Closing date: 30 April 2020
Sisters in Crime Australia’s 20th Davitt Awards for the best crime and mystery books by Australian women are now open. Publishers have until Thursday 30 April to enter. Self-published books are eligible. Books co-authored or edited by men are not.
This year the Davitts are again sponsored by Swinburne University of Technology.
Six Davitt Awards will be presented at a gala dinner in Melbourne, probably in late August or early September: Best Adult Novel; Best Young Adult Novel; Best Children’s Novel; Best Non-fiction Book; Best Debut Book (any category); and Readers’ Choice (as voted the 550+ members of Sisters in Crime Australia).
The Davitts are named after Ellen Davitt, the author of Australia’s first mystery novel, Force and Fraud, in 1865. They cost publishers nothing to enter. A longlist will be published in May, a shortlist in July.
The awards are handsome carved polished wooded trophies featuring the front cover of the winning novel under perspex. No prize money is attached.
Sisters in Crime Australia was set up 29 years ago and has chapters in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. It also hosts a popular annual short-story competition, the Scarlet Stiletto Awards, which turns 27 this year.
To enter the Davitts, publishers should contact Carmel Shute, Sisters in Crime, National Co-convenor ASAP on and get books to the judges before 30 April.
Enquiries: 0412 569 356. More info:
www.sistersincrime.org.au/entries-for-the-20th-davitt-awards-for-womens-crime-books-now-open/