30th Scarlet Stiletto Awards: A cause for celebration

Go wild in scarlet and pearls, the traditional 30th-anniversary gift.

Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox, the creators of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and much more, will present the landmark 30^th Scarlet Stiletto Awards.

In 2009, Fiona and Deb founded Every Cloud Productions and quickly cemented the company’s reputation for high-quality and popular TV drama. This included co-creating, producing and executive producing three seasons of the runaway international success, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, which has sold to more than 170 territories around the world. Deb is also a renowned scriptwriter.

Other Every Cloud Productions that have explored crime in its many dimensions include Newton’s Law, Eden, the ratings hit Seachange Reimagined, and the movie Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears.

Fiona’s previous producing credits include the acclaimed telemovie, The Society Murders.

Both Fiona (left) and Deb have received numerous accolades including the Jill Robb Award for Service to the Victorian Screen industry, the Business Export Award from Screen Producers Australia, and the Natalie Miller Fellowship for Women in Leadership. Fiona is also an honorary Adjunct Professor for the School of Media and Communications at RMIT, and has taken a leading role in promoting women in front and behind the camera throughout her career.

With more than three decades of experience in the Australian screen industry, Deb Cox (left)has been responsible for creating and producing some of Australia’s best-loved productions grounded in great writing, rich characters, and high production values. More recently, Deb has executive-produced mystery drama, Eden, and executive-produced and co-wrote the second season of Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries for Acorn TV.

Fiona and Deb recently announced a new management structure at Every Cloud that sees them step away from day-to-day operations and into advisory roles at the company.

This year, 250 short stories have competed for 15 awards, with a record $12,720 prize pool. Twenty-five stories by 25 authors have been shortlisted. Each author will receive a framed certificate and the winner of the 1st Prize will also take home ‘The Shoe’– a scarlet stiletto trophy with its steel heel plunged into a perspex mount. (Click here for details of the shortlist and prizes.)

Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox will present the Awards after discussing their lives in crime with Sue Turnbull.

Sue Turnbull is Senior Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong. Her publications include Media Audiences (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), The TV Crime Drama (Edinburgh University Press 2014), and the fifth edition of the Media and Communications in Australia co-edited with Professor Bridget Griffen-Foley (Routledge 2024). Her current book project, Transnational TV Crime: From the Nordic to the Outback, will be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2024. Sue reviews crime fiction for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, is an Ambassador for Sisters in Crime Australia, and Chair of the BAD Sydney Crime Festival. She reads a lot of crime.

Cate Kennedy will launch Scarlet Stiletto: The Fifteenth Cut, along with a paperback of the winning stories over the past 30 years, The Scarlet Stiletto: 30 Years of Mystery, Murder and Malice. Cate won the first two Scarlet Stiletto Awards in 1994 and 1995, after which she was invited to become a judge). Cate rapidly became one of Australia’s most admired and awarded short-story writers. She’s also written and published a novel, a travel memoir, and three collections of poetry. Cate works as a writing teacher and fiction advisor on the faculty of Pacific University’s Creative Writing program in Oregon, finally completed her PhD in 2021, and is now trying to clear the decks to finish writing another book.

Please come in scarlet and pearls, the traditional 30th-anniversary gift. Men or ‘brothers-in-law’ welcome,