Friday November 25th was a big one. Big crowd, big meals, big laughs and a big red shoe.
Well, actually, the red shoe isn’t all that big (not if you have a size 10 foot...) but she sure is pretty.
And it’s amazing what women will do to get their hands on her.
Think murder, mayhem, kidnapping, fraud, theft, blackmail – any ol’ crime will do. As long as it’s fictional, of course.
Each year, usually on the last Friday in November, Sisters in Crime Australia hold our Scarlet Stiletto Awards night. The award is for a short crime or mystery story with a female protagonist, written by a female writer.
Along with Sisters in Crime’s Davitt Award (for published novels), it’s our night of nights and always an evening to look forward to. It’s a chance to meet or catch up with writerly friends and readers of crime fiction, talk murder over dinner and – as a discussion started by Angela Savage on Facebook before the big night proved – a rare opportunity to ‘frock up’ for those of us that way inclined.
This year the event was held for the first time at The Rising Sun Hotel in South Melbourne, and took place with the room packed to the rafters.
Long time National Co-Convenor,Lindy Cameron, took centre stage as Mistress of Ceremonies, interrogating four previous Stiletto winners on the art of writing short crime stories as the pre-award entertainment.
The line-up included Liz Filleul (who won the shoe in 2004), Evelyn Tsitis (2008), Amanda Wrangles (yes, that’s me for 2009) and Eleanor Marney (2010).
Interestingly, we’re all mothers, and agreed that writing in short form is a great way to throw forth a few words or paragraphs at a time in between domestic goddess duties and work commitments.
We also found common ground in that we write in other genres, but in the end it all comes back to crime. The whodunit – or whyshedunit – gets us every time. Also, it can be kind of satisfying killing people off. In a make-believe kind of way, of course…
Prizes (books) for the best audience questions of the night went to Rose Mercer and young Gabrielle Carmel.
Just prior to the award ceremony itself, Sisters in Crime Co-Convenor Phyllis King gave us a run-down of the Judge’s Report.
The Judging team consists of National convenors as well as two-time Stiletto winners (of which there have been four in the 18-year history of the award).
Phyllis noted that, as in previous years, a similar theme or two runs through many of the stories. This year, that theme was titles with numbers; and stories where the protagonists sussed out the criminals and then benefited from the crime themselves.
After Phyllis’ report, which also included fabulous tips for writers new to the competition (I’ll go in
to this a little further in another blog entry), it was on to the actual awards.
This year the awards were presented by one of Australia’s best known and loved women crime writers:
PD (Phillipa)Martin.
Of over 130 entries for 2011, the winners were:
Special Commendations (in no particular order)
Suzanne Gaskell (Footscray, Vic) for Adonis’ Fortune
Amanda Carmen-Cromer (Taroona, Tas) for Death is Served: a murder in four courses
Robin Story (Maroochydore, Qld) for Sleuthing for Beginners
Marian Cox (Parap, NT) for A Good Sunday Roast
Kerry James (Wendouree, Vic) for Queue Jumping
Amanda Wrangles (Crib Point, Vic) for The Old Lady Who Smoked Cigars
Pulp Fiction Award for the Funniest Crime Story ($150 voucher from Pulp Fiction Bookshop, Brisbane) – Sarah Evans (Bridgetown, WA) for Cock-a-hoop
Benn’s Books Best Investigative Award ($200 from Ben’s Books, Melbourne) – Anne Cost (Paynesville, Vic) for Out of the Dark
Scriptworks Great Film Idea ($200 from Scriptworks, Melbourne) – Fiona Drury (St Kilda, Vic) for The Detail
Judges Award ($250 from Christine Leppert) – Kim Westwood (O’Connor, ACT) for Trouble in Nine Acts
The Clan Destine Press Award for Cross-Genre Crime ($300 from Clan Destine Press, Melbourne) – Liz Filleul (Mt Dandenong, Vic) for Crime Traveller
The Cate Kennedy Award for Best New Talent ($350) – Marguerite Johnson (Mayfield, NSW) for The Interview
The Kerry Greenwood Malice Domestic Award ($500) – Vicky Daddo (Hazelwood South, Vic) for The Ugly Thing
The Olvar Wood Late Starters Award ($1200 three-month mentorship through Olvar Wood Writer’s Retreat, Queensland) – Anne Cost (Paynesville, Vic) for Out of the Dark
The Allen & Unwin Young Writer’s Award ($400) – was shared this year between: Mary Evans (Bridgetown, WA) for Stage Fright; and Sarah Robinson-Hatch (East Brighton, Vic) for Revenge is Never the Answer
Third Prize – Readings Bookshop $300 Voucher – Carmela Saloman (Belligen, NSW) forThe Barleymint Corpse
Second Prize – Kill City Bookshop $400 – Liz Filleul (Mt Dandenong, Vic) for Crime Traveller
First Prize – Harper Collins Australia $750 – Angela Savage (Brunswick, Vic) for her story The Teardrop Tattoos
Huge congratulations to Angela from all of us at Sisters in Crime. This was the first time in the award’s history that it was won by a crime writer with one or more novels already under her belt. Angela’s novels include Behind the Night Bazaar and The Half Child, both of which star PI Jayne Keeney.
What’s even better is that this character made her first appearance in Angela’s 1998 Scarlet Stiletto 3rd prize winning story. We’re so thrilled that Angela finally got her own Big Red Shoe.
Well done to all the winners, I for one can’t wait to check out the stories in the 2012 competition. Stay tuned for details!
