Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Southern-Reid wins Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Award 2020

Monday, 30 November 2020   Books+Publishing
@booksandpublishing

The winners of the 2020 Scarlet Stiletto Awards, presented by Sisters in Crime, have been announced.

Bermagui, NSW–based writer Jessica Southern-Reid won the $1500 first prize for her story about women pilots in World War II, ‘Death in The Skies’, which also took out the History with Mystery Award ($750).

Second prize ($1000) went to West Swan, WA writer Cheryl Rogers for her story ‘Monitor’, set during the Spanish flu pandemic following WWI. Rogers’s story also took out the Crime and Punishment Award ‘for the story with the most satisfying retribution’, for which Rogers receives a three-month residency in Old Melbourne Gaol. Third Prize ($500) went to Veronica Lando from Ashgrove, Qld for her story ‘A View for Tea and Biscuits’, set in a retirement village.

L J M Owen scored a hat trick at the awards, with her story ‘The Wrong Verdict’ taking out the $800 Forensic Linguists Award ($800) as well as Best story with a Disabled Protagonist ($300), while ‘House of War’, by the same author, won the Great Film Idea prize ($200).

Other awards presented at the online event were:

  • The inaugural New Writer Award ($500) for 19 to 25-year-old writers: Ellen Vickerman for ‘Leash’
  • Young Writer’s Award ($500) for writers under 19 years old: Natasha Nette for ‘Signs of Life’
  • Body-in-the-Library Library Award ($1250): Kristin Murdock for ‘The Irony of Silence’
  • Body-in-the-Library Library Runner-Up Award ($750): Fin J Ross for ‘Murder by the Book’
  • Domestic Award ($750)  Nicola Wardley for ‘The Garden Fork Murder’
  • Best Thriller ($500): Hayley Barry-Smith for ‘Mrs. Betty Jones: Lady Vigilante’
  • Cross-Genre Award ($500): Jane E Lee for ‘Viral’.

Chosen from a record 241 short stories, the winners were announced at an online event hosted by actor Nadine Garner, who also launched  Scarlet Stiletto: The Twelfth Cut, a collection of winning stories from this year’s competition.

The Scarlet Stiletto awards were launched in 1994 by Sisters in Crime Australia to recognise the best crime and mystery short stories written by women in Australia. For more information, see the website.

Pictured: Jessica Southern-Reid

 

Tags:

Category: Awards Local news