Philippa Ballantine » Awards

Sir Julius time!

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:49:59 +0000

That time of the year again!

Nominations are now open for the Sir Julius Vogel awards back in New Zealand (think our version of the Hugos).

They are open to any writer of fiction who is a resident or a citizen—but anyone can nominate.

Looking at the list of writers eligible, I am delighted to see the field is bigger and brighter every year.

For myself, I have several works eligible. Including, Spectyr, Phoenix Rising, and the Tales from the Ministry series. So if there are some you think worthy, then please do take the time to email the committee sjv_awards@sffanz.sf.org.nz

What a week…

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:53:00 +0000

As you probably- or possibly- know I got married last week to my co-author Tee Morris. You’d think that would be enough of a week…

But then we went to Comic Con. See my post for all about that. (Tor.com wrote up this review of the panel I was on Winter is Here)

Then we started to hear whispers about the Airship Awards. Now, after a convention those volunteers who organise it, are usually pretty beat. So when we looked into who had won and found nothing, we weren’t that surprised.

Then the Steampunk Scholar himself, said that we’d won. He was there presenting, but still we managed to hold in the excitement. Then the Airship Ambassador confirmed it.

Yes, Tee and I are now award winning steampunk authors!

The other nominees included The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (Pyr), Camera Obscura (Angry Robots), and The Half-Made World (Tor). All heavy hitters, all amazing books..so we are beyond ecstatic!

Previous winners of this award include Phil & Kaja Foglio, Alan Moore, and Abney Park. This is an award voted on by the attendees of Steamcon, and that matters a great deal to us. We’ve always said Phoenix Rising is a romp, and we want to make people smile.

Now we feel like we’ve done our job…and that’s a great feeling.

Oh yes, and as part of applying for my change of status here in America I found out I don’t have leprosy! So all in all, a fantastic week!!!

Awards and colleagues

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:05:20 +0000

As the award and con season rolls on, I am once more caught up in the excitement. The Parsec Awards has again short-listed Erotica a la Carte in its Best Anthology category. Although I won’t be at DragonCon this year, I am chuffed to know that my little experimental cast is up there with the likes of Escape Pod and Variant Frequencies.

And then there are the Sir Julius Vogel awards which are special to me, as they show just how amazing the range of talent we have in this tiny country is. Weather Child is up for an award and I admit another of those spectacular trophies would be sweet. If you are planning on attending Au Contraire or are a member of SFFANZ then you can vote here.

Both Tee Morris and I will be at Au Contraire, as well as attending AussieCon- which is also WorldCon. Exciting times.

But then I know things are heating up in the South Pacific. One sure sign of it is the unveiling of SpecFicNZ at Au Contraire. (Check out the event page here) A group of people devoted to genre writing- utter bliss that I could not have imagined five years ago.

Genre is now alive and well, and we are busting into New York and getting contracts.

In addition to my 2 book deal with Ace/Penguin and another 2 book deal with Eos/HarperCollin for the book I co-authored with Tee, there are a lot of excellent writers in New Zealand who are breaking into New York

So in the interests of bringing attention to my colleagues and fellow kiwis here’s a list. If you know of anymore to add, please do so in the comments.

Nalini Singh- New York Times best seller in paranormal romance.
Russell Kirkpartick – epic fantasy author, first published by Voyager/HarperCollins he is published all over the world.
Helen Lowe – her epic fantasy series starts coming out with Eos/HarperCollins in October 2010.
Mary Victoria – epic fantasy published by HarperCollins.
Elizabeth Knox- award winning, historical/YA fantasy writer
Lyn McConchie – multiple award winner, and has co-authored books with Andre Norton.

Out of a tiny country that’s not too bad. And that’s not including Australians living here, or New Zealanders living in Australia. Or indeed all those learning the craft and coming up.

After compiling this list I am feeling positively optimistic. So talley-ho New Zealand! I am so damn proud of you all!

My friend Julius

admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:23:04 +0000

Conscription was a great con, well organised, full of enthusiastic people, and I got to share it with my good mate Tee Morris. So when I went to the awards ceremony for the Sir Julius Vogel awards I was in a zen place about winning one. (Here’s an explanation on the award)

Digital Magic was in a tough category, and was beaten to best novel by Russell Kirkpatrick’s latest book. And then came the fan production category. Now Chasing the Bard was the first podiobook to be nominated for the Sir Julius Vogel award, and finding a category that it would fit into was a problem. The awards committee stuck with it and found a way to allow CTB to be nominated.

Well when they asked Tee Morris to present, I had my suspicions, but then when he opened the envelope and yelped ‘I can’t say that’ I kinda knew. His big smile confirmed it, and getting the beautiful award from someone who has helped me so much with publication and podcasting, just made it all the more special. Of course, he had to try and run off with the award, but I tackled him and got it back.

And I was surprised. Genuinely surprised to win. I was up against some very funny spoof videos, and worried that CTB was so different from them. I believe my comment was ‘Wow, and here I was thinking only Americans listen to my podcasts.’

It was a sweet moment, and that lovely award is going to sit proudly next to my mic, reminding me visually that people do enjoy what I do.

Now, about those Parsecs….

And now the time has come…

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:28:59 +0000

Yes, it is heading toward award season again, and the nominations for Parsec Awards are open again.

So what can you do to make the dark goddess happy?

Why pick your favourite of my works this year.

You can nominate Chasing the Bard as Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novel Form) and/or nominate Erotica a la Carte as Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast.

The if there is a particular short story among EalC you’d like to nominate (It doesn’t have to be mine even) then use the EalC feed, and then once it is nominated create a comment on the site. I think my two best are Multitasking and Measureless to Man, but feel free to nominate your favourite.

Weather Child is eligible, but I think, like Chasing the Bard last year, the best is yet to come so I think I would recommend waiting until next year.

Go here to nominate if you feel it is deserved.