Barry Award (for crime novels)
The Barry Award is an annual award in several categories American Literature Award. The award was created in 1997 by the Criminal magazine Deadly Pleasures in life, which is aimed at fans of crime and mystery genres. Award Winners are the best in the U.S. and Canada, published in the previous year English-language novels and short stories. The prize is named after Barry W. Gardner (1939-1996), a retired fire chief from Dallas and known reviewers of detective novels for Deadly Pleasures and other magazines such as The Armchair Detective, Mostly Murder or Mystery News.
Categories and election procedures
The Barry Award is presented annually in six categories. Since it was first awarded in 1997, the best novel to be ( in hardcover published), best first novel, and paperback novel award. 2000, the category was Best British detective novel introduced, which is reserved for published works in the UK. As a further categories in 2004 and 2005 prices for the best short story and the best thriller were introduced. First time in 2010, the novel of the decade ( Mystery / Crime Novel of the Decade ) was awarded. The first winner was the Swedish journalist and author Stieg Larsson and his award-winning novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Eng. blindness ). No longer is awarded a prize for works of non-fiction, as practiced for example in the well-known Edgar, Anthony and Agatha award.
To participate in the awards, a copy of the book or short story to the editor of Deadly Pleasures must be sent to review the title in advance, provided he meets the requirements. The winners will be awarded by a jury consisting of members of the magazine editor who follow no organized reading program and the same titles are not obliged to read, which are often selected on the basis of word of mouth. After a preselection usually meet six contenders in each category to each other, under which the jury determines the winner.
The winners since 2004 regularly called on the annual Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention, in short " Bouchercon " announced where among other things the Anthony Award will also be awarded. Among the winners of the last years are such well-known authors like Michael Connelly, Reginald Hill, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, Peter Lovesey, or Val McDermid. Since 2007, the ceremony will take place in cooperation with the magazine Mystery News to upgrade the Literature Prize.