Best Flash (Up to 1,000 words)
- "Lessons Learned" by Allan Leverone (Shotgun Honey, July 29, 2011)
- "Company Policy" by Warren Bull (Yellow Mama, August 2011)
- "The Perfect Mark" by Melodie Campbell (Flash Fiction Online Magazine, July 2011)
- "Countdown" by John Kenyon (Thrillers, Killers, and Chillers, April 2011)
- "Heat of Passion" by Kathleen A. Ryan (A Twist of Noir, February 2011)
Best Short Story (1,001–4,000 words)
- "Touch of Death" by B.V. Lawson (Absent Willow Review Online Magazine, April 2011)
- "Coronation" by Adam Renn Olenn (Best New England Crime Stories 2012: Dead Calm, November 2011)
- "Sisters in Black" by Mary E. Stibal (Best New England Crime Stories 2012: Dead Calm, November 2011)
- "Fatal Flaw" by Cathi Stoler (Beat to a Pulp, April 2011)
- "Death Will Tank Your Fish" by Elizabeth Zelvin (Murder New York Style: Fresh Slices, 2011)
Best Long Story (4,001–8,000 words) (Tie)
- "Brea's Tale" by Karen Pullen (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November 2011)
- "A Drowning at Snow's Cut" by Art Taylor (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, May 2011)
- "Facts Exhibiting Wantonness" by Trina Corey (Ellery Queens's Mystery Magazine, November 2011)
- "Ballistic" by Trey Dowell (Untreed Reads, July 2011)
- "Blue Amber" by William Burton McCormick (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, June 2011)
Best Novelette (8,001–20,000 words)
- "Where Billy Died" by Earl Staggs (Untreed Reads, August 2011)
- "A Penny for the Boatman" by Doug Allyn (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March/April 2011)
- "The Gun Also Rises" by Jeffrey Cohen (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January/February 2011)
- "Tomorrow's Dead" by David Dean (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July 2011)
- "In Brightest Day" by Toni L.P. Kelner (Home Improvement: Undead Edition, August 2011)
And determined by a committee of the SMFS Officers, Awards Coordinator, and two members-at-large, the 2012 recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement:
- Bill Pronzini (Pronzini's acceptance remarks)
Recipients may obtain award certificates by emailing Gerald So (G_SO at YAHOO dot COM). Recipients will be publicly recognized at the opening ceremonies of Bouchercon 2012, Thursday, October 4, in Cleveland, OH.