The 2007 Derringer Awards Call for Submissions and Guidelines

The annual Derringer Awards, for excellence in Short Mystery Fiction, was created in 1997. The name "Derringer," after the palm-sized handgun, was chosen as a metaphor for a short Mystery or Crime story.

Submissions will be accepted only from SMFS members and from Editors and Publishers who publish Mystery and Crime Fiction. To be considered, submissions must be Mystery or Crime stories and must have been published during the year 2006. The publication must have been one with an editor and an established procedure for submission, acceptance and rejection. The publication may be a print magazine, an electronic magazine (Ezine) or an anthology of Mystery and/or Crime stories in book form. The publication does not have to pay cash.

The author does not have to be a member of SMFS to be considered. The publication does not have to be one published in the USA. It must, however, have been published in the English language. Works previously published in any language other than English are eligible based on the date of their first publication in English.

The period covered by the publication will be the determining factor as to when it was published. In 2007 stories printed in the calendar year 2006 will be accepted. The official date of the publication is the date stated in or on the publication itself. In the case of magazines or e-zines which cover more than one month and overlap years, the later year shall be the determining factor. (Example: December 2006/January 2007 issues would be submitted in 2008 for 2007.)

Submissions will be accepted in the following categories:

Flash Story Up to 500 words
Short-short Story 501 to 2000 words
Mid-length Short Story 2001 to 6000 words
Longer Short Story 6001 to 15,000 words


WHO MAY SUBMIT

Each member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society may submit up to two stories. The stories may be two of their own, two by other writers, or one of each.

In order not to slight Editors who are also writers, an Editor or Publisher who is a member of SMFS may submit two of their own stories in addition to the appropriate number by other writers that appeared in their publication.

Editors and Publishers may submit a number of submissions based on the total number of stories they published during the year. (Please see Derringer Awards site for breakdown on this.)


TIMELINE

Submissions will be accepted from Noon, 2 February 2007, to Midnight 16 March 2007. The complete timeline is as follows:

Submissions solicited Noon, February 2 to Midnight, March 16, 2007
Finalists will be posted March 15 to March 31
Awards announced April 1
SMFS Membership voting April 1- April 30
Awards announced May 15

All submissions must include:

Name of the nominating SMFS member and/or Editor/Publisher
Author’s name (may be the same as the nominator)
Publication name
Date of publication
Word count.
Nominations should be attached or pasted into an e-mail with the subject line “DERRINGER NOMINATION: Title of Story” and sent to: The Awards Co-ordinator.


(Please see Derringer Awards site for breakdown of judging guidelines.)