Scarlet Stiletto Writing Awards Now Open!

Sisters in Crime’s Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2023 for best short crime and mystery stories turn 30 this year and the first prize winner takes home $2,000 donated by Swinburne University of Technology, plus the coveted trophy, a scarlet stiletto shoe with a steel stiletto heel plunging into a mount. The shortlist will be announced in October, with the awards being presented at a gala ceremony in Melbourne in late November.

In the lead-up to the ceremony, all of the winning stories over the past 30 years are being narrated by Susanna Lobez for Sisters in Crime’s very first podcast – Scarlet Stiletto Bites: Scintillating Stories by Australian women. The podcast is free and a new episode is available weekly on Fridays on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, and other services.

Christina Lee, judges’ coordinator and winner of two trophies, said that the Scarlet Stiletto Awards were remarkable in their ability to uncover outstanding criminal talent.

“Winning a Scarlet Stiletto Award has often launched literary careers. To date, 4,332 stories have been entered with 33 (soon to be 34) Scarlet Stiletto Award winners–including category winners – going on to have novels published,” she said.

“Well-known authors who got their start with the Scarlet Stiletto Awards include Cate Kennedy, Tara Moss, Aoife Clifford, Ellie Marney, Angela Savage, and Anna Snoekstra. For Dervla McTiernan, just being shortlisted in 2015 gave her the impetus to finish five drafts of her first novel, The Ruin, and put her on the road to becoming a global publishing sensation.”

Former police officer, TJ Hamilton, says that winning the shoe in 2015 was “a huge turning point” in her career. In the eight years since, she has worked in various script departments across a wide variety of Australian dramas and is now in LA working on two crime shows.

30th Scarlet Stiletto Awards now open – a record $12,720 in prize money

Like many of Sisters in Crime’s best ideas, Scarlet Stiletto Awards sprang from a well-lubricated meeting in St Kilda in 1994, when the convenors debated how they could unearth the female criminal talent they were convinced was out there.

“Once a competition was settled on, it didn’t take long to settle on a name – the scarlet stiletto, a feminist play on the traditions of the genre. The stiletto is both a weapon and a shoe worn by women. And of course, the colour scarlet has a special association for us as women. And they were right – talent is lurking everywhere, sometimes in the most unlikely places!” Lee said.

Allen & Unwin is now offering the Best Young Writer Award ($1000). It previously offered a youth award for over two decades. Every Cloud Productions has boosted its Best History with Mystery Award to $1000. Overall, 30th Scarlet Stiletto Awards are offering a record $12,720 in prizes.

Monash University, which previously offered the Emerging Writers’ Award, is now offering an award for Best Campus Crime Story ($600). The only proviso is that it has to be set on the campus of a university, TAFE College, or vocational institution. The award draws on a long history of crime stories set at universities, such as Amanda Cross’ novel, Death in a Tenured Position, and Unable by Reason of Death and Not in Single Spies, set at Redmond Barry College (a thinly disguised RMIT University) by Lee herself and Felicity Allen, under pseudonyms.

Images supplied Sisters In Crime Australia Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2023

List of Award Categories:

Swinburne University Award: 1^st Prize: $2000

Simon & Schuster Award: 2^nd Prize: $1000

Sun Bookshop & Fremantle Press Award: 3rd Prize: $750

Allen & Unwin Award for Best Young Writer (under 19): $1000

Melbourne Athenaeum Library ‘Body in the Library’ Award: $1250 ($750 runner-up)

Every Cloud Award for Best Mystery with History Story: $1000

HQ Fiction Award for Best Thriller: $1000

Clan Destine Press Award for Best Cross-genre Story: $750

Kerry Greenwood Award for Best Malice Domestic Story: $750

Viliama Grakalic Art and Crime Award: $750

Monash University Award for Best Campus Crime Story: $600

ScriptWorks Award for a Great Film Idea: $500

Liz Navratil Award for Best Story with a Disabled Protagonist Award: $400

Writers Victoria for the story with the Most Satisfying Retribution: Choice of online course, prize worth $250

CLOSING DATE for the Awards is Thursday 31 August 2023
ENTRY FEE is $25 or $20 for Sisters in Crime members.
MAXIMUM LENGTH is 5,000 words.
The competition is open to all women, whether cisgender, transgender or intersex, who are citizens/residents of Australia.
30th Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2023

To download INFORMATION and a list of FAQs, go here.

To pay the ENTRY FEE go here.

A hardcopy Scarlet Stiletto collection of the first-prize winning stories will be launched at the Award ceremony along with Scarlet Stiletto: The Fifteenth Cut, a collection of the 2023 winning stories.
Also fourteen collections of winning stories are available: www.clandestinepress.net
Sisters in Crime 2023

Media comment: Christina Lee; 0424 003 285; c.lee@psy.uq.edu.au

Additional information: Carmel Shute, Secretary and National Convenor; 0412 569 356

admin@sistersincrime.org.au; www.sistersincrime.org.au

Carmel Shute
Secretary & National Co-Convenor
Sisters in Crime Australia
PO Box 357 Balaclava Vic 3183 Australia
admin@sistersincrime.org.au
www.sistersincrime.org.au

Above information supplied by Sisters in Crime Australia.

