The Australian SF Achievement Awards
The Ditmar Awards for 2008

Update: voting is now open! (updated 25-Feb)

The Australian Science Fiction Awards, commonly referred to as the Ditmar Awards or Ditmars, recognise excellence by Australians in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. The Ditmars are a proud tradition that has been continuously maintained by Australian fandom since they were first presented in 1969.

The Ditmars are named after Martin James Ditmar (Dick) Jenssen, a founding member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club. Martin financially supported the awards until about 1975 and is still active in fandom. Each year, the Australian National Science Fiction Convention presents the Ditmar Awards for the previous calendar year.

SwanCon 33 "The State of the Art" is proud to continue this tradition and the Ditmar Awards Ceremony will be a highlight of the SwanCon 33 "The State of the Art" Program.

The Business Meeting of the national convention of the preceding year sets the Rules which govern the administration of the Awards.

Voting
The deadline for voting is Friday 21^st March 2008 - 6pm (AWST). The final ballot for the 2008 Ditmar Awards includes up to 5 nominees in each category. Members of the previous natcon Convergence 2 as well as members of Swancon 33 “The State of the Art” will be eligible to vote in the final ballot.

Attached is the Ballot for the 2008 Australian Science Fiction Awards, commonly referred to as the Ditmar Awards. There was a mistake made with regard to eligibility for the Best New Talent category and this has now been corrected. The Ditmar Awards recognise excellence by Australians in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. The 2008 Ditmar Awards will be presented at Swancon 33 "The State of the Art", the 47th Australian National Science Fiction Convention.

Voting in each category follows a preferential system. Votes will be accepted only from full attending members or supporting members of Swancon 33, or from people who have memberships greater than or equal in value to the supporting membership of the convention.

The deadline for postal ballots is 14^th March 2008. Postal ballots are valid if postmarked on or before 14^th March 2008, but must be received by the committee before 18^th March 2008.

The final deadline for receipt of ballots, including email ballots, is 6pm Friday 21^st March 2008 (AWST). No ballots received after this time are valid.

Voting forms may be:

• Mailed to Ditmar Awards, 2 Aldinga Street, Kenwick WA 6107; or
• Emailed to ditmars2008@gmail.com. TheDitmar Awards Subcommittee confirms the validity and authenticity of all ballots;or
• Handed in at the Registration desk at Swancon 33 "The State of the Art" in the box provided.

The Ditmar rules are available on request as a document.

2008 Ditmar Awards Shortlist

Best Novel
• The Company of the Dead by David Kowalski
  (Published by PanMacmillan.)

• Extras by Scott Westerfeld
  (Published by Simon & Schuster.)

• Dark Space by Marianne de Pierres
  (Published by Orbit.)

• Saturn Returns by Sean Williams
  (Published by Orbit.)

• Magic's Child by Justine Larbalestier
  (Published by Penguin.)

• The Darkness Within by Jason Nahrung
  (Published by Hachette Livre.)

Best Novella/Novelette
• Yamabushi Kaidan and the Smoke Dragon by Shane Jiraiya-Cummings.
  (Published by Ticonderoga Publications in Fantastic Wonder Stories edited by Russell B. Farr.)

• Where is Brisbane and How Many Times Do I Get There? by Paul Haines
  (Published by Izvori in Fantastical Journeys to Brisbane edited by Geoffrey Maloney, Trent Jamieson and Zoran Zivkovic.)

• The Bluebell Vengence by Tansy Rayner Roberts
  (Published by Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in ASIM #28 edited by Zara Baxter)

• A Lady of Adestan by Cat Sparks
  (Published by Orb Publications in Orb #7 edited by Sarah Endacott.)

• Cenotaxis by Sean Williams
  (Published by MonkeyBrain Books)

• Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go To War Again by Garth Nix
  (Published by Jim Baen's Universe)

Best Short Story
• The Dark and What It Said by Rick Kennett
  (Published by Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in ASIM #28 edited by Zara Baxter)

• Domine by Rjurik Davidson
  (Published by Chimaera Publications in Aurealis #37 edited by Stephen Higgins and Stuart Mayne.)

• A Scar for Leida by Deborah Biancotti
  (Published by Ticonderoga Publications in Fantastic Wonder Stories edited by Russell B. Farr.)

• Bad Luck, Trouble, Death and Vampire Sex by Garth Nix
  (Published by Nightshade Books in Eclipse One edited by Jonathan Strahan)

• The Sun People by Sue Isle
  (Published by Twelth Planet Press in Shiny #2 edited by Alisa Krasnostein, Ben Payne and Tansy Rayner Roberts.)

• His Lipstick Minx by Kaaron Warren
  (Published by Ticonderoga Publications in The Workers' Paradise edited by Russell B. Farr and Nick Evans.)

