Apr 5, 2006

THE ROSS THOMAS AWARD

Last year saw the first annual Ross Thomas Award given out for best first line.

This year the award is taking on a little bigger scope with a pretty impressive list of judges from the mystery community.Intermediate judges to whittle the list down and final judges to pick from the short list.

Nominations are open to any thriller or mystery or crime fiction book from 2005 in the English language. The nominations are open to the public and you can enter as many first lines as you'd like. Nominate first lines here

Here's the official press release:
For immediate release
Contacts:
Jon Jordan, Crimespree Magazine jon@crimespreemag.com
Jim Huang, The Drood Review
jim@themysterycompany.com

SECOND ROSS THOMAS AWARD NOMINATIONS OPEN

The Drood Review and Crimespree Magazine announce that nominations are now open for this year’s Ross Thomas Prize, given annually to the best first line in a thriller or mystery novel. This year’s contest will include a significantly expanded panel of judges, and is expected to attract over a thousand entries.

Nominations must be made at Ross Thomas Best First Line Award by July 1, 2006. The first lines of all novels published in the English language in the calendar year 2005 are eligible, including hard covers, paperbacks, and electronic novels released by commercial presses or self-published. Nominations can be made by readers, publishers, publicists, agents, and authors. Authors are encouraged to nominate their own work.

A short list of finalists will be announced August 1, and the winner will be announced September 28, 2006, at Bouchercon in Madison, Wisconsin. Judges this year include librarians, critics, booksellers, authors and industry experts. Among those serving are Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Bleak House Books’ Ben Leroy, Raymond Kearney, Bill Fitzhugh, Mark Billingham, Cara Black, Sarah Weinman, Maggie Griffin, and David Montgomery, plus many others.

Last year’s winner was Jennifer Apodaca of Los Angeles for the first line of Ninja Soccer Moms:

“The thing about revenge is it takes a woman who is well and truly pissed to get it right.”

The Ross Thomas Prize is given with permission of Ross Thomas’s widow, Rosalie.




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