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Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award
Sisters in Crime Names P.M. Raymond as 2024 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award Winner
The award supports the advancement, recognition and professional development of emerging crime writers of color.
Sisters in Crime (SinC), an inclusive international community for all who write and love crime fiction, has announced the winner of the annual Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color.
This year’s winner is P.M. Raymond of Apex, North Carolina. Raymond’s winning submission, "A Nasty Business,” is set on a Louisiana farm where a family tradition forces the heirs to compete in a series of grueling tasks. Pops, the patriarch, oversees the competition between his sons, Galen and Jeff, as they vie for control of the estate, and discover the farm's dark history — and the heavy burden of their inheritance.
As a New Orleans native, mystical undertones are, says Raymond, the roux in her crime noir and horror writing. She was named to the 160 Black Women in Horror and is a 2024 Finalist in the Killer Shorts Screenplay Competition. Her work has appeared in publications such as Flash Fiction Magazine, Kings River Life Magazine, Dark Fire Fiction, Pyre Magazine and The Furious Gazelle and Dark Yonder.
Raymond’s story was selected from 29 submissions by the 2024 judges of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award, Alex Segura, Carolyn Wilkins and Nicole Prewitt.
“It was an honor to serve as a judge again this year,” said Segura. “The Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award plays an integral part in spotlighting marginalized voices deserving greater recognition, and I’m thankful to have played a small part in that process.”
“It is exciting and inspiring to read so many excellent stories by crime writers of color,” said Wilkins. “We had a difficult time selecting a winner because the overall caliber of submissions was so high.”
"I love SinC's mission and feel the ETBA is such a special award in our community,” added Prewitt. “It was a tough choice, but I'm excited to offer a congratulations to this year's winner!”
Established in 2014, the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award supports the advancement, recognition and professional development of emerging crime writers of color. It is aligned with Sisters in Crime’s mission to promote diversity in crime fiction. The grantee may use the award to attend workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses and research activities that help them complete their work.
This year's runners up are:
Aftermath by Carleasa A. Coates of Catlett, Virginia
And Then It Clicked by Renee P. Stone of Las Vegas, Nevada
The Code by Grace Wynter of Decatur, Georgia
Gifted Grifter by Fritz Mason of Columbia, South Carolina
The Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award is an annual grant of $2,000 for an emerging writer of color.
This grant is intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. The grantee may choose to use the grant for activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities
required for completion of the work.
The Eleanor Taylor Bland grant is administered by Sisters in Crime, a 4000+ member international organization of mystery authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians. Sisters in Crime was founded by Sara Paretsky and a group of women
at the 1986 Bouchercon in Baltimore. In 2014 the group declared its mission to members to “promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers.”
After contacting the grant recipient, Sisters in Crime will make an official announcement of the winner in the summer of 2024.
A report about how the award was spent must be submitted to the Sisters in Crime president one year after receipt of the award. The 2024 recipient of the award also will be expected to serve the following year as a member of the 2025 Eleanor Taylor Bland
Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award selection committee.
Here’s a checklist to help you prepare to submit next year:
Have you published two novels OR ten or more short stories? We're sorry, that means you aren't eligible to apply.
You do not have to be a member of Sisters in Crime to apply for this grant.
Do you want to use a different name for your submission?
Are there any trigger warnings about potentially distressing material in your work? If so, please list them on the form. Some examples include rape, torture, pedophilia, child abuse, assault, suicide, drug abuse. Please note work
dealing with these subjects will not impact whether you're selected. It's just to let our judges know before they read. If no, please write N/A.
AI-generated works are not eligible.
You may upload PDFs or Word docs. Please make sure that you name the documents including your name. For example, JONES_BIO.doc, JONES_WORK.doc, JONES_STATEMENT.doc. Please make sure your materials are named appropriately.
Here are the three components of your submission:
An unpublished work of crime fiction, aimed at readers, from children’s chapter books through adults. This may be a short story or first chapter(s) of a manuscript in-progress of 2,500 to 5,000 words.
A resume or biographical statement.
A cover letter that gives a sense of the applicant as an emerging writer in the genre and briefly states how the award money would be used. (How the money might be used is not a deciding factor in the judges’ decision.)
About Eleanor Taylor Bland
Eleanor Taylor Bland was a pioneer in crime fiction.
In 1992 her first crime novel, Dead Time, was published. It featured Marti MacAlister, an African American female police detective who works and resides in a Midwestern American town that closely resembles Bland’s own adopted home town of Waukegan,
Illinois. Bland also published several works of short crime fiction and edited a collection titled Shades of Black: Crime and Mystery Stories by African-American Authors (2004). When she passed away in 2010, she was one of the most prolific African
American authors in the genre. With Marti MacAlister, Bland created an enduring and much beloved heroine who went against the grain of perpetuated stereotypes related to African American women in much of U.S. popular culture.
Although Bland focused primarily on stories about African American characters and their lives, bringing both complexities and comforts of familiarity to her readership, she also included in-depth interactions with other kinds of characters
that reflect the broad spectrum of identities that is U.S. society. Bland saw crime fiction as an especially accessible literary vehicle for bringing in characters that had been peripheral to or simply missing from the genre. She understood that crime
fiction could continue over time broadening its appeal to new reading audiences by opening its doors to the kinds of characters, societal situations and perspectives, and potential for creativity that authors of color would bring.
About the Award
The Eleanor Taylor Bland grant is administered by Sisters in Crime, a 4000+ member international organization of mystery authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians. Sisters in Crime was founded by Sara Paretsky and a group of women
at the 1986 Bouchercon in Baltimore. In 2014 the group declared its mission to members to “promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers.”
After contacting the grant recipient, Sisters in Crime will make an official announcement of the winner in the summer of 2024.
A report about how the award was spent must be submitted to the Sisters in Crime president one year after receipt of the award. The 2024 recipient of the award also will be expected to serve the following year as a member of the 2025 Eleanor Taylor Bland
Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award selection committee.
This year’s winner is P.M. Raymond of Apex, North Carolina. Raymond’s winning submission, "A Nasty Business,” is set on a Louisiana farm where a family tradition forces the heirs to compete in a series of grueling tasks. Pops, the patriarch, oversees the competition between his sons, Galen and Jeff, as they vie for control of the estate, and discover the farm's dark history — and the heavy burden of their inheritance.
“It was an honor to serve as a judge again this year,” said Segura. “The Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award plays an integral part in spotlighting marginalized voices deserving greater recognition, and I’m thankful to have played a small part in that process.”
Eleanor Taylor Bland was a pioneer in crime fiction.
In 1992 her first crime novel, Dead Time, was published. It featured Marti MacAlister, an African American female police detective who works and resides in a Midwestern American town that closely resembles Bland’s own adopted home town of Waukegan,
Illinois. Bland also published several works of short crime fiction and edited a collection titled Shades of Black: Crime and Mystery Stories by African-American Authors (2004). When she passed away in 2010, she was one of the most prolific African
American authors in the genre. With Marti MacAlister, Bland created an enduring and much beloved heroine who went against the grain of perpetuated stereotypes related to African American women in much of U.S. popular culture.