Aurealis Award for best science fiction novel
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. 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 science fiction novel category, as well as novels that have received honourable mentions. Since 2003, honourable mentions have been awarded intermittently. Damien Broderick and Jay Kristoff have won the award three times, while five have won it twice – K. A. Bedford, Greg Egan, Amie Kaufman, Sean McMullen, and Sean Williams. Williams holds the record for most nominations with 14. Rory Barnes, James Bradley, Simon Brown, Sara Creasy, Nina D'Aleo, Joel Shepherd, Meagan Spooner, Graham Storrs, and Tess Williams share the record for most nominations without winning, each having been nominated twice.
Winners and nominees
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 | Novel | Publisher | Ref |
| * | Distress | Millennium | ||
| Mirrorsun Rising | Aphelion Publications | |||
| Set Piece | Virgin Books | |||
| & Shane Dix | Aphelion Publications | |||
| * | Metal Fatigue | HarperCollins | ||
| Privateer | HarperCollins | |||
| Map of Power | Arrow Books | |||
| * | Avon Eos | |||
| & Rory Barnes | Zones | Moonstone | ||
| Winter | HarperCollins | |||
| Diaspora | Millennium | |||
| Pan Macmillan | ||||
| * | Tor Books | |||
| Singing the Dogstar Blues | HarperCollins | |||
| Pan Macmillan | ||||
| Virgin Books | ||||
| Voyager Books | ||||
| * | Teranesia | Gollancz | ||
| & Kate Orman | ' | BBC Books | ||
| & Rory Barnes | HarperCollins | |||
| Picador | ||||
| Spare Parts | Penguin Books | |||
| * | Tor Books | |||
| Sceptre | ||||
| & Shane Dix | Voyager Books | |||
| Sea as Mirror | Voyager Books | |||
| & Shane Dix* | Voyager Books | |||
| Cosmonaut | Penguin Books | |||
| Eyes of the Calculor | Tor Books | |||
| Crossover | Voyager Books | |||
| * | Transcension | Tor Books | ||
| Blue Silence | Bantam Books | |||
| & Shane Dix | Echoes of Earth | Voyager Books | ||
| & Kate Orman* | Fallen Gods | Telos Publishing | ||
| Wyrmhole | Roc Books | |||
| Terminator Gene | Simon & Schuster | |||
| Blue Box | BBC Worldwide | |||
| & Shane Dix | Orphans of Earth | Voyager Books | ||
| * | Less Than Human | Warner Aspect | ||
| Orbital Burn | Edge Publishing | |||
| Flamingo | ||||
| Nylon Angel | Orbit Books | |||
| & Shane Dix | Heirs of Earth | Voyager Books | ||
| * | Eclipse | Edge Publishing | ||
| Designated Targets | Pan Macmillan | |||
| Crash Deluxe | Orbit Books | |||
| & Shane Dix | Ascent | Voyager Books | ||
| * | K-Machines | Avalon Publishing Group | ||
| Hydrogen Steel | Edge Publishing | |||
| Underground | Allen & Unwin | |||
| & Shane Dix | Descent | Voyager Books | ||
| * | Pan Macmillan | |||
| Dark Space | Orbit Books | |||
| Remote Control | Pan Macmillan | |||
| Saturn Returns | Orbit Books | |||
| * | Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait | Edge Publishing | ||
| Chaos Space | Orbit Books | |||
| HarperVoyager | ||||
| Earth Ascendant | Orbit Books | |||
| ' | Fremantle Press | |||
| * | Wonders of a Godless World | Allen & Unwin | ||
| ' | Orbit Books | |||
| * | Transformation Space | Orbit Books | ||
| Song of Scarabaeus | EOS Books | |||
| Mirror Space | Orbit Books | |||
| * | HarperVoyager | |||
| Machine Man | Scribe Publications | |||
| Children of Scarabaeus | HarperVoyager | |||
| Fremantle Press | ||||
| Black Glass | Scribe Publications | |||
| * | ' | HarperCollins | ||
| Suited | Angry Robot Books | |||
| ' | Momentum | |||
| And All the Stars | Andrea K. Hosth | |||
| ' | Walker Books | |||
| ' | Allen & Unwin | |||
| * | Lexicon | Hachette | ||
| Trucksong | Twelfth Planet Press | |||
| ' | Transit Lounge | |||
| True Path | Momentum | |||
| Rupetta | Tartarus Press | |||
| * | Peacemaker | Angry Robot | ||
| Aurora: Meridian | Momentum | |||
| LynC | Nil By Mouth | Satalyte Publishing | ||
| ' | Momentum | |||
| & Meagan Spooner | Their Shattered World | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Foresight | Momentum | |||
| and Jay Kristoff* | Illuminae | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Crossed | ||||
| Clade | Penguin | |||
| and Meagan Spooner | Their Fractured Light | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Renegade | Kindle Direct | |||
| Twinmaker: Fall | Allen & Unwin | |||
| and Jay Kristoff* | Gemima: The Illuminae Files 2 | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Watershed | Penguin Random House | |||
| Confluence | Ace Books | |||
| Squid's Grief | ||||
| Stiletto | HarperCollins Publishers | |||
| Threader | Harlequin Australia | |||
| * | From the Wreck | Transit Lounge | ||
| Closing Down | Hachette Australia | |||
| Terra Nullius | Hachette Australia | |||
| Year of the Orphan | Penguin Random House Australia | |||
| ' | Text Publishing | |||
| Lotus Blue | Skyhorse | |||
| * | Lifel1k3 | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Scales of Empire | HarperCollins Publishers | |||
| & Jay Kristoff | Obsidio | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Dyschronia | Picador Australia | |||
| ' | Ventura Press | |||
| ' | Penguin Random House Australia | |||
| The Subjects | Text Publishing | |||
| & Jay Kristoff | Aurora Rising | Allen & Unwin | ||
| The Trespassers | University of Queensland Press | |||
| The Glad Shout | Affirm | |||
| Daughter of Bad Times | Allen & Unwin |
Honourable mentions
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.| Year | Author | Novel | Publisher | Ref |
| 2003 | Tor Books | |||
| 2007 | Transit Lounge |