Last weekend I went to the Aurealis Awards in Brisbane. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and the winners, especially Cat Sparks and David Kowalski, the winners of the Golden Aurealis Awards for short and long fiction, respectively. A special mention must be made of Kate Forsyth, whose Chain of Charms series won FIVE times - that is, she was shortlisted for books 2-5 in the series and the judges couldn’t choose between them, so she received the Aurealis for Best Children’s Long Fiction for all of them. (The full list of winners is at www.aurealis.com.au)

It was a lovely evening and congratulations should go to all the organisers, especially Awards Director Ron Serdiuk.

The Awards weekend includes a breakfast and an industry seminar. Both were well attended and a great place for new writers to make contacts in the industry.