Best Collected Work
• Orb #7 edited by Sarah Endacott.
  (Published by Orb Publications.)

• The Workers' Paradise edited by Russell B. Farr and Nick Evans.
  (Published by Ticonderoga Publications.)

• New Ceres edited by Alisa Krasnostein.
  (Published by Twelth Planet Press.)

• The New Space Opera edited by Jonathan Strahan and Gardner Dozois.
  (Published by HarperCollins Australia.)

• Fantastic Wonder Stories edited by Russell B. Farr.
  (Published by Ticonderoga Publications.)

Best Art Work
• Daryl Lindquist for the ASIM #28 Cover
• Nick Stathopolous for the Daikaju #3 Cover
• Eleanor Clark for ASIM #31 Internal Art
• Amanda Rainey for The Workers' Paradise Cover
• Nick Stathopolous for the Rynemonn Cover
• Eleanor Clark for ASIM #30 Internal Art

Best Fan Writer
• Alexandra Pierce for Last Short Story on Earth and for ASiF! reviews.
• Shane Jiraiya-Cummings for Horrorscope.
• Grant Watson for the 'angriest' Livejournal.
• Rob Hood for film reviews on his website.

Best Fan Art
• 'Exterminate!' Dalek Postcards – Kathryn Linge
• 'Nights Edge' Convention Poster Art – John Parker

Best Fan Production
• 2007 Snap Shot Project – interviews with influential members of the Australian speculative fiction scene conducted by Alisa Krasnostein, Ben Payne, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Kathryn Linge, Kaaron Warren and Rosie Clarke.
• Inkspillers Website – maintained by Tony Plank
• 'The Liminal' feature film – directed by Claire McKenna
• Daikaju Limerick Competition – by Robert Hood on his website.
• Talking Squid Website – by Chris Lawson

Best Fanzine
• The Australian Science Fiction Bullsheet edited by Edwina Harvey and Ted Scribner
• Not If You Were the Last Short Story on Earth edited by Alisa Krasnostein, Ben Payne, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts
• Steam Engine Time edited by Bruce Gillespie
• Horrorscope edited by Shane Jiraiya-Cummings

Best Professional Achievement
• Gary Kemble for his continued coverage of speculative fiction on Articulate and ABC news online.
• Russell B. Farr for Ticonderoga Publications; in 2007, Russell produced an issue of Ticonderoga Online, The Workers' Paradise and Fantastic Wonders stories, which produced five Aurealis Award nominees.
• Jonathan Strahan for a prolific body of work editing 'The Jack Vance Treasury', 'The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the year', 'Best Short Novels of 2007', 'The New Space Opera', 'Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling' and 'Eclipse One: New Science Fiction and Fantasy'.
• Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-Operative Ltd for five issues in 2007, as well as three electronic Best Of anthologies.
• Jonathan Strahan, Garth Nix, Deborah Biancotti and Trevor Stafford for compiling and promoting the new Australian Fantasy and SF catalogue in the United States to increase awareness and appreciation of forthcoming Australian SF and to expand creative and professional opportunities for writers.

Best Fan Achievement
• Alisa Krasnostein for ASiF! Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus
• Marty Young for his work as President of the Australian Horror Writers Association
• John Parker, Sarah Parker and Sarah Xu for Night's Edge Convention
• Sarah Xu for the CyPEC Cyber-feminist Conference held as part of Night's Edge convention.

Best New Talent
• Angela Slatter
• Jason Nahrung
• Nathan Burrage
• Tehani Wessely
• David Conyers

William Atheling Jr Award
• Ian Nichols for "Seriatem, Seriatum, omnia Seriatem"
  (Published by Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in ASIM #30, edited by Robbie Matthews.)

• Tansy Rayner Roberts and Alexandra Pierce for review of Elizabeth Bear's "New Amsterdam" (Published as Podcast #2 on ASiF!)
• Jonathan Strahan for editorial for "The New Space Opera"
  (Published in The New Space Opera by HarperCollins Australia.)

• Grant Watson for "The Bad Film Diaries"
  (Published in Borderlands #9.)

• Ben Peek for the Aurealis Awards Shortlist Feature Article
  (Published on ASiF!)

• Shane Jiraiya-Cummings for review of David Conyers' "The Spiraling Worm"
  (Published on Horrorscope.)

• Ian Nichols for "The Shadow Thief"
  (Published by The West Australian Weekend Magazine on 22/09/07.)

For more information about the Ditmar Awards see:

• Inkspillers Ditmar Site - All about the history, past winners and the Rules of the Ditmar Awards.
• www.sf.org.au/natconcom - Minutes of previous Business Meetings of the Natcon.
• Ditmar rules, as recorded in the WASFF wiki.