Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Awards

The Scarlet Stiletto awards, presented by Sisters in Crime in Melbourne’s Thornbury Theatre on Friday evening, were a grand celebration of Australia’s newfound talented female crime writers.

This year they received a record 37 entries with 12 making the stories shortlist.

Pantera Press offers a hearty congratulation to all the winners on the night, but especially to Julianne Negri (Brunswick, Vic), variously a musician and eco craft warrior, who took out the Pantera Press Second Prize ($1000) for “#hitandrun”, a story about revenge and social media

First Prize was awarded to Judith Bridge (WA), who also received the coveted stiletto trophy – ,a scarlet stiletto shoe with a steel stiletto heel plunging into a mount – with Fin J Ross (Eagle Point, Vic) coming in third.

As one of the “new breed” of Australian publishers, Pantera Press was thrilled to sponsor this established award, as both organisations are committed to supporting and unearthing new Australian writing talent. Pantera Press is providing a cash prize of $1,000 to the second place getter in the popular Women’s Crime & Mystery Short Story Competition.  

“Pantera Press was founded on exactly that premise – to discover the next generation of best loved authors by uncovering “diamonds” from what has traditionally been viewed as the slush pile,” said Alison Green, CEO and Founder of Pantera Press.
 
“As such, we are always supportive of the efforts of author-centric organisations such as Sisters in Crime, and were delightedly that they asked us to “step in” when an opportunity to sponsor came up.”
 
Sisters in Crime spokesperson, Carmel Shute, said: “From its get-go, Pantera Press has been an outstanding supporter of Australian women’s crime writing. Now its sponsorship of the Scarlet Stiletto Awards extends that commitment to talented emerging women crime writers right across the nation. So far, 18 award winners, including category winners, have gone on to have novels published. With Pantera Press’s support, that number can’t but rise.
 
Alison Green added “two of our own authors are current Sisters in Crime members – Sulari Gentill (Rowland Sinclair Mysteries) and Melanie Casey (Cass Lehman Crime Series), – who have been grateful for the additional support, respect, events and awards that Sisters in Crime facilitates.”
 
Pantera Press dubbed November Crime month. As well as sponsoring the Scarlet Stilettos,  Sulari and Melanie joined fellow Pantera Press “publishing house mate” J.M Donellan (Killing Adonis) at the 7^th Crime and Justice Festival in Melbourne.  Sulari was the bestselling author at this crime focused event, with her latest release A Murder Unmentioned, book 6 in her award-winning Rowland Sinclair Mysteriestopping the list.  To make the crime spree even more rewarding, book five in the series, Gentlemen Formerly Dressed, was the third bestselling title on the day.
 
Sulari was awarded a DAVITT award for Best Crime novel for A Decline in Prophets– the second book in this series in 2011 – by the Sisters in Crime.

For the comprehensive list of winners and awards presented at the 2014 Scarlet Stilettos, please visit the Sisters in Crime website.