The Aurora Awards (french: Prix Aurora-Boréal) are a set of primarily

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. M ...

s given annually for the best

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

professional and fan works and achievements from the previous year."Literary glow of Auroras lures galaxy of sci/fi stars". ''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'', June 6, 1991. The event is organized by

Canvention Canvention is the Canadian national science fiction convention, where the Prix Aurora Awards are presented. Normally it is held as part of an existing convention. Conventions The list of past Canventions may be referenced in the programme books of ...

and the awards are given out by the

Canadian SF and Fantasy Association Canvention is the Canadian national science fiction convention, where the Prix Aurora Awards are presented. Normally it is held as part of an existing convention. Conventions The list of past Canventions may be referenced in the programme books o ...

and SFSF Boreal Inc. Originally they were known as the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards which was shortened to CSFFA and nicknamed the Casper Awards based on that acronym, but this name was changed to the Aurora Awards in 1991, because the Aurora is the same in English and French. The categories have expanded from those focused on literary works to include categories that recognize achievements in comics, music, poetry, art, film and television. Originally, the CSFFA gave out both the English-language and French-language versions of the awards, with the French-language version known as the Prix Aurora. However, the French-language section of the awards is now known as the Prix Aurora-Boréal and was created through an agreement between SFSFBI and the CSFFA in November 2010, which combined the independent Prix Boréal and the Prix Aurora into a single award affiliated to the English-language award. The awards are selected by member vote, in a similar style to that of the

Hugo Awards The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

."It's almost time for sci-fi awards". ''

Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began as ...

'', September 11, 1999. The first award was granted in 1980 at Hal-Con 3, in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. Th ...

, which was in turn the first convention to be named Canvention, a name which rotates to the convention hosting the awards that year in addition to its regular name. Voting for the awards is done by members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, who pay an annual fee of $10. Publishers cannot vote during the nomination or shortlist ballot, but can submit works by authors they represent without paying a fee.

Award

The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) and the SFSFBI give out the Aurora and Aurora-Boréal Awards for the best science fiction and fantasy works in each of the categories. CSFFA handle the anglophone Aurora Awards and the SFSFBI handle the francophone Aurora-Boréal Awards, though both organizations co-sponsor the other award. Nominees are only valid if they were produced or completed in the previous calendar year. For the Aurora Awards, the official nominees are chosen by the awards committee from all of the works that have received at least 5 nominations by CSFFA members throughout the year, and then the shortlist is voted on by every member of the CSFFA. This is obtained through a $10 membership fee, and can be voted in person with a voting card at the annual general meeting of the CSFFA at that year's Canvention, or online through a portal set up by the CSFFA. A member must have been a member for at least 1 month before Canvention to be eligible for voting. The deadlines for voting are set by the CSFFA at the previous year's Canvention. For a category to not have an award given for it, usually there has to be less than three eligible nominees in that category before the start of voting, or enough people have voted for the No Award option on the ballot, and this wins a majority. The voting uses the

instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of Ranked voting, ranked preferential Electoral system, voting method. It uses a Majority rule, majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referr ...

method, where the voters rank their choices and the lowest scorer is eliminated until one nominee has a majority. For the CSFFA Hall of Fame, the inductee must have been nominated for the trophy, and then selected by a 4-person jury, which is selected by the CSFFA each year.

Current award categories

Recognition

CSFFA is a federally recognized Canadian non-profit, since 2011.

References

External links

Prix Aurora Awards/CSFFA website
{{science fiction Awards established in 1980 1980 establishments in Canada Canadian fiction awards Canadian poetry awards French-language literary awards Science fiction awards