# Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novella

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. Ties can occur if the panel decides both entries show equal merit, however they are encouraged to choose a single winner. 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 fantasy novella category. Alan Baxter and Tansy Rayner Roberts share the record for most nominations (3), while Jason Fischer, Stephanie Gunn, Nikky Lee, Kirstyn McDermott, and Angela Slatter follow, each having been nominated twice. This is as of the 2021 Awards, as the winners were announced in late May 2022.

## Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the story'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. If the short story was originally published in a book with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the book title is included after the publisher's name.
* Winners and joint winners  * Nominees on the shortlist
| Year | Author(s) | Novella | Publisher or publication |
| 2015 | Jason Fischer* | "Defy the Grey Kings" | Beneath Ceaseless Skies (#180) |
| 2015 | Steve Cameron | "Lodloc and The Bear" | coeur de lion (Dimension6) |
| 2015 | Stephanie Gunn | "Broken Glass" | Ticonderoga Publications (Hear Me Roar) |
| 2015 | Stephanie Gunn | "The Flowers that Bloom Where Blood Touches the Earth" | Ticonderoga Publications (Bloodlines) |
| 2015 | Dmetri Kakmi | "Haunting Matilda" | Horror Australis (Cthulhu: Deep Down Under) |
| 2015 | Angela Slatter | "Of Sorrow and Such" | Tor.com |
| 2016 | Andrea K. Höst* | "Forfeit" | (self-published) (The Towers, the moon) |
| 2016 | Alan Baxter | "Raven's First Flight" | Cohesion Press (SNAFU: Black Ops) |
| 2016 | Jason Fischer | "By the Laws of Crab and Woman" | Review of Australian Fiction (Vol 17, No 6) |
| 2016 | Rose Mulready | The Bonobo's Dream | Seizure Press |
| 2016 | Kirstyn McDermott | "Burnt Sugar" | PS Publishing (Dreaming in the Dark) |
| 2016 | Angela Slatter | "Finnegan's Field" | Tor.com |
| 2017 | Devin Madson* | In Shadows We Fall | (self-published) |
| 2017 | Alan Baxter | The Book Club | PS Publishing |
| 2017 | Nathan Burrage | "Remnants" | coeur de lion (Dimension6 11) |
| 2017 | Kate Forsyth & Kim Wilkins | The Silver Well | Ticonderoga Publications |
| 2017 | Kirstyn McDermott | "Braid" | Review of Australian Fiction (Vol 24, No 1) |
| 2017 | Faith Mudge | Humanity for Beginners | Less Than Three Press |
| 2018 | Garth Nix* | "The Sword in the Stone" | Penguin Random House Australia (The Book of Magic) |
| 2018 | Michael Gardner | "This Side of the Wall" | Metaphorosis Magazine (January 2018) |
| 2018 | Juliet Marillier | "Beautiful" | Ticonderoga Publications (Aurum) |
| 2018 | Tansy Rayner Roberts | Merry Happy Valkyrie | Twelfth Planet Press |
| 2018 | David Versace | "The Dressmaker and the Colonel's Coat" | (self-published) (Mnemo's Memory and Other Fantastic Tales) |
| 2018 | Janeen Webb | The Dragon's Child | PS Publishing |
| 2019 | Shauna O'Meara* | "Scapes Made of Diamond" | Interzone (#280) |
| 2019 | J. S. Breukelaar | "Like Ripples on a Blank Shore" | Meerkat Press (Cohesion: Stories) |
| 2019 | Ephiny Gale | "The Orchard" | Andromeda Spaceways Magazine (#76) |
| 2019 | Chris Mason | "Out of Darkness" | Things in the Well (Tales of the Lost Vol 1) |
| 2019 | Michael Pryor | "To Hell and Back" | Aurealis (#120) |
| 2020 | Nikky Lee* | "Dingo and Sister" | Andromeda Spaceways Magazine (#78) |
| 2020 | Thoraiya Dyer | "Generation Gap" | Clarkesworld (#161) |
| 2020 | Lisa L. Hannett | "By Touch and By Glance" | Ticonderoga Publications (Songs for Dark Seasons) |
| 2020 | Nikky Lee | "Karkinos" | Deadset Press (Cancer) |
| 2020 | Tansy Rayner Roberts | The Frost Fair Affair | (self-published) |
| 2021 | Amy Laurens* | Bones of the Sea | Inkprint Press |
| 2021 | Tansy Rayner Roberts | "Echo and Narcissus" | Sheep Might Fly |
| 2021 | Rebecca Fraser | "The Little One" | IFWG (Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract) |
| 2021 | Alan Baxter | "Mother in Bloom" | 13th Dragon Books (The Gulp) |
| 2021 | Suzanne J. Willis | The Scarab Children of Montague | Falstaff Books |