Sir Julius Vogel Award

Nominations are currently open for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for Excellence in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror genres — closing on 31 March.

The Sir Julius Vogel Awards are a reader-voted award made annually under the auspices of SFFANZ, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Association of New Zealand, to recognise achievement in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror by New Zealanders or New Zealand residents. Like other science fiction and fantasy awards around the globe, the Sir Julius Vogels include both professional and fan categories for various forms of writing, artwork, dramatic presentation, and editing.

One of the great things about the Sir Julius Vogel Awards is that the initial nomination round is open to everyone / anyone to nominate. Plus there is no limit on the number of nominations you make, so long as the works are eligible.

If you click through to the Sir Julius Vogel website, you’ll find links to information on the rules and criteria for the Awards, as well as guidelines for nominations.

Sir Julius Vogel Awards on display; Photo, Wei Li

So if you’re a fan of NZ speculative fiction in all its forms—novels/novellas/short fiction; short and long for cinema; fan writing and art—please do consider making a nomination and supporting “homegrown” art and excellence.

Why the “Sir Julius Vogel” Award?

The reason why it’s called the Sir Julius Vogel Award, when Sir Julius was a nineteenth century NZ prime minister, is because he is also held to be NZ’s first speculative fiction author, publishing a novel called Anno Domini 2000 – A Woman’s Destiny in 1889.

The premise of the book is one where women have achieved suffrage (which NZ actually enacted in 1893, just four years later) and gone on to hold major positions of authority in politics, law and industry. Given that shortly after 2000, NZ’s prime minister, as well as our governor general, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the chief executive of NZ’s largest private company, were all women, Sir Julius’s speculation is now held to be uncommonly prescient …