchet #23)
- "Please Do Not Feed the Animals", Anne Casey (out of emptied cups)
- "Ode to a Black Hole", Charles Lovecraft (Spectral Realms Winter '19)
- "Brine and Vanishings", Hester J. Rook (Luminality #21)
- "Boat of a Million Years", Kyla Lee Ward (The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities)
Written Work in a Comic/Graphic Novel
Winner
- The Demon: Hell is Earth, Andrew Constant, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy & Chris Sotomayor (DC)
Edited Work
Winner
- Midnight Echo Volume 14, Deborah Sheldon, ed. (Australasian Horror Writers Association)
Nominees
- Beside the Seaside: Tales from the Day-Tripper, Steve Dillon, ed. (self-published)
- Trickster's Treats, Volume 3: The Seven Deadly Sins Edition, Marie O'Regan & Lee Murray, eds. (self-published)
Collected Work
Winner
Nominees
- Collision: Stories, J. S. Breukelaar (Meerkat)
- Figments and Fragments, Deborah Sheldon (IFWG)
Short fiction
Winner
- "Steadfast Shadowsong", Matthew R. Davis (Dig Two Graves)
Nominees
- "The Ocean Hushed the Stones", Alan Baxter (Served Cold)
- "Ave Rune", J. S. Breukelaar (Collision: Stories)
- "Vivienne & Agnes", Chris Mason (Beside the Seaside: Tales from the Daytripper)
The Paul Haines Award for Long Fiction
Winner
- "Supermassive Black Mass", Matthew R. Davis
Nominees
- "1862", C. J. Halbard (Man on Fire)
- "Enemy of My Enemy", Rick Kennett (War of the Worlds: Battleground Australia)
- "Out of Darkness", Chris Mason (Tales of the Lost, Volume 1)
- "The Neverwhere Line", Matthew J. Morrison (Midnight Echo #14)
Novel
Winner
Nominees
- The Flower and the Serpent, Madeleine D'Este (self-published)
- Fusion, Kate Richards (Raw Dog Screaming)
- Contrition, Deborah Sheldon (IFWG)
Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism
Winner
- "The Danse Macabre", Kyla Lee Ward (The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities)
Nominees
- "Suffer the Little Children", Kris Ashton (Aurealis #119)
- "Horror and the paranormal", Eugen Bacon (Writing Speculative Fiction)
- "Horror Movies That Mean Something and Childhood Trauma Manifested", Maria Lewis (flicks.com.au)