Announcing THE LOUIE AWARD 2024

The winner of the 2024 The Louie Award for fast fiction crime writing is

Brydon Coverdale for his story - Good Old Collingwood Forever.

Congratulations Brydon!

The Louie Award is Australia’s fast fiction crime writing award. It is for stories of up to 500 words. The award is sponsored by Dr Antonio Di Dio in celebration of his late father Luigi and is run by the Australian Crime Writers Association.

This year’s competition theme was “artificial intelligence” and the judges were amazed by the wide range of interpretations.

“There was a variety of approaches to the theme from people using AI for revenge and murder to AI taking control of people's lives,” the judging panel said. “Stories were futuristic and contemporary and ran the gamut of crimes from fraud to assassination.” 

The judges also nominated two highly commended writers:

Catherine Craig for the story Abe Taught Me.

Brent Towns for the story She Made Me.

All three stories are available to read on the Australian Crime Writers Association website. The winner receives $500 cash and the two highly commended writers receive $125 each. All three writers receive an award certificate.

Brydon Coverdale is a journalist, cricket reporter and quizzer based in Melbourne. His first book, The Quiz Masters was published in 2022 by Allen & Unwin. Brydon has also appeared on the TV quiz show The Chase Australia as “The Shark” who contestants have to beat to win.

“I’m thrilled and humbled to receive The Louie Award,” Brydon said. “I have always believed in the idea of writing what I would want to read, and this story combines many of my own interests: sport, crime, Australiana, trivial facts, nostalgia and an eye to the future.

“I also enjoyed the challenge of creating a character with as much definition and backstory as I could in 500 words,” he said

“I’m currently working on my first crime novel and this award has given me the inspiration to get it finished. I would like to thank my wife Zoe, who has a meticulous eye for detail and offered invaluable feedback and suggestions. Thanks also to Australian Crime Writers Association and Dr Antonio Di Dio for providing such a wonderful competition.”

Highly commended writer Catherine Craig from Sydney is a full time writer and is currently writing a crime thriller novel. Catherine has previously won a Scarlet Stiletto short story award and has also been shortlisted for a Scarlet Stiletto.

Highly commended writer Brent Towns, from Tasmania, is also a full time author of detective, action and adventure books published in the United States. He also scripts Commando comics.

“This is my first time on a short story, I just thought I’d give it a go,” Brent said.

The Louie Award complements the Australian Crime Writers Association’s long standing and internationally recognised Ned Kelly Awards for Australian crime books.

The Australian Crime Writers Association is dedicated to promoting Australian crime, thriller and mystery writing. The Louie Award for fast fiction helps raise awareness of the strength of the Australian crime writing scene and brings a new audience of readers and writers to the crime genre.

For further information or digital assets contact: info@austcrimewriters.com and visit our website www.austcrimewriters.com