Taylor wins first prize in 2024 Scarlet Stiletto Awards

Sisters in Crime Australia announced the winners of the 2024 Scarlet Stiletto Awards at an event in South Melbourne on Saturday night.

Newcastle author Nikki Lee Taylor won the $2000 first prize for ‘Lilly Pilly, Don’t Be Silly’, which Sisters in Crime described as ‘a chilling tale narrated by a teenage protagonist, exploring themes of abuse and bullying’. Second prize ($1000) went to Heidi Catherine for ‘Heel and Toad’, and the third prize ($750) was awarded to Blanche Clark for ‘Unconscionable’.

The evening also included the announcement of the inaugural Cate Kennedy Award for Best Story Inspired by a Forensic Clue ($500), which went to Kimberley Ivory for ‘You Didn’t Have to Be There’.

Other awards presented in the evening included:

• Body-in-the-Library Award ($1250): Naomi Manuell for ‘The First Edition”
• Best Thriller Award ($1000): Fiona Hardy for ‘Green Thumbs’
• Best Young Writer (under 19) ($1000): Rose Mebrhatu for ‘The Echoes We Leave Behind’
• Body-in-the-Library Runner-Up Award ($750): Katrina Watson for ‘Crime and Management’
• Cross Genre Award ($750): Jenny Blackford for ‘The Applewood Murder’
• Malice Domestic Award ($750): Jennifer White for ‘Under the Circumstances’
• Viliama Grakalic Art and Crime Award ($750): Amy Anyshaw-Nye for ‘Red Oxide’
• Best Campus Crime Story ($600): Stephanie Whitelock McMillan for ‘Noblesse Oblige’
• Liz Navratil Award for the Story with the Best Disabled Protagonist ($500): Samantha Holz for ‘Loops and Spirals’
• Great Film Idea Award ($500): Jessica Southern-Reid for ‘Amelia Anderson is All at Sea’
• Story with the Most Satisfying Retribution ($300): Laree Chapman for ‘Capeweed’.

The Scarlet Stiletto Awards are ‘a national award for short stories, written by Australian women and featuring a strong female protagonist’, which was established in 1994.

This year’s winners were selected from 195 entries. Last year’s first prize winner was Romany Rzechowicz for ‘Skin and Bone’.

More information about the awards is available on the Sisters in Crime website.

Pictured: Nikki Lee Taylor.

Category: Awards Local news