RADIO BREMEN KRIMIPREIS

The 2021 Radio Bremen Krimipreis, a German crime fiction award, has been awarded to Anne Holt.

The article is in German, so here is a summary:

The winner of the 2021 Radio Bremen Krimipreis is Norwegian crime writer Anne Holt. Anne Holt is one of the most successful Scandinavian crime writers with more than seven million books sold worldwide. In her non-writing career, she has been a journalist, police superintendent and even Norwegian secretary of justice. She has been writing full time for 25 years now.

The jury was impressed by how Ms. Holt incorporates current social issues such as nationalism, rightwing terrorism, climate change or corruption and doping in professional sports into her crime novels. Furthermore, Anne Holt’s novels featured diverse characters before “diversity” was a buzzword. In the 1990s, she created Hanne Willhelmsen, a lesbian police officer who is shot in a later book in the series and becomes a wheelchair user. Her latest novel features a new character, Selma Falck, a lawyer with a gambling addiction.

Since 2001, Radio Bremen has been awarding the Radio Bremen Crime Prize to outstanding crime writers. The prize is endowed with 2,500 Euros and is considered one of the most prestigious crime fiction prizes in Germany. The award honors German-speaking and international authors. The jury is composed annually of Bremen crime fiction professionals and, if necessary, supplemented by guest jurors.

SCARLET STILETTO AWARDS

Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the names of the writers on the 28th Scarlet Stiletto Awards Shortlist, but not which the various awards each is a finalist for, so there’s not much more to offer here than the link.

LOUIE AWARD

The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced a new flash fiction prize, the Louie Award.

Sponsored by ACT president of the Australian Medical Association Antonio Di Dio, the annual award celebrates his late father Luigi who was an avid crime fiction reader.

The award is open to Australian crime writers and will seek short story submissions of up to 500 words. The winner will receive $750.

Entries for the inaugural award is expected to open this month. For more information, see the ACWA website.

[Thanks to Cora Buhlert for these stories.]