{"id":2722,"date":"2015-04-06T07:57:41","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T21:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwebb.name\/?p=2722"},"modified":"2016-04-17T23:04:51","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T13:04:51","slug":"dither-award-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwebb.name\/?p=2722","title":{"rendered":"Ditmar award results"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Ditmar awards were handed out last night at Swancon, the Western Australian convention that doubles as the National Convention this year. Unfortunately I couldn’t get over to Perth (Easter is a time where small children will not forgive you if you’re\u00a0not at home\u00a0to hand out copious amounts of chocolate), however I was watching along on Twitter.<\/p>\n

I’ve summarised the results below. Note – these are what I gleaned from watching along with Twitter – any mistakes are mine alone!<\/p>\n

A couple of notes from\u00a0me. Firstly, congratulations to all winners and runners up! A wonderful field this year, and a very deserving set of awards was handed out.<\/p>\n

The podcast I do some work for,\u00a0Galactic Chat<\/em>, was up for Best Fan Publication in Any Medium. We didn’t win, but the entry that did (The Writer and the Critic\u00a0<\/em>podcast) is one of my favourite podcasts, and a thoroughly deserving winner.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t be more thrilled for fellow podcaster Helen Stubbs, who took out the Best New Talent award. Helen is a vibrant and energetic member of the SF field and it is wonderful to see her recognised in this way.<\/p>\n

A tie for best novel is always interesting in a voted award. I’ve just finished\u00a0The Lascar’s Dagger<\/em> (review here<\/a>) and I’m 1\/2 way through\u00a0Thief’s Magic<\/em>, and both a very good novels. Actually, it was a good ballot for Best Novel – I’ve read or are reading all of them and I can honestly say I’m enjoying them all.<\/p>\n

It was great to see\u00a0Kaleidoscope<\/em> recognised in the Best Collection category, and seeing fiction that recognises such a broad range of diversity being voted for in an awards process. If you want to see more of that kind of thing, you could also support\u00a0Defying Doomsday<\/em>‘s Pozible campaign<\/a> – a collection of stories featuring diverse characters who are in a post-apocalyptic setting.<\/p>\n

And finally, it was good to see the Atheling award for criticism go to another single topic essay. While I can certainly see the value in recognising people’s broader body of review work, it would be good to see more in depth analysis on a broader range of topics coming from Australian authors. Hopefully this award will help this trend continue.<\/p>\n

Anyway, enough from me – Ditmar results follow (winners bold and in red). Note – the list below doesn’t\u00a0include the results for some of the Ditmar-adjacent awards\u00a0like the A. Bertram Chandler Award (Donna Hanson) and the Norma K. Hemming Award (Paddy O’Reilly for The Wonders\u00a0<\/em>with honourable mention to Lisa L Hannett and Angela Statter for The Female Factory<\/em><\/a>) and the Peter McNamara Achievement award\u00a0(Merv Binns). I’ve probably missed some others (for instance the WA award – the Tin Ducks).<\/p>\n

Best Novel<\/span><\/h4>\n