The awards were hosted by Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond (of The Writer and the Critic<\/em>\u00a0podcast fame), who were very amusing. As an aside, when returning from dinner, David Golding, Sean Wright and I came across a very ill Ian Mond outside, who had ate something dodgy for dinner and was feeling quite poorly. After making a quick trip out to see if I could find a chemist on Lygon St, I was forced to return with only aspirin and antacid from the only place open with any kind of medical supplies – the local Woolworths. \u00a0While none of these items proved to be useful at all, Ian went on to successfully host the awards, so I’m claiming partial credit for a successful night.<\/p>\n The award ceremony went well and quickly. Unlike the Aurealis Awards, most people seemed to have prepared a few words which made the evening run more smoothly. Amusingly enough, the actual Ditmar trophies hadn’t arrived as yet so people were awarded with a squeaking, fluro plastic octopus trophy as a placeholder.<\/p>\n As with the Aurealis Awards, I’ve listen these award results in the order the awards were presented.<\/p>\n The first awards of the evening were the A. Bertram Chandler Award<\/strong> for general all round excellence. The award went to Richard Harland, a primarily YA author whose writing workshop I went to late last year. Richard wasn’t there to receive the award. Apparently we are all to pay out on him when we see him next.<\/p>\n The second award of the evening was the Norma K. Hemming Award<\/strong> for excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class and disability in Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy. The award went to two recipients:<\/p>\n There were also three honourable mentions:<\/p>\n The Peter McNamara Award<\/strong> for long term contributions to the speculative fiction field went to Bill Congreve.<\/p>\n Chronos Awards<\/strong><\/p>\n The Chronos Awards looked cool, clock type awards that were very aesthetically pleasing. Almost enough to make you want to move to Victoria.<\/p>\n Almost.<\/p>\n SF Competition<\/strong><\/p>\n Although the results of the SF writing competition had already been announced, the winners received their awards during the ceremony.<\/p>\n Ditmar Awards<\/strong><\/p>\n The William Atheling Jr Award<\/strong> for criticism was given out first. It went to Alexandra Pierce and Tehani Wessely for their conversational reviews of the Vorkosigan Saga.<\/p>\n Overall a very enjoyable evening. Congratulations to all the winners and well done to all the finalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/p>\n <\/p>Hi,\n\n
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