Leigh Blackmore accepts election as new President of Australian Horror Writers Association

At the AHWA's annual general meeting, held over the weekend at Aussiecon 4 (the 68th World Science Fiction Convention) in Melbourne, Leigh Blackmore was elected as president of the AHWA, succeeding the association's first and founding president, Dr Marty Young, who bows out after five years of running the association.

All committee positions of the AHWA were declared vacant. Consequently new members of the committee have been elected across the board. New officeholders now include:
Vice-President: Geoff Brown
Treasurer: Scott Wilson
Secretary: Carl Schaller
Membership Officer: Amanda Spedding
General officers: Ian Mond, Jason Crowe and James Doig (official AHWA Historian)

Leigh Blackmore wishes to thank the previous committee and other assistants including Marty Young, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Challis, David Schembri, David Carroll, Mark Farrugia, Felicity Dowker, James Cain, Kim Wilkins, Andrew McKiernan, Mick Piemontese, Felicity Dowker, Mark Farrugia, Chuck McKenzie, Ray Gates, Jeff Ritchie, Scott Wilson and the many others who have contributed to the association's professionalism for all their hard work over the last five years in building AHWA into the organisation it is today.

Leigh intends to continue building on the relationships with the British Fantasy Society and the Horror Writers of America established by Marty Young, and to continue to expand initiatives for members of the AHWA as well as to build on the existing benefits of membership such as participation in the Australian Shadows Awards, Midnight Echo magazine, and mentorship programs for horror writing.