Omg I won the Louie Award!
In the middle of a work conference, my phone started to buzz frantically.
Surreptitiously checking my phone under the table while still trying to pay attention to the panel of speakers, I found a barrage of texts and calls from friends.
When I saw the news, I nearly fell out of my chair, but I had to keep a straight face in front of a roomful of professionals (Yes, I have a day job, like most writers).
The headline: ‘Congratulations to the winner of the 2025 Louie Award: KT Major for her story Bitter.’
The Louie Award, by the Australian Crime Writers Association, is for fast fiction crime stories of up to 500 words, with this year's theme being 'the photograph'. The award is sponsored by Dr Antonio Di Dio in celebration of his late father Luigi, and complements the Australian Crime Writers Association’s Ned Kelly Awards for crime, thriller and mystery writing.
Bitter is a subdued story about a wife at her husband’s funeral, with a nod to a classic crime, but told with a different lens.
Honestly, when I heard that I’d been shortlisted a few days prior to the announcement, I was mentally prepared that I wouldn’t win.
Being a writer means your life is peppered with rejections, even for stories where you thought had a chance - and especially for stories that you thought were good.
As I like to say, sending your stories out on submission is like putting your heart on a plate and inviting people to stab it with a fork.
Too boring. Not literary enough. Not crime enough. Not good enough. All intrusive thoughts that live like ghosts in the basement of my soul.
And so, when I learnt that I’d won, I sat on my hands in the middle of that conference, trying not to cry. Whatever the panel said, I’m sure it was very good.
Thank you to the Australian Crime Writers Association and Antonio Di Dio for this award. What an honour for a budding crime writer.
You can read Bitter and all winning stories here on the Australian Crime Writers Association website.
The Louie Award 2025 winner - KT Major for her story ‘Bitter’
