Awarded to the Best First 50 Pages of an Unpublished Manuscript at the time of entry into the competition.
Judging committee votes are currently coming in. This page is under construction and will be added to as votes are tallied.
2022 Best Action Adventure Finalists
Kidnapped at Koh Ker / C.A. Benadum
Killing Friends / Nancy Bruett
Song of the Starlings / TM Clark
Dreaming of Jerusalem / Susie Helme
The Gibbous / Nathanael Hill
The Czar Bomb / Dennis Meredith
The Delta Convergence / William Peacock
Patrons of Mcmurdo / S.I. Rowell
The Shadow Kingdom / Michael Tunison
2022 Best Comedy Finalists
Big Fat F@!K Up / Lawrence Allan
King of the Private Dicks / Elaine Marsh
The Bump Key / Carrie Voorhis
The Gypsy Project / Becki Willis
2022 Best Cozy Finalists
Facets of Murder / Rae Aviani
Murder By Morel / Joanna Carns
A Very Proper Murder / Lucinda Gerlitz
Bear Attack / Sheryl Ickes
Murder Under the Sun / Anne-Marie Lacy
Blue, Blue Christmas / Audrea Martin
Dishonored / Timothy Stecker
Deliver Us from Evil / Jane Stevenor
The Coffee Murders / Jane Vasarhelyi
A Chain of Pearls / Raemi Wood
Tabitha Cairn and the North End Murders / Kelly Zimmer
2022 Best Historical Finalists
Harvest of a Down / Vladislav Avditskiy
Murdered and Missing / Ardis Eckel
Pontiac Rising / Iris Frank
The Genizah Codex / Susie Helme
I Paint the Sky / Laura Kemp
Nell: Marshal of Bodie / John Edward Mullen
A Preposterous Excuse / Cherie O’Boyle
Searching for Iphigenia / Carol Orange
The Surrealist Circle / Nina Wachsman
2022 Best Investigator Finalists
The Redhead at Café Du Monde / Evelyn Donahoe
Lights and Shadows / Joseph Doria
Great American Homicide / C. Kenneth Foit
Broken Windows / Henry Hack
Dunleavy / Mark Hannon
The Hustle / Laurence Klavan
Truth is Always Changing / Paul Paradise
Mother of Secrets / Tracey Phillips
Where the Devil Turns / Michelle Pretorius
Passion for Port / Jane Robbins
A Season for Murder / Jane Robbins
The Devil You Know / Alex Ruby
Blood Caste / Shylashri Shankar
No Sympathy for the Devil / Michael Siverling
The Social Worker / H.K. Slade
Still Life / Jennifer Slee & Jessica Slee
Worse than Death / Brooke Terpening
The Dieppe Letters / Liz Rachel Walker
2022 Best Juvenile / YA Finalists
Wake / Jessica DeLand
The Rainbow’s Shadow / Lynne Ewing
Branded / Joseph Humphrey
Intercludae / Felicia Ketcheson
North of Light / Reanna Pettigrew
The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Las / Neena Phan
Powerless / Jacqueline Pretty
Perfect Little Monsters / Cindy R. X. He
Proms Can Be Murder / Sheila Sobel
2022 Best Mystery Finalists
2022 Best Nonfiction Finalists
2022 Best Sci-fi / Fantasy Finalists
2022 Best Short Story Collection / Anthology Finalists
2022 Best Southern Gothic Finalists
2022 Best Supernatural Finalists
2022 Best Suspense Finalists
2022 Best Thriller Finalists
Judging committee votes are currently coming in. This page is under construction and will be added to as votes are tallied.