I believe that the first award nomination I’d ever received for any of my published works was for this year’s Saskatchewan’s Snow Willow Award. It was a tremendous honour that I’ll always cherish. The same goes for this news that I can now announce: Icarus Down has been nominated for the 2017 Aurora Awards in the Best Young Adult Novel Category.
The Aurora Awards celebrate the best in Canadian science fiction, fantasy and horror literature. They are currently run by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association and have been around since 1980. They are a people’s choice awards, so you can participate in the voting process if “you are a Canadian citizen or a landed immigrant… [and] purchase an annual membership to CSFFA” (it’s only $10).
You can see the ballot here, and I am delighted to be included with fellow nominees Randy McCharles, Edward Willett, Amanda Sun, Michell Plested, and Adam Dreece. Other nominees include Guy Gavriel Kay, Madeline Ashby, and Robert J. Sawyer in the Best Novel category, Margaret Atwood and co-authors Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillian in the Best Graphic Novel category and dozens more too numerous to mention here. It is an honour to be included in this list.
The winners will be announced, I believe, at Canvention 37, hosted by Hal-Con 2017 in Halifax between September 22-24, 2017. Sadly, I won’t be able to make it, I don’t think, but I’m still honoured, and it sounds like it’s going to be a great time over there. Thanks to the people behind the Aurora Awards, and for those who nominated me, and best of luck to all the nominees.