There are two awards that carry the name of my late friend, Peter McNamara. The first, the Peter McNamara Convenor’s Award for Excellence is presented annually by the administrators of the Aurealis Awards. The second, The Peter McNamara Achievement Award, is presented annually by a private group headed by Robert Stephenson.

Each year members of the Australian science fiction community are asked to nominate those individuals who have made an oustanding contribution to Australian science fiction. A judge is then appointed, who makes the final decision as to who will receive the award.

This year, as the previous recipient, I was asked to present the award as part of the 2006 Ditmar Awards ceremony, held at Conjure over the long weekend. As you can see from the photo at right, the award was presented to my friend Peter Nicholls, who richly deserved it. You can see some of the many reasons why here. The award was accepted on Peter’s behalf by Jenny Blackford.

The award recipients to date are:

2006: Peter Nicholls
2005: Jonathan Strahan
2004: Jack Dann
2003: Stephanie Smith
2002: Paul Collins