Harper Collins First Prize ($750, plus trophy) Janis Spehr, Dead Woman in the Water
Penguin Books Australia Second Prize ($250) Josephine Pennicutt, Bait
Cosmos Books & Music Third Prize ($150) Mary Pearl, Just Chivas and Me
Allen & Unwin Young Writers’ Award ($250) (Writers under 21) Alice Hayes, Daddy
Kill City Award for the Best PI Story Victoria Kinmont-Moir (a.k.a. Robin Bowles), The Curse of the Golden Yo-Yo
Kerry Greenwood Award for "Malice Domestic ($250) Ronda Bird, Ripe Red Tomatoes
Special Commendations:
Leanne Manton, Justice
Margaret Pollock, Stage Struck
Victoria Lucas, The Gotcha Scam
Lisa Ralph, Hate Mail

SURPRISES AT 7^th SCARLET STILETTO AWARD

In crime and mystery stories, there’s no such thing as coincidence. There are, however, remarkable feats. Janis Spehr, the winner of the 1999 Scarlet Stiletto Award, pulled off one of them by winning the 2000 award, and becoming the third Scarlet Stiletto Award winner in seven years to have won the award a second time.

Cate Kennedy won consecutive awards in 1994 and 1995 awards and Christina Lee topped the 1996 and 1998 competition. "It’s amazing," Sisters in Crime convenor, Sue Turnbull, told the excited audience at award ceremony in Melbourne. "All entries are judged blind. There are no names to reveal the identity of any authors. This year, there were nine judges, including both former double Scarlet Award winners, Christina Lee and Cate Kennedy, (Under the rules, once someone has won award twice, she can’t enter any more and becomes a judge).

Each judge had a judging partner to arrive at a short list. The shortlisted entries were then read by all judges, except for Christina Lee who lives in Newcastle and couldn’t make it to the judging. "When the judges discovered that Janis Spehr had won the award a second time, there was almost mass hysteria. We were probably more surprised than Janis is tonight".

Sydney crime writer, Gabrielle Lord, presented the awards, after detailing the hands-on research methods she uses for her books. The writers competed for $1750 in prize money. Janis Spehr won the HarperCollins first prize of $750 plus a trophy of a scarlet stiletto shoe with a steel stiletto heel plunging into a mount for her story, "Dead Woman in the Water", a story about drugs, development and murder in the Western District of Victoria.

Ms Spehr was born in the Western District herself but lived for a long time in Canberra and Melbourne before returning to live there five years ago. Her stories have appeared in a number of literary journals including Australian Short Stories, Westerly, Going Down Swinging and The New England Review. In 1999, she was equal first prize winner Canberra National Short Story Competition. This year, Ms Spehr will be studying for a bachelor of Letters (Honours) in Literary Studies at Deakin University. She currently resides near Birregurra with her German Shepherd and black cat.

The Penguin Books Australia 2^nd prize of $250 went to Sydney-based writer, artist and actress, Josephine Pennicutt, for her story "Bait". Ms Pennicutt was raised in Papua New Guinea and has lived all over Australia. Professional writing credits include articles and stories published in the Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day and For Me. She has written a fantasy novel, Persephone Rising, and is currently completing Rat Trap, a psychological thriller drawn from her experiences in the bizarre world of reality television. She was most recently seen on Channel 7’s hit reality series, The Mole. Ms Pennicutt is also an exhibited artist.

The Cosmos Books and Music Third Prize of $150 was awarded to Mary Pearl for her story "Just Chivas and Me". Ms Pearl lives in Melbourne with her husband Gary and their cat Jessie. Jessie took up the position of pampered pet around the house at the same time her children left home "just as they were becoming civilised and interesting". Mary’s children pensioned her off with "a well-done-faithful-carer handshake and a box of Baci chocolates" and told her to get a life.

She did, studying writing at Homesglen TAFE. She’s sure that she wants to work with words but doesn’t know whether her skills will suit non-fiction of prose. Ms Pearl feels she hasn’t achieved anything notable yet - a couple of theatre reviews, a couple of competitions and two non-fiction pieces in a published anthology. But she intends to keep writing and keep submitting.

The Allen & Unwin Young Writers’ Award of $250 went to a 17 year old student from Launceston, Alice Hayes, for her story, "Daddy". "The inspiration for my story," she says, "came from a dream I had. With the help of my Grade 11 Writers’ Workshop teacher, Ms Pitt, I was able to develop it into a vivid short story." Ms Hayes was unable to make it to the award ceremony. She plans to study marine biology at James Cook University this year.

A Sisters in Crime member from Melbourne, Ronda Bird, won a new $250 prize, the Kerry Greenwood Award for Malice Domestic, for her story, "Ripe Red Tomatoes". Ms Bird says that her life has been greatly influenced by two parts of her body - her nose, which from a very early stage has been invariably been buried in a book and her itchy feet.

She spent 20 years in England and travelling the world before divorcing and returning to Australia. She re-entered the workforce as a secretary and later studied for her matriculation and then completed a BA at the University of Melbourne. She is currently reviewing a crime novel she has completed and has two more gestating in the computer. Ms Bird admits that she’s become a bit negative about her writing in recent months but says that being shortlisted for the Sclarlet Stiletto Award has given her the shove she needed to get stuck into it again.

The other big surprise of the night involved true crime writer, Robin Bowles. Ms Bowles, who’s well known for books Blind Justice, Justice Denied and No Justice, entered the Scarlet Stiletto Awards under the name of Victoria Kinmont-Moir, a combination of her middle name and her grandfather’s family name. Ms Bowles was delighted to win the inaugural Kill City Award for the Best PI story, for "The Curse of the Golden Yo-Yo."

"It was such fun to write with the freedom of not running the risk of being sued," she says. "I might get to enjoy this fiction caper, although my publisher has cautioned me into not giving up my day job - not while I have a current contract for the next book, anyway."

Following the publication of Blind Justice, the State Coroner reopened the inquest into the death of Jennifer Tanner and called Ms Bowles as a witness because her research uncovered information not available to the police. Ms Bowles is a director of a public relations and management consultancy and lives in Melbourne with her husband Clive and a "pair of Pekes".

Special commendations were awarded to Leanne Manton (Romsey, Victroia), Margaret Pollock (Melbourne), Victoria Lucas (Red Hill South, Victoria) and Lisa Ralph (Ballarat, Victoria). All winners received a special Scarlet Stiletto Award t-shirt and a certificate. The 2000 Scarlet Stiletto Awards also received support from Chronicles bookshop and Spinifex Press in Melbourne.

This year’s awards close, as usual, on 30 September. Stories should have a crime or mystery theme with a woman or women protagonist (s). The maximum length for the stories is 5000 words and a $5 entry fee applies. Prize money and the award categories are still being negotiated.

Carmel Shute, April 2001

SURPRISES AT 7th SCARLET STILETTO AWARD

SURPRISES AT 7^th SCARLET STILETTO AWARD