Time to get cracking on that crime fiction short story you’ve been thinking about.
You have fewer than 12 weeks to craft your submission for a shot at the 2016 Audrey Jessup prize for short stories of the criminal sort.
The contest is hosted by the Capital Crime Writers and entries must be postmarked no later than April 1, 2016.
That deadline is not a joke. See contest rules here.
Congratulations to this year’s short story contest winners!
FIRST PRIZE: “Revenge By Any Other Name…” by Jennifer Jorgensen
SECOND PRIZE: “The Caretaker” by Wynn Quon
THIRD PRIZE: “Snow Day” by Gladys Galay
HONOURABLE MENTION: “Urban Renewal” by Ken Nyhuus
HONOURABLE MENTION: “The Unsolvable Case of Somebody’s Finger” by Tavis Maplesden
It’s that time of year!
Turn your murderous fantasies about your annoying neighbour or Napoleonic boss into fabulous crime fiction, and submit your story to the Capital Crime Writers Short Story Contest.
The Deadline is April 1, 2015 (we’re not joking). Learn more about contest rules here.
Kristina Stanley walked away with the 2014 Audrey Jessop Short Story prize for her submission, “When a Friendship Fails”.
The awards dinner at The Heart & Crown in the Byward Market capped off a Capital Crime Writers’ mayhem-filled year.
A huge thanks to our judges and all participants. And it’s never too early to start working on your submission for next year.
Here’s the complete list of prize winners and honourable mentions:
FIRST PRIZE: ‘When a Friendship Fails’ by Kristina Stanley
SECOND PRIZE: ‘The Moment It Fell’ by Wynn Quon
THIRD PRIZE: ‘The Ride Home’ by Linda Standing
HONOURABLE MENTION: ‘Act the Part’ by Jennifer Jorgensen
HONOURABLE MENTION: ‘Scapegoat’ by Nicholas Ashton
We had a great time reading your tweets for the first (and hopefully annual) CCW Twitter Mystery Contest.
Your super-condensed mysteries were a great lead-up to our conference, Capital Mayhem on Saturday, May 10, 2014. Thanks everyone who jumped into the fictional murder fray.
Here are our winners:
1st place:
#capitalmayhem “Hi Will.You going to Capital Mayhem?””Yeah I’m just about to leave.I just need to grab my knapsack.” He reached for the gun.
— Rachel Pitcher (@RachelPitcher) May 3, 2014
2nd place:
The pool of blood spread outward, staining the fallen sheets of paper and the gigantic feet of the man in the chicken suit. #capitalmayhem— Roy Sarkar (@readroy) April 29, 2014
3rd place:
It was a squat cinderblock of a house, built to affordably shelter a small family from the sun, the rain, and the criminal. #capitalmayhem
— Craig Calhoun (@craiglcalhoun) April 29, 2014
All Stars:
Participants were encouraged to send in multiple entries, which explains why you may see some of these names twice. A special thanks to CCW authors Brenda Chapman and C.B. Forrest who led by example.
#capitalmayhem The cabby caught my eye in the rearview & said “I ain’t never seen a bullet hole the size of the one in your friend’s head.”
— Brenda Chapman (@brendaAchapman) April 28, 2014
He was guilty, I was sure of it. Pretty sure anyway. I hid the gun in his sock drawer. He got life; I got a promotion. #capitalmayhem
— c. b. forrest (@cbforrest) May 5, 2014
@CapCrimeWriters #capitalmayhem She was his love. She was his nightmare. He dropped the knife and went for a beer.
— Rachel Pitcher (@RachelPitcher) April 28, 2014
Mike woke up not knowing where he was. He couldn’t see anything and had difficulties breathing. He was trapped in a box. #capitalmayhem
— Sean D (@hugegolfhacker) April 29, 2014
It wasn’t the most conventional of murder weapons, Sandra admitted to herself, but it would just have to do. #capitalmayhem
— Alison Weatherston (@Partyof3blog) April 29, 2014
To promote our upcoming crime fiction conference in Ottawa — Capital Mayhem — we’re launching a Twitter mystery contest that starts Monday, April 28. Don’t worry, you have until the end of the week to come up with a mystery that will blow our judges’ socks off. We want the opening line to a short story or novel that you haven’t yet written or wish you could read. The story must be in the crime fiction or thriller genre.
Here are the rules:
1. The complete opening sentence must be contained in a single tweet (There’s no Part 1, Part 2, etc.)
2. You can enter more than once.
3. Your tweet must contain the following hashtag: #capitalmayhem
4. To be eligible for prizes, you must live in the Ottawa/West Quebec area.
The top three tweets will be announced at Capital Mayhem. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Looking for inspiration? CanadaWrites held a contest like this a couple of years ago. Here’s a link to their winning entries in the Lawmakers/Lawbreakers Twitter Challenge.
We’ll also publish our favourite tweets on the blog, so stay tuned.
Get that keyboard clacking to bring compelling characters to life–and the fictional unlucky to death.
Get your short story submission in for CCW’s annual cime fiction short contest–The Audrey Jessop.
Stories can be no longer than 3500 words.
The contest is open to residents of the National Capital Region and all members of the Capital Crime Writers. You must be 18 years of age or older. Cash prizes are available:
Details about the contest are posted here.
Plot fictional revenge on your unfavourite people and write a short story featuring the perfect crime.
Details for the 2014 Capital Crime Writers Contest are now posted.
The contest is open to residents of the National Capital Region and all members of the Capital Crime Writers. You must be 18 years of age or older. Cash prizes are available:
Erika Chase (pen name of Linda Wiken) has been nominated for an Agatha Award
for Best First Novel, for A Killer Read, the first in the Ashton Corners
Book Club Mysteries, from Berkley Prime Crime. The awards will be given out
at Malice Domestic in Bethesda, MD, May 4th.