Aurealis Award for best horror short story
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, and 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 horror short story category, as well as short stories that have received honourable mentions or have been highly commended. A work of fiction is defined as a short story if it is fewer than 40,000 words long. Since 2001, honourable mentions and high commendations have been awarded intermittently. Paul Haines has won the award four times, while three people have won the award twice – Simon Brown, Kaaron Warren and Sean Williams. Warren holds the record for most nominations, with nine. Robert Hood holds the record for most nominations without winning, having been a losing finalist four times.
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 | Short story | Publisher or publication | Ref |
| * | Bambada Press | |||
| MirrorDanse | ||||
| Sybylla | ||||
| Reed Books | ||||
| Penguin | ||||
| * | Eidolon | |||
| F&SF | ||||
| Eidolon | ||||
| Bloodsongs | ||||
| Bloodsongs | ||||
| * | Eidolon | |||
| MirrorDanse | ||||
| Aurealis | ||||
| Bloodsongs | ||||
| * | Bloodsongs | |||
| Voyager | ||||
| Moonstone | ||||
| Voyager | ||||
| Aurealis | ||||
| & Simon Brown* | Ticonderoga | |||
| Longman | ||||
| Gothic.net | ||||
| Harbinger | ||||
| Harbinger | ||||
| * | Altair | |||
| Eidolon | ||||
| Ticonderoga Online | ||||
| Hodder | ||||
| Aurealis | ||||
| * | Potato Monkey | |||
| Orb | ||||
| Aurealis | ||||
| & Paul Collins | Cosmos Books | |||
| CSFG Publishing | ||||
| * | Redsine | |||
| Agog! | ||||
| Fables and Reflections | ||||
| Redsine | ||||
| * | HarperCollins | |||
| HarperCollins | ||||
| Orb | ||||
| Agog! | ||||
| HarperCollins | ||||
| * | NFG | |||
| DAW | ||||
| Agog! | ||||
| Wakefield Press | ||||
| Dark Animus | ||||
| * | Shadowed Realms | |||
| Dark Krypt | ||||
| Dark Animus | ||||
| Aurealis | ||||
| Ticonderoga Online | ||||
| * | Weird Tales | |||
| Allen & Unwin | ||||
| Eidolon Books | ||||
| Fantasy Magazine | ||||
| CSFG Publishing | ||||
| * | Subterranean | |||
| Night Shade Books | ||||
| Ash-Tree Press | ||||
| Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine | ||||
| Lone Star Stories | ||||
| * | Greatest Uncommon Denominator | |||
| HarperVoyager | ||||
| Midnight Echo | ||||
| Murky Depths | ||||
| Galaxy Press | ||||
| * | The Mayne Press | |||
| * | Coeur de Lion Publishing | |||
| Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine | ||||
| Nossa Morte | ||||
| Midnight Echo | ||||
| * | Brimstone Press | |||
| Affirm Press | ||||
| Twelfth Planet Press | ||||
| Constable & Robinson | ||||
| Apex Publishing | ||||
| * | Brimstone Press | |||
| * | Ticonderoga Publications | |||
| Gilgamesh Press | ||||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Quercus Books | ||||
| * | Twelfth Planet Press | |||
| Ticonderoga Publications | ||||
| Review of Australian Fiction, Rabbit Hole Special Issue | ||||
| Ticonderoga Publications | ||||
| PS Publishing | ||||
| * | Ticonderoga Publications | |||
| "Fencelines" | FableCroft Publishing | |||
| PS Publishing | ||||
| Twelfth Planet Press | ||||
| Miskatonic Press | ||||
| * | "Home and Hearth" | Spectral Press | ||
| Review of Australian Fiction Volume 11, Issue 6 | ||||
| "Skinsuit" | Island Magazine 137 | |||
| "By The Moon's Good Grace" | Review of Australian Fiction Volume 12, Issue 3 | |||
| "Shay Corsham Worsted" | ChiZine Publications | |||
| * | "Bullets" | AHWA | ||
| "Consorting With Fish" | Cohesion Press | |||
| "Heirloom Pieces" | Apex Publications | |||
| Twelfth Planet Press | ||||
| "Breaking Windows" | Aurealis 84 | |||
| "Self, Contained" | TDM Press | |||
| * | "Flame Trees" | Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2016 | ||
| "Non Zero Sum" | Cohesion Press | |||
| "Penny for a Match, Mister?" | Saga Press | |||
| "68 Days" | Broken Eye Books | |||
| * | "Old Growth" | IFWG Publishing Australia | ||
| "Reef" | IFWG Publishing Australia | |||
| "Outside, a Drifter" | Dim Shores | |||
| "Angel Hair" | IFWG Publishing Australia | |||
| "" | Breach Issue #02 | |||
| "On the Line" | Australasian Horror Writer's Association | |||
| * | "Sub-Urban" | Breach 07 | ||
| "" | Aurealis 112 | |||
| "Slither" | IFWG Publishing Australia | |||
| "By Kindle Light" | AntipodeanSF 235 | |||
| "Hit and Rot" | Breach 08 | |||
| "" | Bourbon Penn 15 |
Honourable mentions and high commendations
In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the book's eligibility; the ceremonies are always held the following year. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a grey background have been noted as highly commended; those with a white background have received honourable mentions. 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.Highly commended
Honourable mentions
| Year | Author | Short story | Publisher or publication | Ref |
| 2001 | Redsine | |||
| 2001 | Interzone | |||
| 2002 | MirrorDanse | |||
| 2002 | Redsine | |||
| 2004 | * | Agog! | ||
| 2005 | * | Aurealis | ||
| 2005 | * | Simulacrum | ||
| 2005 | * | Borderlands | ||
| 2005 | * | Borderlands | ||
| 2005 | * | Shadowed Realms | ||
| 2006 | Coeur de Lion Publishing | |||
| 2006 | Agog! | |||
| 2006 | Allen & Unwin | |||
| 2006 | Fantasy Magazine | |||
| 2007 | Night Shade Books | |||
| 2007 | Ticonderoga | |||
| 2007 | Island |