Private Eyes, Public Acclaim

The Private Eye Writers of America is now accepting submissions for its 2011 Shamus Awards competition. As the organization explains,

The categories are Best Hardcover P.I. novel, Best First P.I. novel, Best P.I. paperback original and Best P.I. short story. Eligible works must feature as a main character a person PAID for investigative work but NOT employed for that work by a unit of government. These include traditionally licensed private investigators, lawyers and reporters who do their own investigations, and others who function as hired private agents. These do NOT include law-enforcement officers, other government employees or amateur, uncompensated sleuths.

NOT eligible for consideration are self-published works, e-books or works for which the author is not paid. All submissions must be in hard copy.

To be eligible for judging, work must have been published for the first time in the United States during 2010. The deadline for submissions is July 1, 2011--less than a month away.

Winners will be announced during this fall’s Bouchercon in St. Louis.

Questions and requests for fuller guidelines should be sent to Shamus Awards chair Ted Fitzgerald at tedfitz@msn.com.