Scarlet Stiletto 2010 offers $4750 prize money

SISTERS IN CRIME AUSTRALIA

The Sisters in Crime Australian annual Scarlet Stiletto Women’s Crime and Mystery Short Story Competition is on again. The awards, Australia’s only crime writing competition for women, is celebrating its 17th birthday and offering $4750 in prize money. The awards, organised by Sisters in Crime Australia, are Australia’s most lucrative crime-writing competition for either gender. Story length is 5000 words maximum, with an entry fee of $10.

Top prize is the HarperCollins first prize of $750 plus the coveted trophy, a scarlet stiletto shoe with a steel stiletto heel plunging into a perspex mount. Fashionista Sally Browne is now the shoes’ official patron, offering an on-going supply of scarlet stilettos in which she has been photographed all over the world, including the peak of Mt Kilimanjaro.

Other prizes include:

Kill City Bookshop 2nd prize ($400)
Readings Books Music Film 3rd prize ($300 voucher)
Allen & Unwin Young Writers’ Award ($400) for writers 18 or under.
THE OLVAR WOOD Late Starters Award (50+) $1250 Mentorship through Olvar Wood Writers’ Retreat
The Kerry Greenwood Malice Domestic Award ($500)
The Cate Kennedy Award for Best New Talent ($350)
The Dorothy Porter Award for Innovation ($300)
Benn’s Books: Best Investigative story ($200)
ScriptWorks Great Film Idea Award: ($200)
Pulp Fiction Bookshop: Funniest Crime Award ($150 voucher)

Thanks also to Spinifex Books

Sisters in Crime spokesperson, Phyllis King, said, ‘Winning a prize in the Scarlet Stiletto Awards can also be a springboard into getting a book published. Previous such winners include Tara Moss, Cate Kennedy, Angela Savage, Josephine Pennicott, Alex Palmer, Liz Filleul, Margaret Bevege, Patricia Bernard, Bronwen Blake, Jo McGahey and Cheryl Jorgensen.’

Last year’s first prize and stiletto trophy went to Amanda Wrangles, a former hairdresser and dive master on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

Wrangles is a mother of three and started writing fiction only the year before. The Scarlet Stiletto Awards was the first competition she had ever entered. She is currently working on her first novel, a young adult urban fantasy mystery. The award has given her a massive boost.

Ms King said that every year the judges – Sisters in Crime convenors plus writers who’ve won 1st prize twice – spotted new trends.

“In 2009 the stories featured lots of poisonings. Husbands should immediately remove oleanders from their gardens – they’re being used for much more than landscaping. The previous year, there were lots of mums and bubs on the case. In one story, the crime happening next door was overheard on the baby’s monitor.”

Sisters in Crime has 500 members nationally and holds chapters in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane (just being re-formed) and an association with Partners in Crime in Sydney. It also publishes a magazine, Stiletto.

The 17th Scarlet Stiletto Awards close on August 31, 2010.
The entry fee is $10.
Entry forms are available by writing to
Scarlet Stiletto Awards,
PO Box 121,
Bittern VIC 3918

or on its website: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sincoz/