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

P.S. I am going to dig out my Half-Finished file and try again—

**TRANSLATION “START WRITING NOW, DON’T WAIT”**

The Scarlet Stiletto Awards Launch

Women’s crime and mystery short story competition

A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION! LAUNCH OF SISTERS IN CRIME’S 30TH SCARLET STILETTO AWARDS 2023

The idea for a national award for short stories, written by Australian women and featuring a strong female protagonist, was cooked up over a few glasses of wine in 1994 at a convenors’ meeting in St Kilda, Victoria. The purpose was to support and unearth new talent. This has been achieved in spades!

Get in quick for an historic (and enjoyable) occasion – the launch of Sisters in Crime’s 30th Scarlet Stiletto Awards hosted by Angela Savage.

Susanna Lobez and Leigh Redhead will read the winning ‘Body in the Library’ stories from 2021 and 2022.

Date of launch Friday 2nd June 2023
Time 5.30pm (for 6.00pm) until 7.30pm
Venue Melbourne Athenaeum Library
Level 1, 188 Collins Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia + Google Map

Of course, this event is to get writers warmed up for the writing of their own crime short story!

Competition entry details for 2023 will be posted when they come to hand… stay tuned…

Meanwhile here’s a link to some other great writing events:
https://sistersincrime.org.au/opportunities-competitions-and-workshops/

Further event information
Sisters in Crime
Carmel Shute
Secretary, Sisters in Crime
admin@sistersincrime.org.au

Yours in criminal writing,

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Snapshot (Phryne Fisher) from DECO Watermark Publishing Ltd and John Sands Greeting Cards

ENTRIES NOW OPEN – READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE:

Scarlet Stiletto Writing Awards Now Open!

AND HERE:
https://sistersincrime.org.au/the-scarlet-stiletto-awards/

Scarlet Stiletto Awards and Young Writers Award 2022

It’s that time of year again!

The Scarlet Stiletto Awards – the 29^th – are now open so it’s time to start polishing your short story or at least fire up the computer/sharpen that pencil.

A record $12,365 in prizes is on offer and this year’s Writers Victoria Award for the story with the ‘Most Satisfying Retribution’ now offers a choice of an online course worth $215 – start writing!

To download an entry form and list of FAQs, go here.

To pay the entry fee go here.

To submit the pdf, email here.

Make your crime (story) rewarding!

AND THERE’S MORE—

Do you know someone aged 18-25 who loves to write?

State Library of Queensland’s Young Writers Award is now open.

They are looking for inspiring, vivid and bold short stories by Queensland writers aged 18-25. Whether you’re just starting out or already making your mark as a writer, your creative work could win $2,000 and be published in the Griffith Review.

Have the chance to see your story published and win cash.

Enter your best work by Monday 15 August 2022, 5 pm.

The Young Writers Award is free to enter! To apply, submit a short story of up to 2,500 words.

First prize is $2000 and up to three runners-up will receive $500.

* * * * * * * * *

TIP: Always read the submission guidelines.

NOTE: I am no longer affiliated with either organisation although years ago I entered their competitions. I didn’t hear back but really enjoyed the experience and I encourage all writers to stretch their emotions and imaginations and start writing – now!

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

My Sisters-in-Crime Membership Card

IMG_20191029_133057 — I kept the postage stamp but the envelope has been recycled.

How is this for the personal touch! Sisters-in-Crime mailed a white 9×4 envelope with my address neatly printed on it and a postage stamp stuck in the corner. The stamp, if you are interested, commemorates 50 years since the moon landing. Australia had a hand in the Apollo 11 lunar module ‘Eagle’ landing on the moon.

Back to the goodies in the envelope:

A welcome letter from Carmel, Secretary & National Co-convenor.

Diary Dates and information on 26th Scarlet Stiletto Awards.

Leaflet for ‘Murder She Wrote’ Readers and Writers Festival to be held in Tasmania under the title ‘Terror Australis’ .

Bookmark stating all the wonderful things Sisters-in-Crime can offer me.

Info on bookshop discounts, panels, discussions, debates, tours, launches, festivals.

And, of course, my Membership Card!

Every department store in the world wants to give you a plastic card but this is a Crime Card. Not plastic; written on by hand; the nostalgic beauty of it.

Who or what are the Sisters-in-Crime? Let me fill you in—

Sisters-in-Crime is a world-wide organisation but the Australian chapter was launched at the Feminist Book Festival in Melbourne in September 1991, inspired by the American organisation of the same name, which was founded in 1986 by Sara Paretsky (creator of Chicago PI VI Warshawski) and other women crime writers at the Bouchercon crime convention. Members are authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians bound by their affection for the mystery genre and their support of women who write mysteries. Chapters currently meet in Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. The Melbourne chapter holds very regular events and partners with festivals, libraries and other organisations.

There are annual crime-writing competitions, the Scarlet Stiletto Awards (big prize money) and the Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women published in the previous year.

I missed ‘Murder She Wrote’, the readers and writers Terror Australis Festival in Huon Valley, Tasmania, from 31 October to 5 November 2019. It was jam-packed with amazing stuff; panel sessions, masterclasses, Hall of Writers, book launches, Murder Mystery Dinner, etc. Hear my teeth gnashing…

I am currently reading ‘Dead Man Switch’ by Tara Moss and she attended the Festival. Quote ‘I would kill to be at the Terror Australis Festival, but thankfully I was invited so I won’t need to.’ – Tara Moss, author.

Maybe next year <sigh>

♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward