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Young wins first prize in Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2021

30 November 2021   Books+Publishing
@booksandpublishing

Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the winners of the 2021 Scarlet Stiletto Awards.

Canberra-based, first-time crime writer Hayley Young won first prize and receives $1500 for her outback police procedural story ‘Monster Hunters’, which also took out ScriptWorks’s Great Film Idea Award ($500).

Jaclyn Riley-Smith, based in Margate, Tasmania, won second prize ($1000) for her story ‘On the Inside’, a ‘witty story about insider trading and a raid by the corporate watchdog’. Last year Riley-Smith won first prize in the Banjo Paterson Writing Awards for her short story ‘Literally the Worst’.

Third prize ($600) went to Elsternwick, Victoria writer Ellen Coates for her story ‘The Gospel of Cecily’, set in Hereford in 1200. Coates also took out the Clan Destine Press Cross-Genre Award ($750).

This year two new awards were introduced, which bumped up the total prize money to a record $11,910. The inaugural Best Art and Crime Story Award ($750) was awarded to Caroline de Costa for ‘The Fragrance of the Corpse Flower’, set in a university botany school. Meanwhile, Stephanie Holm from Riverside, Tasmania won the new Best Environmental Mystery Award ($750) for ‘Mystery Off the Jillawong Road’.

Other awards presented at the online event were:

  • Body-in-the-Library Library Award ($1250): Clare Fletcher for ‘Death’s Waiting Room’
  • Body-in-the-Library Library Runner-up Award ($750): Susan Green for ‘Creativity Now!’
  • Domestic Award ($750): Jane Lee for ‘What I Did in Lokdown by Chloe Martin age 9 ½’
  • History with Mystery Award ($750): Natalie Conyer for ‘The Séance’
  • Best Thriller ($500): Janice Shaw for ‘Put the Kettle On’
  • Young Writer’s Award for under 19s ($500): Caitlyn Whitbread for ‘The Braxton Mystery’
  • Award for the story with the Best Disabled Protagonist ($400): Christine Fontana for ‘Waiting’
  • Award for Most Satisfying Retribution (three-month residency at Old Melbourne Gaol): Janet Moore for ‘Cash Sale’.

In their 28th year, the awards celebrate the best short crime and mystery stories written by women in Australia. For more information, and to view the full list of winners, see the website.

 

Category: Awards Local news