Eligibility Rules

Descriptions of the award categories can be found here.

We’ll get this spiffed up soon, but for now, here’s the text about the eligibility rules from the old website:

The following rules cover both nominating and voting for an Aurora award.  Submitting a nomination or vote will be taken as your acknowledgment that you have read and agree to abide by these rules.

All nominated items in any award category must have been originally/first published, performed, become commercially available, or done in the prior calendar year.  This refers to publication in any medium such as print, e-book, audio book or CD.  In the event that a nominated work or activity does not have a specific nominee or nominees responsible for it a single trophy will be presented to the group.  This will occur in situations where a group puts together a publication or does a panel or presentation.

Members must adhere to the following rules.  In the event that the Awards committee feels that one or more of these rules has been violated by a participant, they may reject any or all nominations or votes from or for that participant without notification.  The decision of the Awards committee is final.

  • The Auroras are only for Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Canadian citizens living abroad are eligible.
  • CSFFA is a federally registered non-profit society and all activities, such as nominations and voting, are done online.
  • There is an annual due to be a member of CSFFA which will be set by the CSFFA board of directors. This fee is used to administer the awards.  All society members are required to pay this fee unless granted a special exemption.
  • The current annual dues are just $10 (Cdn). It is valid from January to December of the calendar year no matter when in the year they are purchased.
  • The awards for works done in the prior calendar year.
  • CSFFA members, those that have paid their annual dues, are permitted to participate, once per year, in nominating works, voting for the awards, and participating in the AGM (Annual General Meeting).
  • Members are also permitted to download works from our online voters package.
  • Nomination and voting deadlines will be set by the CSFFA board of directors.
  • All nominations and voting submission must be done via our online forms.
  • Each member is expected to submit their own nomination form or voting ballot, reflecting their individual preferences.
  • Each member must purchase their own membership. No one may pay for memberships for their staff or friends.
  • Participation in any awards process may not be influenced by anyone else with incentives or perks. No one may offer or accept any inducement in order to influence a nomination or vote.
  • On the nomination form you may submit up to 5 (five) different works in each category. All submissions will be given equal weight.
  • Voting ballots are counted using the “Alternate Ballot System” or “Ranked Ballot System”. This is where you rank, from 1 (your favorite) down to your least favorite (incrementing your rank by one each time). See detail explanation in “Voting Method” document.
  • The “No Award” is to be used ONLY in a situation where you feel that one or more of the works does not deserve to be on the ballot. It is NOT to be used if you have not read or are unfamiliar with the work or the category. If you are unfamiliar with a category or its nominated works leave all boxes blank.

Voting Ballot eligibility:  For a work or category to be eligible to be on the final voting ballot they must meet or exceed the following requirements.

  • A work is required to have at least five (5) nominations from CSFFA members to be eligible.
  • For a category to be eligible to be on the final voting ballot it must have at lease three (3) eligible works.
  • Each eligible category on the final ballot will contain the top five (5) eligible works.
  • It is permitted to have more than five (5) works on the ballot if there is a tie for fifth place.
  • It is permitted to have only three (3) or four (4) works on the ballot if they are the only ones that are eligible.

Through the Aurora awards, CSFFA encourages Canadian fans to take an active role in selecting the best of genre fiction and related activities.  It is our hope that Canadians will hold spirited discussions, but we discourage anyone from advising others on how to place their votes.  In the spirit of fan-based awards, it is the right and responsibility of every member to make their own decisions.  Members are expected to be familiar with the works they are selecting.  Members are asked to vote in categories where they are familiar with more than one of the works.  Clubs should avoid influencing their members’ nominations or votes.

To support the ongoing costs of the awards and the society, a non-refundable fee is associated with being a member of CSFFA.  This fee will be revisited after each year and will be clearly identified on our website.  Fees must be paid by individual voters, not a third party.  All nominations and votes are to be done online.  There are no paper ballots.  The awards committee will make every effort to honour the spirit of a voter’s intentions but has little flexibility if the member fails to make their intention clear.

Please note that the French professional categories are now being coordinated and held at the Congrès Boréal which is held in Quebec.  For full details visit their website. (http://www.congresboreal.ca/)

In order to submit works into the Eligibility lists you must first be logged into your active (paid) CSFFA membership. From the left menu select “Members Home”.

If you have further questions regarding Eligibility, or anything else, please contact us.