Entries are now open for the Australian Crime Writers Association’s new annual fast fiction crime writing competition - The Louie Award.

The Louie Award is kindly sponsored by Dr Antonio Di Dio in celebration of his late father Luigi. 

The Louie Award is for fast fiction --  a story of less than 500 words. As well as being in the crime genre, each year entries will also need to feature or incorporate a specific theme. The theme for the inaugural competition is ‘Leaving Home’. 

The Louie Award is open to all Australian crime writers. We hope young and emerging writers particularly take this opportunity to jump into crime writing.

Full details and entry form are available on the AustCrimeWriters website.

A winner and two commended authors will be named. The winner will receive $750. All three stories will be published on the Australian Crime Writers Association website and promoted through our newsletter.

The Louie Award compliments our long standing and highly recognised The Ned Kelly Awards for crime writing. The Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious recognition honouring published crime fiction and true crime writing. The Ned Kelly Awards began in 1995 and the first award was made in 1996.

The Australian Crime Writers Association is dedicated to promoting Australian crime, thriller and mystery writing. The addition of The Louie Award will help raise awareness of the strength of the Australian crime writing scene and we hope will bring a new audience of readers and writers to the crime genre.

For further information or digital assets contact: info@austcrimewriters.com