The annual Derringer Awards, which honour excellence in Short Mystery Fiction, were created in 1997. The name "Derringer," after the palm-sized handgun, was chosen as a metaphor for a short Mystery or Crime story.

Submissions will be accepted only from SMFS members and from Editors and Publishers who publish Mystery and Crime Fiction. To be considered, submissions must be Mystery or Crime stories and must have been published during the year 2007. The publication must have been one with an editor and an established procedure for submission, acceptance and rejection. The publication may be a print magazine, an electronic magazine (Ezine) or an anthology of Mystery and/or Crime stories in book form. The publication does not have to pay cash.

The author does not have to be a member of SMFS to be considered. The publication does not have to be one published in the USA. It must, however, have been published in the English language. Works previously published in any language other than English are eligible based on the date of their first publication in English.

The period covered by the publication will be the determining factor as to when it was published. For example, in 2008, stories printed in the calendar year 2007 will be accepted. The official date of the publication is the date stated in or on the publication itself. In the case of magazines or e-zines which cover more than one month and overlap years, the later year shall be the determining factor. (Example: December 2007/January 2008 issues would be submitted in 2009 for 2008.)

Submissions will be accepted in the following categories:

Each member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society may submit up to two stories. The stories may be two of their own, two by other writers, or one of each.

In order not to slight Editors who are also writers, an Editor or Publisher who is a member of the SMFS may submit two of their own stories in addition to the appropriate number by other writers that appeared in their publication.

Editors and Publishers may submit a number of submissions based on the total number of stories they published during the year. Here's how to arrive at that number.

Submissions will be accepted from Noon, 2 February 2008, to Midnight 16 March 2008. The complete timeline is as follows:

All submissions must include:

Judges are asked to rate each story for each of the headings below on a scale of 1 to 10. A rating of 10, of course, means it's as good as it can get. A rating of 1 means, "Why did anyone submit this clunker?" Under each heading are some suggested thoughts to consider.

1. OVERALL WRITING

2. CHARACTERS

3. SETTING

4. PLOT

5. ENDING

6. OVERALL FEELING

Stories are submitted by SMFS members and by Editors of mystery and crime publications to our Coordinator. The Coordinator sends each story to volunteer Judges -- without identification of the author or the publication in which the story appeared. The Judges then rate the story according to a scale we provide and return their ratings to the Coordinator. When all the ratings are in, the Coordinator adds the scores from the three Judges and divides by three to arrive at an average rating for each story.

The five highest-rated stories in each category become the Finalists.