Norma
K. Hemming AwardAustralian Science Fiction Foundation Norma
K. Hemming Award
About the Award
Winners of the Norma K. Hemming Award
The Life and Times of Norma K. Hemming
Norma K. Hemming in costume in 1956. |
The Norma K. Hemming Award marks excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class and disability:
in the form of science fiction and fantasy or related artwork or media.
produced either in Australia or by Australian citizens.
first published, released or presented in the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is given.
The Australian Science Fiction Foundation (ASFF) launched this major new award at Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention held in Melbourne on 2–6 September 2010.
The Award will not necessarily be given annually, and a selection will only be made if there is a work that meets an appropriate standard of excellence.
Dr Toby Burrows (Scholars Centre, University of Western Australia) has published an edition of Norma Hemming’s collected writings called Dwellers in Silence – Stories and Plays by Norma Hemming. It is available for purchase online from Lulu.
Norma Kathleen Hemming (1928-1960) was a British author who migrated to Australia in 1948 and wrote for local pulp magazine Thrills Incorporated and enthusiastically participated in the Australian fan scene.
She was a founding member of the femme fan group Vertical Horizons, and wrote and acted for the SF theatrical group The Arcturian Players.
Norma returned to international publishing in the late 1950s with stories in Nebula SF and New Worlds, but died at the age of 31 of breast cancer on 4 July 1960.
Dr Toby Burrows (Scholars Centre, University of Western Australia) has published an edition of Norma Hemming’s collected science fiction writing called Dwellers in Silence: Stories and Plays by Norma Hemming, published by The Hilliard Press in 2010, ISBN 978-1-4461-4001-7. It is also available for purchase online from Lulu.
Before her death Norma wrote eight romance novels for Mills and Boon (for details please visit: Wikipedia), and through these she had a long posthumous career under the pseudonym Nerina Hilliard. They were published from 1958 to 1977, returning royalties to her estate for three decades.
Last update: 5 May 2013.
Australian Science Fiction Foundation Norma
K. Hemming Award