# Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction

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 may declare a "no award" if there is unanimous agreement that none of the nominees are worthy. 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 children's fiction category which replaces the following two previous categories for children's fiction:
* Aurealis Award for best children's fiction (told primarily through words)
* Aurealis Award for best children's fiction (told primarily through pictures)
In 2013, this award was known as the Aurealis Award for best children's book.

## Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the work'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 work 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.
As of the 2021 awards, which were presented in May 2022, the following have received the most nominations:
* Lian Tanner (4)
* Bren MacDibble (3)
* Emily Rodda (3)
* Angelica Banks (2)
* Karen Foxlee (2)
* Rebecca Lim (2)
* Meg McKinlay (2)
* Jaclyn Moriarty (2)
* Winners and joint winners  * Nominees on the shortlist
| Year | Author(s) | Work(s) | Publisher |
| 2013 | Kirsty Murray* | The Four Seasons of Lucy McKenzie | Allen & Unwin |
| 2013 | Isobelle Carmody | Kingdom of the Lost, book 2: Cloud Road | Penguin Books Australia |
| 2013 | Jackie French | Refuge | HarperCollins |
| 2013 | Julie Hunt | Song for a scarlet runner | Allen & Unwin |
| 2013 | Shaun Tan | Rules of Summer | Hachette Australia |
| 2013 | Lian Tanner | Icebreaker: The Hidden 1 | Allen & Unwin |
| 2014 | Carole Wilkinson* | Shadow Sister: Dragonkeeper 5 | Black Dog Books |
| 2014 | John Flanagan | Slaves of Socorro: Brotherband 4 | Random House Australia |
| 2014 | Karen Foxlee | Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy | Hot Key Books |
| 2014 | Norman Jorgensen & James Foley | The Last Viking Returns | Fremantle Press |
| 2014 | Judith Rossell | Withering-by-Sea | ABC Books |
| 2014 | Lian Tanner | Sunker's Deep | Allen & Unwin |
| 2015 | Meg McKinlay* | A Single Stone | Walker Books Australia |
| 2015 | Angelica Banks | A Week Without Tuesday | Allen & Unwin |
| 2015 | Jack Heath | The Cut-Out | Allen & Unwin |
| 2015 | Meg McKinlay | Bella and the Wandering House | Fremantle Press |
| 2015 | A. L. Tait | The Mapmaker Chronicles: Prisoner of the Black Hawk | Hachette Australia |
| 2016 | Kim Kane* | When the Lyrebird Calls | Allen & Unwin |
| 2016 | Angelica Banks | Blueberry Pancakes Forever | Allen & Unwin |
| 2016 | Lee Battersby | Magrit | Walker Books Australia |
| 2016 | Caleb Crisp | Somebody Stop Ivy Pocket | Bloomsbury |
| 2016 | Mick Elliott | The Turners | Hachette Australia |
| 2016 | Emily Rodda | The Hungry Isle | Omnibus Books |
| 2017 | Jessica Townsend* | Nevermoor | Hachette Australia |
| 2017 | Bren MacDibble | How to Bee | Allen & Unwin |
| 2017 | Jaclyn Moriarty | The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone | Allen & Unwin |
| 2017 | Emily Rodda | The Shop at Hoopers Bend | HarperCollins Australia |
| 2017 | Jo Sandhu | The Exile | Penguin Random House Australia |
| 2017 | Lian Tanner | Accidental Heroes | Allen & Unwin |
| 2018 | Penni Russon* | The Endsister | Allen & Unwin |
| 2018 | Rebecca Lim | The Relic of the Blue Dragon | Allen & Unwin |
| 2018 | Jaclyn Moriarty | The Slightly Alarming Tales of the Whispering Wars | Allen & Unwin |
| 2018 | Lian Tanner | Secret Guardians | Allen & Unwin |
| 2018 | Gabrielle Wang | Ting Ting the Ghosthunter | Penguin Random House Australia |
| 2018 | Rhiannon Williams | Ottilie Cotter and the Narroway Hunt | Hardie Grant Egmont |
| 2019 | Bren MacDibble* | The Dog Runner | Allen & Unwin |
| 2019 | Amie Kaufman | Scorch Dragons | HarperCollins |
| 2019 | Rebecca Lim | Race for the Red Dragon | Allen & Unwin |
| 2019 | Rebecca McRitchie (with Sharon O'Connor, illustrator) | Jinxed! the Curious Curse of Cora Bell | HarperCollins |
| 2019 | Emily Rodda (with Marc McBride, illustrator) | The Glimme | Scholastic |
| 2019 | Heather Waugh | The Lost Stone of SkyCity | Fremantle Press |
| 2020 | Zana Fraillon* | The Lost Soul Atlas | Lothian |
| 2020 | Nicholas J. Johnson | Tricky Nick | Pan |
| 2020 | Bren MacDibble | Across the Risen Sea | Allen & Unwin |
| 2020 | Frances Watts | The Chicken's Curse | Allen & Unwin |
| 2020 | Lili Wilkinson (with Dustin Spence, illustrator) | Hodgepodge: How to make a pet monster | Allen & Unwin |
| 2020 | Sean Williams | Her Perilous Mansion | Allen & Unwin |
| 2021 | Karen Foxlee* | Dragon Skin | Allen & Unwin |
| 2021 | Anna Ciddor | The Boy Who Stepped Through Time | Allen & Unwin |
| 2021 | James Foley | Stellarphant | Fremantle |
| 2021 | Zana Fraillon & Phil Lesnie | The Curiosities | Hachette Australia |
| 2021 | Emily Gale & Nova Weetman | Elsewhere Girls | Text |
| 2021 | Nicholas Snelling | Barebum Billy | BAD DAD |
| 2022 | Melanie La'Brooy | The Wintrish Girl | UQP |
| 2022 | Victoria Carless | Gus and the Starlight | HarperCollins |
| 2022 | Karen Foxlee (with Frieda Chui, illustrator) | The Wrath of the Woolington Wym | Allen & Unwin |
| 2022 | Zana Fraillon & Bren MacDibble | The Raven's Song | Allen & Unwin |
| 2022 | Emily Gale | The Goodbye Year | Text |
| 2022 | H. M. Waugh | Mars Awakens | Allen & Unwin |