Golden Derringer Panel Volunteer Needed

As ratified last year, the Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement is given after deliberations by a five-member panel including the SMFS president and vice president, Derringer Awards Coordinator, lifetime member, and one randomly-selected member-volunteer.

If any SMFS member would like to volunteer, please e-mail me at g_so AT yahoo DOT com with the subject line "Golden Derringer Volunteer". I will put the volunteers' names into a randomizer program, and announce the chosen member on April 1.

While the group voting on the regular Derringers is going on (April 1-30), the Golden Derringer panel will be considering recipient candidates.

SMFS members may submit 200-word max essays nominating Golden Derringer candidates. E-mail them to g_so AT yahoo DOT com in the body of a message with the subject line "Golden Derringer Essay".

2010 Derringer Awards Submission Instructions

From Awards Coordinator Suzanne Rorhus:

Please submit stories as an email attachment in Rich Text Format (.rtf) to rorhus AT sbcglobal DOT net. No other special spacing or format requirements need be followed, as long as identifying information does not appear in the attachment.

The covering email should state the title, author, name of submitting person or publication, where and when published, and category being entered. I'd prefer one entry per email. Subject line: Derringers (Title).

Submissions can be sent from noon ET February 1 to midnight ET March 15, 2010. Please check the submission guidelines found at http://shortmystery.blogspot.com/2008/08/smfs-derringer-awards-procedure.html before submitting to make sure your entry is eligible.

The SMFS at Bouchercon 2009

Here is a running tally of SMFS members attending Bouchercon 2009, October 15-18, in Indianapolis, IN:

Patricia Abbott
Victor J. Banis
Jack Bates
Joseph Benedetto
Jack Bludis
Gary R. Bush
Bill Crider
Libby Cudmore
Jim Doherty
Laura Elvebak
Beth Groundwater
Dennis Leppanen
Molly MacRae
Ruth McCarty
Jim O'Keefe
Suzanne Rorhus
Kieran Shea


The presentation of plaques to the 2009 Derringer Award winners will be held in the Main Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, Thursday, October 15, at 6:00 PM. SMFS VP Jim Doherty is MC.

Derringer Winners, Are You Coming to Bouchercon?

From SMFS Vice President Jim Doherty:

Debi Watson, the Special Events Coordinator at this year's Bouchercon, has notified me that the presentation of the Macavitys, Barrys, CRIMESPREE Awards, and our own Derringers will be on Thursday, 17 Oct, at 6pm in the Main Ballroom.

Clark Howard has already notified me that he will be there to receive his award personally.

For the rest of you winners, I need you to contact me OFF-LIST with the answers to the following questions:

First, are you coming to Bouchercon? If the answer to that question is yes, you can skip all the rest of these questions.

Second, if you are not coming, do you plan to designate anyone who WILL be there to accept the award plaque on your behalf (and, importantly to deliver the plaque to you)? If you don't want to designate someone, can you send me your physical address so that I can mail the award to you? This is VERY important. If you aren't coming and no one will be designated to accept the award for you, and I know in advance, I don't have to bring your award to the 'con. On the other hand, if you aren't coming, and aren't designating a surrogate, and I DON'T know about it in advance, not only will I have to bring your trophy with me to the 'con, I will also have to take it back with me.

Third, if you are not coming, and not designating a surrogate, are there any remarks you'd like to have read at the awards event? If so, e-mail those remarks to me prior to the 'con.

Whether you're planning on "thanking all the little people" in person, or having me read your acceptance speech, try to keep your remarks brief. The event lasts only one hour, and three other sets of awards are being given out. Each organization giving awards is alloted only ten minutes.

Thank you for your prompt response to these questions. I'm hoping that all of the winners will be able to accept their well-deserved Derringers in person, but, if that's not possible, please let me know.

JIM DOHERTY
jimdohertyjr AT yahoo DOT com

SMFS in EQMM

Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer winner Clark Howard is featured in the November 2009 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Congratulations once again, Mr. Howard.

Clark Howard accepts the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement

Notified that in May he was named the first recipient of the Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement, Clark Howard replied:

I cannot tell you how honored I am to be receiving this award. Not just for the body of my work (first short story published in Manhunt, February 1957), but also because Ed Hoch and his wife Pat were close friends of my late wife Judith and I for many years. Thank you so very much for selecting me for this first Golden Derringer.

Poll Results: Editors' Control over Derringer Submissions

By a margin of 25 FOR, 1 AGAINST, the following clarification has been added to the Derringer Rules:

"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."