Prizes will be awarded for the best overall stories and for those that are judged to be the winners of each individual category.
In order to be eligible for a category prize, stories must incorporate the themes of that category.
Please note: you may enter a single story in as many categories as you want (for the one entry fee) if it fits the criteria.
Here are the category definitions:
Art and Crime
Your story’s central theme is around a crime or mystery in the world of arts. It can include artists, body art, galleries or museums, photography, the music world, crafts, jewellery or anywhere else that creative arts happen.
Body in the Library
Your story must include the words ‘body in the library’. There is a broad scope to play with here, you can have a traditional library, or one set in an unusual location (eg. hospital, business, community group, home). Your protagonist doesn’t need to have a formal attachment to a library.
Cosy Cat Capers
In this new category your story will feature a feline, or as many of them as you want to include. The cats need to be a central character in your story, somehow involved in either solving a crime or mystery – or committing one. This is a cosy caper, so no graphic or gratuitous violence and please avoid any temptation to make a cat your victim of violent crime.
Cross-genre
Your story will cross the traditional crime genre with horror, speculative fiction, fantasy or science fiction. While it must include crime or mystery as its core, you can fire up your imagination and create characters, new or old worlds, and even crimes that are drawn from these other genres.
Forensic Clue
The story must be inspired by this image and what it suggests to you. A service dog, a scary doll and a seemingly discarded stiletto lends itself to a multitude of scenarios.
Great Film Idea
Would your story make for a great film? Stories must be written in prose, not as a screenplay. Characters need to pop, the setting is important, action needs to be well-paced and the resolution should be strong. All types of crime and criminal are eligible for this category.
Malice Domestic
Your story must take place close to home and your characters, both victims and perpetrators, should be known to each other. The crime should centre on a small number of individuals in a domestic setting. Violence, if any, should not be excessive or gratuitously detailed. No explicit sex. Your protagonist will contribute to the solving of the crime (rather than being an anti-hero).
Most Satisfying Retribution
The story will be about crime or mystery and build up to a retribution that leaves the protagonist (and readers) satisfied that justice has been done.
Your protagonist should be involved in the outcome of the story and not just an observer. This doesn’t mean they have to solve the crime themselves but they must contribute to the resolution.
Mystery with History
The story must be in an historical time and setting, with fictional characters. It can be set anywhere in the world at any time in history, and the crime or mystery should be fitting for the historical period you have chosen.
Thriller
This should be a dark, engrossing, plot-driven story, full of excitement, expectation and/or dread. It can be an
action-filled, edge-of-the-seat drama, a quest to prevent disasters, or a thrilling contest against an adversary.
Young Writer
There are no set themes for this category. You are limited only by your imagination, and your age. The entrant must be under 19 years of age as at 31 August 2026.