A SHORT HISTORY OF THE DERRINGER AWARD

The annual Derringer Award for excellence in the field of short stories was created in 1997 by the Short Mystery Fiction Society. The name "Derringer," after the palm-sized handgun, was chosen as a metaphor for a crime short story -- small, but dangerous.  The Derringer was created to fill a void in the arena of American mystery awards, which tend to concentrate on novels.  Any story published (in print or online) in a given calendar year is eligible for a Derringer.  

The award itself is in the form of a certificate, suitable for framing. Like any new award, the Derringers are a work-in-progress.  Not all of the categories from the 1998 awards were repeated for the 1999 awards, while some new ones were added.  Chances are good that the 2000 Derringer Awards will look different still.  But the goal -- honoring excellence in the short story -- will never change.

Every member of the SMFS is eligible to vote on the nominations.  The system for voting in place in 1999 began with members pre-nominating a story.  This resulted in 136 pre-nominations covering 67 stories.  Out of that list, a short list of 21 competitive nominees was finalized based on the number of multiple pre-nom votes each story received. To Review the 1998 Nominees online, see the 1998 Nominees page.

Voting has now been completed for the 1998 Derringers. Please see the Winners Page.

For the 1999 Derringer Awards (to be announced June 1, 2000), we have restructured the nomination process to operate on a committee basis. One committee will read submissions and select nominees for Best Short Mystery Story and a second committee will select nominees for Best Flash Mystery Story (1,000 words or less) and Best Novella (10,000 words or more). Find out more about the Nomination process and how to nominate a story here.