It could be worth killing for…
It could be worth killing for… Monash University’s Crime Fiction Project’s Best Campus Crime story worth $600 – one of Sisters in Crime’s 16 Scarlet Stiletto Awards on offer this year.
The main criterion is that the story must be set on a university, TAFE or vocational college campus. It doesn’t need to involve someone being defenestrated from the Ming Wing (the Menzies building) at Monash.
The first prize winner takes home $2000, 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.
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 been a springboard to a literary career. To date, 4582 stories have been entered, with 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.”
Altogether, $14,300 is up for grabs in the 31st Scarlet Stiletto Awards and young writers are eligible to enter all the other categories – ‘Body in the Library’, Malice Domestic, Cross-Genre, Malice Domestic, Thriller Award, Mystery with History, Art and Crime, Most Satisfying Retribution, Great Film Idea, Best Story with a Disabled Protagonist Award and the new Cate Kennedy Award for Best Story Inspired by a Forensic Clue (pic attached).
The full list of the 2024 awards is:
- Swinburne University Award: 1st Prize: $2000
- Simon & Schuster Award: 2nd Prize: $1000
- Sun Bookshop & Fremantle Press Award: 3rd Prize: $750
- Allen & Unwin Award for Best Young Writer (under 19): $1000
- Monash University Award for Best Campus Crime Story: $600
- 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
- Cate Kennedy Award for Best Story Inspired by a Forensic Clue: $500
- ScriptWorks Award for a Great Film Idea: $500Liz Navratil Award for Best Story with a Disabled Protagonist Award: $500
- Writers Victoria Award for the Story with the Most Satisfying Retribution: Choice of online course plus membership: $300.
Fifteen collections of winning stories are available from Clan Destine Press, along with a hardcopy Scarlet Stiletto collection of the first-prize winning stories, The Scarlet Stiletto: 30 Years of Mystery, Murder and Malice, edited by Lindy Cameron. (paperback $36.99; e-book $7.99)
Closing date for the awards is 31 August 2024. The entry fee is $25, or $20 for Sisters in Crime members. Maximum length is 5000 words.
The competition is open to all women, whether cisgender, transgender or intersex, who are citizens/residents of Australia.
The Awards will be presented at South Melbourne’s Rising Sun Hotel in late November.
To download information and a list of FAQs, go to: https://www.sistersincrime.org.au/the-scarlet-stiletto-awards/
To pay the entry fee go to scarletstiletto2024.eventbrite.com
Additional information: Carmel Shute, Secretary and National Convenor, 0412 569 356: admin@sistersincrime.org.au; www.sistersincrime.org.au