Award Judge Registration

The Aurealis Awards are Australia’s premier awards for speculative fiction. With a history spanning 30 years, the Awards are renowned for celebrating works contributing to the national genre fiction publishing landscape and community.

Thank you for expressing interest in judging for the Aurealis Awards 2026. The awards rely on a panel of experienced judges to assess and rate each piece. These judges are crucial to the awards process, and will be publicly announced once readings begin, however any reviews or ratings will remain internal and anonymous.

Judges are eligible to enter the competition, however cannot enter into and assess the same category. One judge will be required to present the awards at the awards ceremony at GenreCon 2026.

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Judge Details
Your details (and postal address if you are willing to receive hard copies for review) (Required.)

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Statement of Suitability
Please provide a short statement (100 words) on why you feel you are suitable to judge the Aurealis Awards. This can include background, experience, interest in speculative fiction, etc. (Required.)

Submit a CV (optional) –
If you would like to submit a short 1-2 page CV with any experience you feel would be relevant to the Aurealis Awards 2026, please do so below. If you have a website, please include URL links in this document.

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Would you like to submit a CV to be reviewed with your application?

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File Submission

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Convenor Responsibilities
Convenors are responsible for liaising and troubleshooting with QWC Staff throughout the judging process, while circulating entries and communications with other judges in their categories. Convenors also may be asked to assess a piece's eligibility for the category (word count, genre), resolve deadlocks, and judge the Convenors' Award for Excellence.
A convenor will be chosen from the judging panel of a selected category.
(Required.)

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Presenting
Would you be willing to present the awards at GenreCon 2027 in Brisbane, Queensland? (Required.)

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Judging Categories
Please select all categories you would be willing to judge for. You will only be selected for one unless two similar categories are combined due to a shortage of entries.
Please note that judges are ineligible to enter the Awards in any category for which they are nominated as a judge (but may be eligible to enter in other categories). This includes edited work. (Required.)

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