I would prefer to say that the Australasian Shadow Awards issued by the AHWA were the premier Australian speculative fiction awards, for the simple reason that I was once nominated for one, but the Aurealis Awards hold that place. Changes have been introduced to the rules, and I want to amplify the open letter written by Alan Baxter and Matt Tighe, to the Queensland Writers Centre. The link to the letter with the full text is here.

Highlights include:

The change to the fees is onerous, and a large change compared with the full history of the awards. This is perceived by many as a ‘pay to play’ situation

No costs to enter an award should be passed onto the authors, and especially no preference given to some authors over others.

There is lack of clarity around judge autonomy, particularly with the new references to shortlisting and awards being at the discretion of QWC.

Another concern is the change of rule to make works only able to win in one category regardless of shortlisting.

there is no clear statement on the exclusion of AI nor how such works would be investigated or dealt with