2021 Aurora Awards

The 2021 Aurora Awards were announced during a live streamed ceremony organized by Ottawa’s Can*Con convention on October 16th, 2021.  Author Silvia Moreno-Garcia gave a keynote to start the awards ceremony.  Author Kevin Hearne announced the first time nominees who were receiving their nominee pin. The ceremonies also included the induction of authors Monica Hughes and Jean-Louis Trudel, and fan and Godzilla expert, Stan G Hyde, into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s (CSFFA) Hall of Fame.

Due to Covid-19, works normally in Fan Organizational were placed in the Fan Related Work category.  

The Winners

  • Best Novel:  Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Random House Publishing Group
  • Best YA Novel:  Flights of Marigold, Susan Forest, Laksa Media Groups Inc.
  • Best Novelette/Novella: “Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County“, Derek Künsken, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July/Aug
  • Best Short Story:  “All Cats Go to Valhalla“, Chadwick Ginther, Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas, Tyche Books
  • Best Graphic Novel:  It Never Rains, Kari Maaren, webcomic
  • Best Poem/Song: “Nidhog“, Jo Walton, The Book of Dragons, Harper Voyager
  • Best Related Work: On Spec Magazine, Diane L. Walton, Managing Editor, The Copper Pig Writers Society
  • Best Visual Presentation:  The Umbrella Academy, Steve Blackman, Netflix
  • Best Artist:  Samantha M. Beiko, cover for Flights of the Marigold, Laska Media Group
  • Best Fan Writing and Publication: Polar Borealis, Issues #13 to #16, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
  • Best Fan Related Work:  When Words Collide, Randy McCharles, chair, online festival

The Voting Statistics

The Full Results Grid (PDF)

The Nominees

Best Novel

  • Beneath the Rising, Premee Mohamed, Solaris
  • A Connecticut Gumshoe in King Arthur’s Court, Randy McCharles, Tyche Books
  • Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Random House Publishing Group
  • The Oppenheimer Alternative, Robert J. Sawyer, Red Deer Press
  • A Stitch in Time, Kelley Armstrong, KLA Fricke

Best Young Adult Novel

  • Flights of Marigold, Susan Forest, Laksa Media Groups Inc.
  • The Gryphon’s Lair, Kelley Armstrong, Puffin Canada
  • Hollow, Rhonda Parrish, Tyche Books
  • Return to Atlantis, J.M. Dover, Evil Alter Ego Press
  • Wall of Wishes, Suzy Vadori, Old Vines Press

Best Novelette/Novella

  • “Go Fish”, Ian Rogers, Tor.com
  • “The Immolation of Kev Magee“, L.X. Beckett (pseudonym for A.M. Dellamonica), Clarkesworld, Issue 167, Aug
  • “An Important Failure“, Rebecca Campbell, Clarkesworld, Issue 167, Aug
  • “How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobučar”, Rich Larson, Tor.com
  • “To Sail the Black“, A.C. Wise, Clarkesworld, Issue 170, Nov
  • “Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County“, Derek Künsken, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July/Aug

Best Short Story

  • “All Cats Go to Valhalla“, Chadwick Ginther, Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas, Tyche Books
  • “The Bone-Stag Walks“, KT Bryski, Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 123, August
  • “Breathe“, Calvin D. Jim, Prairie Gothic, Prairie Soul Press
  • “Grass Gods“, Elizabeth Whitton, Prairie Gothic, Prairie Soul Press
  • “Night Folk“, Barb Galler-Smith, Galaxy’s Edge Magazine, Issue 47, November
  • “So You Want to be a Honeypot“, Kelly Robson, Uncanny Magazine, March/April *
  • * Story has been removed from the ballot because it is not SF, Fantasy, or Horror

Best Graphic Novel/Comic

  • Crash and Burn, Kate Larking and Finn Lucullan, Astres Press
  • Goblins, Ellipsis Hana Stephens, Goblins Comic
  • Gothic Tales of Haunted Futures, edited by S.M. Beiko, Renegade Arts Entertainment
  • It Never Rains, Kari Maaren, webcomic
  • Krampus is My Boyfriend!, S.M. Beiko, Webtoon
  • Northwest Resistance, Katherena Vermette, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, Highwater Press

Best Poem/Song

  • “Arachnoid Cyst“, Dominik Parisien, This Magazine, March/April
  • “Back Story“, David Clink, Strange Horizons, Issue 21, September
  • “The Death of the Gods“, Leah Bobet, Uncanny Magazine #32
  • “Electra“, Y.M. Pang, Arsenika
  • “Hamilton Harbour“, Lynne Sargent, A Refuge of Tales, Renaissance Press
  • “he scores“, Beth Cato and Rhonda Parrish, Star*Line, Summer
  • “Masquerade“, Colleen Anderson, On Spec, Issue 115, vol 31 no 1
  • “Nidhog“, Jo Walton, The Book of Dragons, Harper Voyager

Best Related Work

  • Augur Magazine, Issues 3.1 and 3.2, published by Kerry C. Byrne, Alexander De Pompa, and Lawrence Stewen
  • Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space, Amanda Leduc, Coach House Books
  • On Spec Magazine, Diane L. Walton, Managing Editor, The Copper Pig Writers Society
  • PodCastle edited by Jen R. Albert and Cherae Clark, host Setsu Uzumé, and producer Peter Adrian Behravesh, Escape Artists Inc.
  • Prairie Gothic, edited by Stacey Kondla, Prairie Soul Press
  • Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas, edited by Rhonda Parrish, Tyche Books

Best Visual Presentation

  • Don’t Text Back, Kaye Adelaide and Mariel Sharp, Fantasia Film Festival
  • Murdoch Mysteries, Season 13, episodes 10-18, Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, Peter Mitchell, Yannick Bisson, and Hélène Joy, Shaftesbury
  • Trickster, episodes 1-6, Michelle Latimer and Tony Elliott, Streel Films, Sienna Films, and CBC
  • The Umbrella Academy, Steve Blackman, Netflix
  • Wynonna Earp, Season 4, episodes 1-6, Emily Andras, Seven24 Films Calgary

Best Artist

  • Lorna Antoniazzi, covers for Augur Magazine Issues 3.1 and 3.2
  • Samantha M. Beiko, cover for Flights of the Marigold, Laska Media Group
  • Swati Chavda, art, maps, and covers for multiple publications
  • Dan O’Driscoll, cover for Corona Burning
  • Maia Kondla-Wolf, cover for Prairie Gothic, Prairie Soul Press

Best Fan Writing and Publication

  • BCSFAzine, Issues #538 to #547, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
  • Clubhouse, weekly column in Amazing Stories Magazine, R. Graeme Cameron, online
  • Polar Borealis, Issues #13 to #16, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
  • Random Musings, Issue #539 to #547 in BCSFAzine, Robert J. Sawyer
  • Travelling TARDIS, Jennifer Desmarais, JenEric Designs
  • Young People Read Old SFF, edited by James Davis Nicoll, online

Best Fan Related Work

  • 2020 Aurora Awards Ceremony, Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Liz Anderson, online event
  • AugurCon, Kerry C. Byrne and Terese Mason Pierre, Augur Magazine Literary Society
  • ephemera reading series, KT Bryski and Jen R. Albert, ephemera Collective, online
  • Speculating Canada: Canadian Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy, Derek Newman-Stille
  • When Words Collide, Randy McCharles, chair, online festival