Sir Julius Vogel Award Nominations - 2011

 Best Dramatic Presentation

Although only one episode from each
programme has been listed as nominated,
each series is a continuous story. The nominator
suggests that your vote be considered as a vote
for the series as a whole.

Fan Award Nominees

Special Award Nominees

(Nominations are numbered because otherwise
the text of  the ndescriptions of each  nominee
may make it hard to determine where each  entry
begins and ends -- the number has no other
significance).

"Guardian of the Dead" was first published by Allen and Unwin (Australia) and Little Brown (anywhere else) in 2010.   

Miss Healey's debut YA novel "Guardian of the Dead" is a very good read. Set in an alternate history current-day New Zealand, it is wonderful to see one's home country used as a setting to an urban dark fantasy. Local Maori mythology and well as mythology from various immigrant groups to New Zealand have been successfully incorporated into the story without going overboard. Just enough to give readers the general flavour but also enough to encourage some readers to do their own detailed research. Miss Healey has clearly done a lot of research to give her novel a well-rounded feel of the real history and multi-cultural aspects of New Zealand but at the same time making it an alternate history New Zealand.  

The main characters (Ellie, Mark, Iris and Kevin) are realistic older teenagers. It was so well done it was like going back to school or university for me.  It does not contain the typical aesthetic dressing-up that is found in most books, but what it does do is give the story the all-important "I can relate to this fictional reality as a reader, I can relate to this character, I like the characters". It could be considered a bold move for a debut novel, but it works in the context of this quite original story.  

I saw Karen Healey at Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction convention that was held in Melbourne, Australia. She was on two of the panels that I was able to attend - "Capes and Skirts : the Plight of Female Superheroes" and "Writing Strange Lands : Other Cultures in YA Speculative Fiction". From what I saw at Aussiecon 4, she is a good speaker, panelist and presenter, and would make a worthwhile guest at a science fiction or comics' convention.  

Her next book "The Shattering" is set in the West Coast of New Zealand and will be available in September 2011. Published by Allen and Unwin (Australia/New Zealand) and Little, Brown (USA).   

Karen Healey's website - http://www.karenhealey.com/
 

Mary Victoria's first novel, 'Tymon's Flight', was released in August 2010, the first in the on-going Chronicles of the Trees series published by HarperVoyager. The second and third installments are due out in February and October 2011, respectively.

Praising 'Tymon's Flight', well-known book review site FantasyLiterature writes: Mary Victoria has created an intriguing world, likeable characters, and a tried-and-true conflict of heroic underdogs versus corrupt priestly bureaucrats. About Mary herself, another review states: Mary Victoria speaks of the eternal battle between good and evil with intelligence, sensitivity and originality. She is an author to watch out for.

Mary is currently finishing edits on the third book in the Chronicles of the Trees series, 'Oracle's Fire'. She also appeared at Aussiecon in September 2010, where she shared panels with Helen Lowe, Karen Healey, Gillian Polack, Sarah Parker and Delia Sherman. She has recently contributed to the 'Tales for Canterbury' short story anthology edited by J.C. Hart and Anna Caro, a benefit anthology for the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

(Nominations are numbered because otherwise
the text of the descriptions of each nominee may
make it hard to determine where each entry begins
and ends -- the number has no other significance).

Sue Martin-Smith (nee Dickie) has been a science fiction reader since she was a child growing up in Auckland. Her involvement in organised science fiction within New Zealand is quite extensive, both as an attending fan, and as an organiser of events and clubs.

When Sue enrolled at Auckland University, she was involved in the formation of the Auckland University Science Fiction Society. The Society was formed in 1979, and, as the token Accounting student in the group, she was appointed the Treasurer.

Sue and friends attended the second ever New Zealand national science fiction convention - Wellcon B, held in Wellington at the St George Hotel over Queen's Birthday Weekend in 1980.

Sue and friends got so keen that they volunteered to run the next convention. Norcon was held in the Auckland Maidment Theatre at Auckland University over Queen's Birthday Weekend in 1981. This was Sue's first ConCom or convention committee. Involvement on the convention committee of a national convention is often at the minimum a 1-year commitment, but it is usually a 2-year commitment, sometimes longer, so being on a ConCom is a major undertaking, and a significant contribution of one's personal time in bringing successful events to fruition.

After Sue moved to Wellington in 1981, she joined NASF, the National Association of Science Fiction, and ended up on the committee. NASF was the forerunner to SFFANZ, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand. These two organisations are not directly linked to each other.

