Aurealis Award for best horror novel
The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works in order to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers". To qualify, a work must have been first published by an Australian citizen or permanent resident between 1 November of the prior year and 31 October of the corresponding year; the presentation ceremony is held the following year. It has grown from a small function of around 20 people to a two-day event attended by over 200 people.
Since their creation in 1995, awards have been given in various categories of speculative fiction. Categories currently include science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative young adult fiction—with separate awards for novels and short fiction—collections, anthologies, illustrative works or graphic novels, children's books, and an award for excellence in speculative fiction. The awards have attracted the attention of publishers by setting down a benchmark in science fiction and fantasy. The continued sponsorship by publishers such as HarperCollins and Orbit has identified the award as an honour to be taken seriously.
The results are decided by a panel of judges from a list of submitted nominees; the long-list of nominees is reduced to a short-list of finalists. Ties can occur if the panel decides both entries show equal merit, however they are encouraged to choose a single winner. The judges may declare a "no award" if there is unanimous agreement that none of the nominees are worthy. The judges are selected from a public application process by the Award's management team.
This article lists all the short-list nominees and winners in the best horror novel category, as well as novels that have received honourable mentions or have been highly commended. Since 2005, honourable mentions and high commendations have been awarded intermittently. Kim Wilkins has won the award three times, while two people have won the award twice - Kirstyn McDermott and Kaaron Warren. Wilkins holds the record for most nominations, with five. Greig Beck, Stephen Dedman, and Jason Nahrung share the record for most nominations without winning, each having been nominated twice.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the book's eligibility; the ceremonies are always held the following year. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a blue background have won the award; those with a white background are the nominees on the short-list.Winners and joint winners
Nominees on the shortlist
| Year | Author | Novel | Publisher | Ref |
| * | Aphelion Publications | |||
| My Beautiful Friend | Arrow Books | |||
| UQP | ||||
| Allen & Unwin | ||||
| Picador | ||||
| * | Random House | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Pan Macmillan | ||||
| Dead Set | Random House | |||
| * | Foreign Devil | Random House | ||
| Into the Dark | Viking Press | |||
| Viking Press | ||||
| Deadly Sister Love | HarperCollins | |||
| * | Voyager Books | |||
| Blackwater Days | Eidolon Publications | |||
| * | Angel of Ruin | Voyager Books | ||
| Penguin Books | ||||
| * | Flamingo | |||
| Penguin Books | ||||
| Daughter of the Dark | Simon & Schuster | |||
| Shadows Bite | Tor Books | |||
| * | Born of the Sea | Viking Press | ||
| HarperCollins | ||||
| Voyager Books | ||||
| * | Chimaera Publications | |||
| Fire in the Shell | Simon & Schuster | |||
| Giants of the Frost | Voyager Books | |||
| * | ABC Books | |||
| * | Prismatic | Lothian Books | ||
| Carnies | Lothian Books | |||
| Lothian Books | ||||
| * | Blood of Dreams | Viking Press | ||
| * | Jonathan Cape | |||
| PS Publishing | ||||
| Ghostlines | Scribe Publications | |||
| * | Red Queen | Penguin Books | ||
| Horn | Twelfth Planet Press | |||
| Hachette | ||||
| Night's Cold Kiss | HarperCollins | |||
| Slights | Angry Robot Books | |||
| * | Madigan Mine | Pan MacMillan | ||
| ' | Black House Comics | |||
| Death Most Definite | Orbit Books | |||
| * | Perfections | Xoum | ||
| Bloody Waters | Possible Press | |||
| Blood and Dust | Xoum | |||
| Salvage | Twelfth Planet Press | |||
| * | Fairytales for Wilde Girls | Random House Australia | ||
| The Marching Dead | Angry Robot Books | |||
| The First Bird | Momentum | |||
| Path Of Night | FableCroft Publishing | |||
| * | Razorhurst | Allen & Unwin | ||
| Obsidian | HarperVoyager | |||
| Book of the Dead | Momentum | |||
| * | Day Boy | Text Publishing | ||
| * | ' | IFWG Publishing Australia | ||
| Fear is the Rider | Text Publishing | |||
| My Sister Rosa | Allen & Unwin | |||
| * | Soon | Transit Lounge | ||
| Aletheia | Crystal Lake Publishing | |||
| Who's Afraid Too? | Hachette Australia | |||
| * | Tide of Stone | Omnium Gatherum | ||
| ' | Allen & Unwin | |||
| Years of the Wolf | IFWG Publishing Australia | |||
| Chuwa: The Rat-People of Lahore | Broken Puppet Books | |||
| Remains | IFWG Publishing Australia | |||
| A Riddle in Bronze | Bowman Press | |||
| The Rich Man's House | Allen & Unwin | |||
| Body Farm Z | Severed Press |
I''' Publisher names in parentheses indicate the imprint under which the book was published.
Honourable mentions and high commendations
In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the book's eligibility; the ceremonies are always held the following year. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature" article. Entries with a grey background have been noted as highly commended; those with a white background have received honourable mentions.Highly commended
Honourable mentions
| Year | Author | Novel | Publisher | Ref |
| 2005 | * | Nine Letters Long | Random House | |
| 2007 | Dangerous Games | Piatkus | ||
| 2007 | & John Sunseri | Chaosium | ||
| 2007 | Hachette Livre | |||
| 2011 | Hachette | |||
| 2011 | Hachette |