The full list of the 2011 Aurealis Award winners:

CHILDREN’S FICTION (told primarily through words)

City of Lies by Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)

CHILDREN’S FICTION (told primarily through pictures)

Sounds Spooky by Christopher Cheng (author) and Sarah Davis (illustrator) (Random House Australia)

YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

“Nation of the Night” by Sue Isle (Nightsiders, Twelfth Planet Press)

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Only Ever Always by Penni Russon (Allen & Unwin)

ILLUSTRATED BOOK / GRAPHIC NOVEL

Hidden by Mirranda Burton (author and illustrator) (Black Pepper)

The Deep: Here be Dragons by Tom Taylor (author) and James Brouwer (illustrator) (Gestalt Publishing)

COLLECTION

Bluegrass Symphony by Lisa L. Hannett (Ticonderoga Publications)

ANTHOLOGY

Ghosts by Gaslight edited by Jack Dann and Nick Gevers (Harper Voyager)

HORROR SHORT STORY

"The Past is a Bridge Best Left Burnt" by Paul Haines (The Last Days of Kali Yuga, Brimstone Press)

"The Short Go: a Future in Eight Seconds" by Lisa L. Hannett (Bluegrass Symphony, Ticonderoga Publications)

HORROR NOVEL

NO SHORTLIST OR WINNING NOVEL

FANTASY SHORT STORY

“Fruit of the Pipal Tree” by Thoraiya Dyer (After the Rain, FableCroft Publishing)

FANTASY NOVEL

Ember and Ash by Pamela Freeman (Hachette)

SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY

“Rains of la Strange” by Robert N Stephenson (Anywhere but Earth, Coeur de Lion)

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

The Courier’s New Bicycle by Kim Westwood (HarperCollins)

PETER MCNAMARA CONVENORS’ AWARD

Galactic Suburbia podcast – Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Andrew Finch (producer)

KRIS HEMBURY ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD

Emily Craven of Adelaide

Media release here: http://www.aurealisawards.com/media-release_winners2011.pdf

A big thank you to everyone who came to the Aurealis Awards last night. It was a great success and I am pleased and proud to have helped organise the event. Congratulations again to all finalists and winners!

There are still final administration jobs to do, and bill-paying, and then perhaps a brief pause before planning next year's event. That said, the ball is already rolling for the 2012 AAs - judges are being selected, funding ideas are percolating.... watch this space, dear readers!

I went for a run this morning, got home again, showered and changed and headed out for a massage - a run and massage is becoming a Sunday morning thing for me - and immediately realised I'd locked my keys inside the flat. So I was locked out. Isn't it great how you always realise these things the moment AFTER it's too late to fix it? Bugger. Bugger. Bugger!

Luckily I had my phone and called a locksmith, who arrived within an hour and unlocked the door with little fuss. $140 callout fee. Sigh. At least I still had my massage.

Finalists for the 2011 Aurealis Awards have been announced!

Congratulations to all! I hope to see you and your throngs of admirers at the Aurealis Award ceremony on Saturday 12 May in Sydney. Ticketing and hotel information is available at aurealisawards.com.

Like many of you, I am deeply saddened by the death of Paul Haines today. We have known for a long time that this day was coming - despite hoping that somehow it would turn out otherwise - and perhaps that softened the blow, but only a little. And if I'm sad, how much worse must it be for his wife Jules and daughter Isla and the rest of his family. They have my heartfelt sympathy.

This is the last email I wrote to Paul only days ago; I don't know if he saw it, but it says all I can think of saying.

Tonight I ran 7km non-stop. If you'd told me at the beginning of the year that I'd be able to do that with just two months of training - or ever, in fact - I'd have snorted derisively. And yet, here I am.

I bought myself the Blu-ray set of The Walking Dead (season 1) the other day, more or less on a whim. I'd heard good things about it, it was on discount at Mighty Ape, so I grabbed it (along with Generation Kill, which I've not watched yet).

The Walking Dead is excellent TV. Impressive movie-like scale, a good cast (none of whom I recognised), good visual effects, and a huge cast of extras, mostly as zombies of course. I love a good zombie apocalypse story and this is up there with the best. I don't think it brings anything particularly new to the zombie apocalypse genre - at least not so far. It's simply an excellent example of it. I'll be getting season 2 for sure.

Just in case any of you were wondering... 

Remember that time way back then when I said I'd taken up running again? Well, I'm still doing it. Can now manage my 5.7km route non-stop at almost 10km/h, though that's pretty slow by most standards. But for a not-especially-fit 46-year-old bloke who's only been at it for a month or so, I think I'm doing OK. Had a go at running 10km last week, and only had to walk 3km of it, so that's encouraging too.

I have noticed a bit of strain in my back though, which suggests that some core strength exercises would be useful. Like I didn't know that already! Maybe I'll actually do something about it now. A massage yesterday helped. There will be more of those, yes indeed.