During that time she met some Australian fans and helped start up the FFANZ -- the Fan Fund of Australia and New Zealand, which still exists to this day and is used to help finance trips to Australia by New Zealand fans, and vice versa for the purposes of attending the national convention being held in that country. It was most recently used in 2010 to help fund a trip to Melbourne for a New Zealand couple (both fans) to attend Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction convention.

Sue was on the committee of another national science fiction convention - WindyCon. WindyCon was held in Wellington at the St George Hotel over Easter in 1987, and had Nebula and Hugo winning author Joe Haldeman as the Guest of Honour.

In 1989, Sue and her husband Vince Martin-Smith formed the Phoenix SF Society. Sue was the founding president and first editor of Phoenixine, the magazine of the Phoenix Science Fiction Society Inc. To this day, Phoenix lives and thrives. Its main meeting is held once a month at Turnbull House, Bowen St in Wellington on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm, except January when it meets at a pub. It currently boasts five special interest groups or SIGS - Video (for the TV and movie fans), Biblios (for the genre readers), Writers (for those that write genre), Board-gaming (serious strategy games and fun games, NOT war games) and the club social evening. Each Phoenix group hold their own meetings once a month, spread out across the month so that every member can attend all the club get-togethers if they so wish. The Writers SIG is an original SIG, started up in 1990.

In 1992, Sue helped organise ShakyCon, held in Wellington over Queen's Birthday Weekend. This was Sue's 3rd time on a national convention committee. Sue has also been on panels at various national conventions where she was a note-worthy speaker.

Sue and her family left Wellington in 1993, and moved to a provincial city. At that time, she was made a life member of Phoenix, in recognition of her work for the club that she founded.

In 2002, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Association of New Zealand or SFFANZ was incorporated at Con With the Wind, the New Zealand national science fiction convention for that year. Sue is a founding board member of SFFANZ.

In 2010, Sue and her family attended Phoenix's 21st birthday celebration where she was the Guest of Honour. This birthday celebration was in the form of a mini-con - a 1-day convention open to the public, and held at Turnbull House. Sue contributed to the success of Phoenix's birthday by writing an article entitled "History-oenix, The Rising of the Phoenix", published in Phoenixine, Number 248, June 2010, the same club magazine that she was the founding editor of back in 1989. She also spoke about Phoenix's early years at the mini-con. Sue is still a fan, but it is more genre DVDs these days with only a little book reading.

This nomination honours all the work that Sue Martin-Smith has done for the local New Zealand science fiction and fantasy community, but in particular honours the work that she did for three national conventions (Wellcon B, Norcon and ShakyCon) and for the founding of Phoenix. Phoenix deserves special recognition because it has lasted over 21 years. Sue formulated a very practical structure to Phoenix enabling it to expand or shrink, and accommodate new interests relating to science fiction and fantasy in the form of the special interest groups. This is an important feature in that it permits flexibility for trends and enables the club to adapt. This adaptive feature has been adopted by other genre clubs. Many people over the course of Phoenix's 21 year history have enjoyed attending the club itself, its special interest groups and/or its magazine.

Lastly, Sue Martin-Smith is a true pioneer of New Zealand fandom. She was one of the first parents to bring her children to conventions, complete with costumes.

To Sue - for her pioneering spirit, durability of ideas, hands-on implementation, initiative, long-term thinking and plain hard work. Wellington has an established centre of fan activity because of her work.

Simon Litten has provided consistent and good information about new books over a significant period of time to fans through his reviews on the sffanz site. He has also been generous in supporting both NZ and Australian writers through talking about their work, sharing his love of the genre in blogland and at conventions, and ensuring that new writers (Mary Victoria is a recent example) are seen.

His contribution at AussieCon 4 was particularly notable, if a trifle alcoholic.  He was an outstanding representative for New Zealand and won many readers over, luring them with mead and chocolate into reading New Zealand writers. Until then, I'm not sure how many Australian fans and writers knew Simon Litten as anything except a reliable reviewer, but many of us knew and appreciated littenz for his contributions on Live Journal and his genre knowledge.

Taken separately, none of these things is extraordinary, but added together and looking at his work over time, his contribution to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror is more than significant - he has helped to shape fan understanding and to improve levels of knowledge of local writers.  He does quiet work and this kind of gentle support (although essential) seldom gets the recognition it deserves, which is why this nomination is being made.