After 15 years the Aurealis Awards, Australia's premier awards for Speculative Fiction, finally make it to Sydney. Chimaera Publications, the publishers of Aurealis magazine and owner of the Aurealis Awards and book imprint, have reached agreement for SpecFaction NSW Inc to administer the Awards for 2010.

The Awards’ founder, Dirk Strasser says, “Fantastic Queensland took the Aurealis Awards to a new level during its six years, and all the signs indicate that SpecFaction NSW Inc will maintain this standard of excellence. With Sydney now joining past hosts Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, we can truly claim the Aurealis Awards as fully national.”

To allow sufficient time for entries this year, the nomination period will extend to 31 December 2010 and the Awards ceremony will be late April/early May 2011.

The Awards website will continue to be at www.aurealisawards.com. The Co-convenors are Nathan Burrage and Susan Wardle, and general queries should go to nscrypt@gmail.com until the website has been updated. If you wish to register an expression of interest in being on one of the judging panels for this year, please email the Judging Coordinator, Keith Stevenson, at aajudges@optusnet.com.au.