Icarus Down Wins 2017 Prix Aurora Award for Best YA

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The call came late last night, with an Albertan area code and a very friendly man asking for me and asking if I knew the reason for his call. Of course I didn’t. But then he said, “you’ve won an Aurora Award”, and that made my evening.

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I was honoured to have Icarus Down included among the finalists for the Best YA category this year in the Prix Aurora Awards (also known as the Aurora-Boreal), but winning was a pleasant surprise. It was announced Saturday night at Halifax science fiction convention HalCon, and I’m pretty sure nobody knew in advance. I asked when I could announce, and the man told me to go ahead and cheer, so I did, on Facebook and Twitter, to a lot of great responses.

It looks like a great time was had in Halifax, and I’m sad I wasn’t there (not that you need much of an excuse to visit Halifax). Robert Sawyer had a fantastic night, winning both the Best of the Decade category for The Neanderthal Parallax and Best Adult Novel for Quantum Night. Margaret Atwood (along with Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillain) was also honoured with Best Graphic Novel for her work, Angel Catbird. Indeed, here’s the full list of winners:

  • Best of the Decade: The Neanderthal Parallax, Robert J. Sawyer, Tor Books
  • Best Novel: Quantum Night by Robert J. Sawyer, Penguin Canada
  • Best YA Novel: Icarus Down by James Bow, Scholastic Canada
  • Best Short Fiction: “Marion’s War” by Hayden Trenholm, Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts, Laksa Media
  • Best Graphic Novel: Angel Catbird, Volume One by Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas and Tamra Bonvillian, Dark Horse Books
  • Best Related Work: Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law, Laksa Media
  • Best Visual Presentation: Arrival, director, Denis Villeneuve, 21 Laps Ent, FilmNation and Lava Bear
  • Best Artist: Samantha M. Beiko, cover to Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts
  • Best Fan Publication: Speculating Canada edited by Derek Newman-Stille
  • Best Fan Organizational: Randy McCharles, chair, When Words Collide, Calgary
  • Best Fan Related Work: Derek Newman-Stille, Speculating Canada on Trent Radio 92.7 FM

Thanks to R. Graeme Cameron of Polar Borealis Magazine for posting this list. The organizers of the Prix Aurora Awards have also issued an official press release.

Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners, thanks to the people organizing the Prix Aurora Awards, and thanks especially to everybody who voted and nominated and who supports Canadian speculative fiction.

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