2019 Derringer Award Winners Announced

Photo by Melodie Campbell

Relayed to the SMFS Yahoo! Group from Awards Coordinator Anthony Rudzki:

The 2019 Derringer Awards have been voted upon and the winners are:

Best Flash Story (ranges up to 1,000 words): James Blakey, "The Bicycle Thief", The Norwegian American, September 21, 2018

Best Short Story (ranges 1,001–4,000 words): Alan Orloff, "Dying in Dokesville", Malice Domestic 13: Mystery Most Geographical, Wildside Press, April 2018

Best Long Story (ranges 4,001–8,000 words): Leslie Budewitz, "With My Eyes", Suspense Magazine, January/February 2018

Best Novelette (ranges 8,001–20,000 words): Gigi Pandian, "The Cambodian Curse", Henery Press, October 2018


The results from the final vote:

FLASH
Listen Up 12.77%
Don't Text and Drive 10.64%
The Bicycle Thief 31.91%
A Misunderstanding 27.66%
Sonny The Wonder Beast 17.02%

SHORT
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Murder 18.00%
The Cabin In The Woods 16.00%
The Crucial Game 22.00%
The Belle Hope 20.00
Dying In Dokesville 24.00%

LONG
With My Eyes 31.11%
The Case Of The Missing Pot Roast 17.78%
Mercy Find Me 24.44%
The Vanishing Volume 15.56%
Till Murder Do Us Part 11.11%

NOVELETTE
Three-Star Sushi 4.88%
The Cambodian Curse 46.34%
Oil Down 14.63%
The Adventure Of The Manhunting Marshal 21.95%
I've Got To Get Me A Gun 12.20%


Congratulations to all the winners, as well as all of the finalists for being selected. Keep up the good work authors, and hopefully your work will be on this list next year! —Tony Rudzki

The Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement is annually awarded to an outstanding living writer of short mysteries, selected by a five-member panel of the SMFS President, Vice President, and Awards Coordinator, and two regular members. This year's recipient:

Doug Allyn


The Derringer medal presentation may be during Bouchercon in Dallas, Texas this Fall. Scheduling remains very fluid. Winners unable to attend can receive their medals by mail.