WHoooHoo!

Trent & yours truly at the ceremony.

Well, I'm back from the Aurealis Awards. What a great night. The AA team did a wonderful job. Glitz Glam and Fun.

When Richard sent me his speech, he said he was 99% sure he and Laura wouldn't win best children's picture book. And what happens? They win!

So I did a mad scramble to grab the speeches and get up to the podium trying to look cool calm and elegant. I was so focused on doing my bit as a presenter of the fantasy awards that I wasn't mentally prepared to deliver Richard and Laura's thank you speeches. But I managed to get through it without stumbling. Way to go, Richard and Laura.

Next section was the Young Adult Short Story and who should win but Trent with his story 'Cracks' printed in Shiney #2. Tansy was terribly proud as she had been involved in the editing.

The reactions of the different winners were spontaneous and delightful.

And congratulations to all the finalists. The judges had their work cut out for them. For instance, in the fantasy section there were 156 short stories which one team of judges read and 38 books, which were read by another team of judges. Since most fantasybooks are 100K plus, this was a lot of reading!

A big thank you to everyone involved in the award, judges convenors and helpers on the night.

Cheers, Rowena.