Australia’s premier short story awards for crime fiction written by Australian women.
You are invited to the 33rd Scarlet Stiletto gala event!
33rd Scarlet Stiletto Awards Ceremony details:
Sit-down dinner at the Stamford Plaza, 111 Little Collins St, Melbourne.
Saturday 21 November, 6pm (Bar Opens)
Dress code: Scarlet
Ticket prices: $80 (Sisters In Crime member) or $95 (non-member)
Tickets must be purchased by Thursday 12th November, and are available now: BOOK SCARLET STILETTO TICKETS
The Shortlist 2026
The 2026 shortlisted stories and authors (in alphabetical order by story title) are as follows:
A Woman’s Job, by Lesley Boland
Blood and Saltwater, by Laree Chapman
Blood Opal, by Laree Chapman
City of Smoke and Mirrors, by Michaela Ironwood
Dead Air, by LIesl Crowther
Forbidden Vow, by Lisa Lancaster
Franny, by Finn Ross
Here Be Monsters, by Jamie Castellas
Margaret Mountfitchet Investigates, by Rose Pullinger
My Raven, by Suzanne Frankham
Nobody is Coming to Save You, by Honni van Rijswijk
Rebecca, by Clare Testoni
Salvage Rights, by Kim Graham
Silent Returns, by Majella Gee
The Corpse in The Circulating Library, by Clare Testoni
The Kewpie Killer, by Sally Ross
The Mourning House, by Rose Mebrhatu
There’s More Than One Way To Skin A Cat, by Kelly Clarke
True Crime Suzy, by Rosie Francis
The Prizes:
Swinburne University Award: 1st Prize: $2000
Simon & Schuster Award: 2nd Prize: $1000
Sun Bookshop & Fremantle Press Award: 3rd Prize: $800
Carmel Shute Young Writers’ Award for Best Young Writer (under 19): $1000
Melbourne Athenaeum Library ‘Body in the Library’ Award: $1250 ($750 runner-up)
HQ Books Award for Best Thriller: $1200
Kerry Greenwood Award for Best Malice Domestic Story: $1000
Every Cloud Phryne Award for Best Mystery with History Story: $1000
Bolton Clarke Art and Crime Award: $500
Clan Destine Press Award for Best Cross-genre Story: $1000
Cate Kennedy Award for Best Story Inspired by a Forensic Clue: $500
ScriptWorks Award for a Great Film Idea: $500
Writers Victoria Award for the Story with the Most Satisfying Retribution: Choice of online course and membership.
Lesley Gillis and Fran Gillis Award for Best Cosy Cat Capers: $1000
Entries for the Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2026 are open from Monday 1 June 2026, and close at midnight on 31 August 2026.
The competition is open to all women, whether cisgender, transgender, or intersex, who are citizens/residents of Australia.
Winners are announced at the Scarlet Stiletto Awards ceremony each year.
Looking for some tips to create a criminally good story story? Check this out before submitting!
Seventeen collections of winning stories are available from Clan Destine Press, along with a hardcopy Scarlet Stiletto collection of the first-prize winning stories, The Scarlet Stiletto: 30 Years of Mystery, Murder and Malice, edited by Lindy Cameron. (paperback $36.99; e-book $7.99)
Read all about the ceremony and the 2025 prize winners here.
Professor Emerita Christina Lee, 2025 Judges’ Coordinator and winner of two trophies, said the Scarlet Stiletto Awards were remarkable in their ability to discover outstanding criminal talent.
“Winning a Scarlet Stiletto Award has often been a springboard to a literary career. To date, more than 5,000 stories have been entered, with 34 Scarlet Stiletto Award winners – including category winners – going on to have novels published,” she said.
“Well-known authors who got their start with the Scarlet Stiletto Awards include Cate Kennedy, Tara Moss, Aoife Clifford, Ellie Marney, Angela Savage, and Anna Snoekstra. For Dervla McTiernan, just being shortlisted in 2015 gave her the impetus to finish five drafts of her first novel, The Rúin, and put her on the road to becoming a global publishing sensation.”
All enquiries should be directed to Ruth Wykes, Scarlet Stiletto Awards Coordinator.
Who judges the Scarlet Stiletto Awards?
Judges for the Scarlet Stiletto Awards are drawn from convenors and former convenors of Sisters in Crime Australia and previous two-time winners of the Scarlet Stiletto trophy.