Au Contraire 2016 News 
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Au Contraire 3 Short Story Award Results Announced!
Au Contraire 3 Short Story Award Results Announced
Given the short submission window, Dan and I were delighted with the response to this speculative writing competition, receiving 37 entries of an extremely high quality. The stories were wide-ranging in theme and style, although there was a definite nod to science fiction, world-building, and stories with darker aspects. Exactly the kinds of stories we like! While it made for a weekend of excellent reading, it also made it especially hard for us to whittle the list down to just six finalists. Those shortlisted stories were forwarded to Arthur C. Clarke shortlisted writer, Phillip Mann, who had the difficult task of making the final decision.
The results are as follows:
Winners of the Au Contraire 3 Short Story Award
1st To the Centre of the Earth, by Robinne Weiss
2nd The Wasp-keeper’s Mother, by AC Buchanan
3rd Tane Mahuta, by AJ Fitzwater
Highly commended (in no particular order):
And Time, by Summer Wigmore
Keepsake, by Anna Smith
The Seven Wonders of the World Hotel, by Jane Percival
Congratulations to our winners. The award presentations and judges’ comments will be made at the closing ceremony of the national conference Au Contraire 3, to be held in Wellington on Sunday 6 June, 2016, and Robinne’s winning story, To the Centre of the Earth, will be published in the convention booklet.
I would like to thank the convention committee for their administrative support, my colleagues, Dan Rabarts and Phil Mann for their judging expertise, the speculative fiction writing community for their wonderful engaging stories, and especially our friends at SpecFicNZ for their generous contribution of the cash prizes.
Lee Murray