Aussie Accolades

Following hard on yesterday’s news about the two winners of New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh Awards comes word—via the blog Fair Dinkum Crime—of which writers and books have captured Australia’s 2016 Davitt and Ned Kelly Awards. The Davitts are of course sponsored by Sisters in Crime Australia, while the “Neddies” are given out by the Australian Crime Writers Association.

DAVITT AWARDS

Best Adult Novel: Resurrection Bay, by Emma Viskic (Echo)

Also nominated: Medea’s Curse: Natalie King, Forensic Psychiatrist, by Anne Buist (Text); Fall, by Candice Fox (Penguin Random House); Give the Devil His Due, by Sulari Gentill (Pantera Press); Storm Clouds, by Bronwyn Parry (Hachette Australia); and Time to Run, by J.M. Peace, (Pan Macmillan Australia)

Best Young Adult Novel:
Risk, by Fleur Ferris (Penguin Random House)

Also nominated: In the Skin of a Monster, by Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin); Every Move, by Ellie Marney (Allen & Unwin); and Stay with Me, by Maureen McCarthy (Allen & Unwin)

Best Children’s Novel: Friday Barnes 2: Under Suspicion, by R.A. Spratt (Penguin Random House)

Also nominated: Verity Sparks and the Scarlet Hand, by Susan Green (Walker Press); and Theophilus Grey and the Demon Thief, by Catherine Jinks (Allen & Unwin)

Best Non-fiction: Wild Man, by Alecia Simmonds (Affirm Press)

Also nominated: Black Widow, by Carol Baxter (Allen & Unwin); Why Did They Do It?, by Cheryl Critchley and Helen McGrath (Pan Macmillan Australia); The Sting, by Kate Kyriacou (Echo); Behind Closed Doors, by Sue Smetherst (Simon & Schuster); and You’re Just Too Good to Be True, by Sofija Stefanovic (Penguin Random House)

Best Debut: Resurrection Bay, by Emma Viskic (Echo)

Also nominated: In the Skin of a Monster, by Kathryn Barker (Allen & Unwin); Medea’s Curse: Natalie King, Forensic Psychiatrist, by Anne Buist (Text); Please Don’t Leave Me Here, by Tania Chandler (Scribe); Double Madness, by Caroline de Costa (Margaret River Press); Risk, by Fleur Ferris (Penguin Random House); Good Money, by J.M. Green (Scribe); Time to Run, by J.M. Peace (Pan Macmillan Australia); and The Lost Swimmer, by Ann Turner (Simon & Schuster)

NED KELLY AWARDS

Best Fiction: Before It Breaks, by Dave Warner (Fremantle Press)

Also nominated: Ash Island, by Barry Maitland (Text); Fall, by Candice Fox (Bantam); R&R, by Mark Dapin (Viking Australia); Rain Dogs, by Adrian McKinty (Allen & Unwin); and The Heat, by Garry Disher (Text)

Best First Fiction: Resurrection Bay, by Emma Viskic (Echo)

Also nominated: Amplify, by Mark Hollands (Kylie Davis); Four Days, by Iain Ryan (Broken River); Good Money, by J.M. Green (Scribe); Please Don’t Leave Me Here, by Tania Chandler (Scribe); and Skin Deep, by Gary Kemble (Echo)

Best True Crime: Certain Admissions, by Gideon Haigh (Penguin)

Also nominated: A Murder Without Motive, by Martin McKenzie-Murray (Scribe); Kidnapped, by Mark Tedeschi (Simon & Schuster); Killing Love, by Rebecca Poulson (Simon & Schuster); and The Sting, by Kate Kyriacou (Echo)

S.D. Harvey Award for Short Stories: “Flesh,” by Roni O’Brien

Also nominated: “The Hall Chimp,” by Robbie Arnott; “The Adjustment,” by Honey Brown; “Sisters in Red,” by Joshua Kemp; and “The Caretaker,” by Jemma Tyley-Miller

In addition, reports FDC’s Bernadette Bean, “The Australian Crime Writers Association ... awarded a lifetime achievement award this year to Carmel Shute who is one of the founders and the longest-serving National Co-Convener of Sisters in Crime Australia and has spent a quarter of a century supporting and nurturing Australian women crime writers. Twitter tells me Carmel took an Enid Blyton novel on stage with her when accepting her award.”

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and other contenders.