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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Though the Derringer Awards Coordinator will check that all entries are eligible, the submitting party has the first responsibility to read the guidelines below and submit accordingly.
- Who may submit for the 2010 Derringer Awards
- Story eligibility
- Determining publication date
- Award categories
- Submission limits
- Officer ineligibility
SELECTION OF FINALISTS
DETERMINATION OF DERRINGER WINNERS
2010 DERRINGER TIMELINE
GUIDELINES FOR DERRINGER JUDGES
Who may submit for the 2010 Derringer Awards:
Members of the SMFS as of January 31, 2010 and/or Editors of Mystery and Crime Fiction publications.
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Story eligibility:
To be considered for the awards presented in 2010:
a) Submissions must Mystery or Crime stories
b) first appearing in English in 2009.
c) The publication must have been one with an editor and editorial process -- not purely a self-publishing venture or one that publishes every submission without editing.
d) The publication may be print or electronic; paying or non-paying; a single issue, periodical, collection, or anthology.
e) The publication does not have to originate from the United States of America. It must, however, be published in English.
f) Works previously published in any language other than English are eligible if they first appeared in English in 2009.
g) The author of the submission does not have to be a member of SMFS.
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Determining publication date:
The date printed on the publication's cover or indicated within the publication is considered its publication date and determines when a particular story is to be considered for the Derringers. Only stories first published in English in 2009 are to be considered for Derringer Awards in 2010.
When a publication date overlaps years, such as 'Winter 2009-2010' or 'Dec-Jan 2009-2010,' the later year is considered its year of publication. (The examples given are considered published in 2010, eligible for The Derringers presented in 2011.)
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Award categories:
Submissions will be accepted and awards will be given in the following length categories:
Best Flash Story (Up to 1,000 Words)
Best Short Story (1,001 to 4,000 Words)
Best Long Story (4,001 to 8,000 Words)
Best Novelette (8,001 to 17,500 Words)
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Submission limits:
Any member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society as of January 31, 2010 may submit up to TWO (2) stories for consideration for the 2010 Derringer Awards. The two stories may be written by the member, written by others, or one of each.
The number of editorial submissions allotted to a publication for the 2010 Derringer Awards is based on the publication's total number of stories first appearing in 2009:
If the publication contains up to 25 stories first appearing in 2009, up to 3 of these may be submitted by the editor for Derringer consideration in 2010.
" 26 to 50 stories first appearing in 2009, up to 4 of these may be submitted by the editor for Derringer consideration in 2010.
" 51 to 75 stories first appearing in 2009, up to 5 of these may be submitted by the editor for Derringer consideration in 2010.
" more than 75 stories first appearing in 2009, up to 6 of these may be submitted by the editor for Derringer consideration in 2010.
Multiple editors for a single publication share one of the above limits based on the publication's total number of stories first appearing in 2009.
Editors of more than one publication are assigned one of the above limits based on the total number of stories they edited that first appeared in 2009. Where it reads "If the publications contains" above, substitute "If the editor has edited".
If an editor of more than one publication is also one of many editors for a single publication, and uses his/her personal limit to make all of the editorial submissions allotted to a single publication, no additional editorial submissions can be accepted for that publication.
An editor may personally decide not to submit his/her publication's stories for the Derringers. This decision cannot forbid the stories' submission by their SMFS-member authors or by other SMFS members UNLESS the editor has purchased such controlling rights from the author.
Editors who are also SMFS members may submit, in addition to their editorial limit, up to TWO (2) stories of their own or others' writing that first appeared in 2009 in publications they did not edit.
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Officer ineligibility:
To avoid the appearance of any impropriety, Officers of the SMFS (President and Vice President) and the Derringer Awards Coordinator are not eligible for consideration for the Derringers during the terms of their office.
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SELECTION OF FINALISTS
The Coordinator divides the eligible submissions among the four length categories and sends them to the category Judges (SMFS member-volunteers) -- without identification of the author or the publication in which the story appeared. The Judges then rate each story according to the Judging Guidelines below and return their ratings to the Coordinator. The Coordinator adds the three judges' ratings and divides by three to get each story's average ratings.
For each category, the five stories with the highest averages become the Finalists.
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DETERMINATION OF DERRINGER AWARD WINNERS
The Coordinator posts the twenty Finalist stories -- with author and publication names restored -- to the Derringer Voting group, where they are read and voted on by the SMFS membership as a whole. The winner of this popular vote in each category is presented a Derringer Award.
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2010 DERRINGER AWARDS TIMELINE
Submissions will be accepted from Noon ET, February 1, 2010, to Midnight ET March 15, 2010
Finalists will be announced April 1, 2010
SMFS members as of January 31, 2010 will vote to determine Derringer winners from April 1-30, 2010
Derringer winners will be announced May 1, 2010
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GUIDELINES FOR DERRINGER JUDGES
SMFS members may volunteer to judge by contacting the Derringer Coordinator in private. This is to protect the identity of each judge and the privacy of the judging process.
Three judge positions and one alternate are filled for each award category. The Derringer Coordinator sends a story to the alternate if a regular judges is unable to score it due to illness, other commitments, or conflicts of interest. The judges and alternate are not eligible to win the Derringer in the category they judge, but may win the Derringer in other categories.
Judges are asked to rate each story for each of the headings below on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best. Under each heading are some suggested thoughts to consider.
1. OVERALL WRITING
- Does the beginning catch your attention?
- Is there too little action? Too much?
- Is it too wordy? Too terse?
- Is there a good balance between dialogue and narration?
- Is the dialogue realistic and believable?
2. CHARACTERS
- Are they well-developed and convincing?
- Is there good interaction between characters?
- Is it clear in whose POV the story is told?
- Is there at least one character interesting enough for you to care what happens to him or her?
3. SETTING
- Is the setting well described?
- Is there enough description of the setting? Too much?
4. PLOT
- Is it fresh and imaginative?
- Is it believable?
- Does one thing lead to another as it develops?
- Are there plot gaps you wish had been filled?
5. ENDING
- Is the ending acceptable and satisfying to you?
- Were all loose ends neatly tied up?
- Did you feel more ending was needed? Less?
6. OVERALL FEELING
- In addition to or in spite of the above, rate your overall reaction to this story in comparison with others you have read.
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I'm fiction editor for the 
A police officer for more than a decade, Jim has served in law enforcement at the local, state, and federal levels. Under his own name he’s written police procedural stories featuring roving cop Dan Sullivan. Sullivan stories have appeared in 
Suzanne is a member of Mystery Writers of America and
has an undergraduate degree in Creative
Writing and Foreign Languages and a master’s
degree in International Management.
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