2008 winners:

Writer Roy Chaney captures Hillerman Prize for first novel;
June Marie Avery wins short story contest.

SECOND ANNUAL TONY HILLERMAN PRIZE AWARDED TO KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI AUTHOR

11/10/08 -- WORDHARVEST and Thomas Dunne Books/ Minotaur Books announced today that Roy Chaney's The Ragged End of Nowhere has won the second Tony Hillerman Prize. The announcement was made at the fifth annual Tony Hillerman Writers Conference: Focus on Mystery held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Tony Hillerman Prize is awarded annually to the best unpublished mystery set in the Southwest written by a first-time author. The Ragged End of Nowhere will be published by Minotaur Books in the fall of 2009. The first annual prizewinner, Christine Barber's The Replacement Child, is available in stores now.

Anne Hillerman, Tony Hillerman's daughter, launched the first Tony Hillerman Writers Conference: Focus on Mystery in 2003 through the business which she co-founded (with Jean Schaumberg), WORDHARVEST Writers Workshops. The conference highlights writing by Southwestern authors.

The Ragged End of Nowhere tells the story of a CIA agent who must return home to Las Vegas to solve the murder of his younger brother. The author, Roy Chaney, holds a graduate degree in literature from California State University. He has worked as a military journalist, photographer, editor, and as an investigator for the federal government. He currently resides in Kansas City, Missouri. His full acceptance speech is below.

Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mysteries, set on the Navajo reservation, were the first regional mysteries to become national bestsellers. His work has been praised by reviewers and the Navajo Nation for its ability to combine Navajo traditions and beliefs with a well-told mystery story. Hillerman's writing reflects his appreciation for the natural wonders and stark beauty of the American Southwest and its people, particularly the Navajo. His books have been translated into many languages and frequently make the New York Times bestseller list. At age 83, Hillerman passed away on October 26, 2008.

Thomas Dunne Books and Minotaur Books are imprints of St. Martin's Press, which is a subsidiary of Macmillan.

For more information or interviews please contact Hector DeJean at 646-307-5560 or hector.dejean@stmartins.com.

The deadline for submissions to next year's competition will be June 1, 2009. For complete guidelines, please visit http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com or wordharvest.com

Roy Chaney Author Statement

First things first, I'd like to thank all the people at Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, and the Tony Hillerman Writer's Conference for hosting this contest. And I would also like to offer my condolences to the Hillerman family. Tony Hillerman's books evoke a palpable sense of place and a deep understanding of human nature, and that is why he has been one of the masters of American mystery writing and American writing in general for forty years. He will be sorely missed.

It came as quite a surprise to learn that I'd won the Hillerman Prize. As I indicated to Peter Joseph of Thomas Dunne Books when he called to give me the news, I had a copy of my novel The Ragged End of Nowhere sitting in front of me on my desk, all boxed up and ready to be mailed out elsewhere later that day. It wasn't that I didn't believe the manuscript might have a chance of winning the Hillerman competition, it's just that I'd gotten into the habit of mailing it out on a regular basis, rain or shine, to whomever I thought might like to read it and help me get it published. There have been many copies of Ragged End, and many boxes, and many trips to the post office. So many that, even right now, the idea of not mailing it out seems odd and unnatural. When you're trying to market a first novel you get so used to the rejection that when you finally encounter acceptance, it takes a while to sink in.

But I can learn to handle the acceptance, thank you very much.

The Ragged End of Nowhere is set in Las Vegas, and the great beauty of Las Vegas lies in its inherent absurdity. The most obvious example of this is the simple fact that this glittering city that never sleeps has been plunked down in the middle of one of the most inhospitable desert landscapes in the United States. The idea of building a couple of dozen casino hotels with a hundred thousand or so guest rooms in the middle of a barren desert where the average rain fall is negligible and the only major source of water is a river that has to be shared with six other states is not a shining example of good reasoning. And the notion that an entire city with a metropolitan population of nearly two million people might take root in such a place is nothing short of preposterous or it would be, if it hadn't already happened.

And yet, what city is it? The parts of Las Vegas that visitors tend to remember and locals tend to brag about are largely a piece of theatrical sleight of hand. But there are the people who live in Las Vegas (including my professional card-dealing brother and my not-so-professional baccarat-playing 77-year-old mother, bless her soul). Not only are Las Vegans aware of the absurdity that surrounds them, they actually seem to embrace it. As just one example, the mayor of Las Vegas is a former mob lawyer who has the habit of showing up at official functions surrounded by sequined showgirls in feathered tiaras. He considers himself a doctor of mixology and when the mood strikes him he teaches classes to all and sundry on the proper construction of a martini. If any other mayor in the country displayed this kind of joie de vivre he would be rousted out of city hall so fast it would make his head spin, but in Las Vegas it's just another day at the office.

Perhaps it's the fundamental absurdity of the place that has made Las Vegas the city of one-liners. I recall very well the cab driver who admitted, quite casually, that he routinely gambled and lost half his annual income, but he balked at paying the full price at casino buffets because he was afraid he wouldnt get his moneys worth. Or the cocktail waitress at Caesar's Palace who was struggling to make ends meet and who remarked, confidentially, "I started out with nothing, and I've still got most of it left." Or my personal favorite and one that I employed in Ragged End --the ex-CIA man who now works as a high-powered business consultant in Las Vegas and whose business card bears only his name, phone number, and the phrase There's always one more son of a bitch than you counted on. As if this statement was the only marketing ploy he needed to convince people that his services might be useful.

Las Vegas, that great city that has grown and prospered out there on the ragged end of the Southwestern desert, offers every kind of entertainment imaginable, and most of it is even legal. But as every writer knows, the best entertainment is to find a nice comfortable chair in a corner somewhere and just sit and watch and listen to what's going on around you. I go to Las Vegas quite often, but I havent been shooting craps or gambling at the card tables. Instead I gambled on a story called The Ragged End of Nowhere.

And this time, it came in a winner. Go figure!

The Tony Hillerman Mystery Short Story Contest Prize awarded
to June Marie Avery

Avery's story, My Brother's Keeper, concerns twin brothers and a rural county sheriff. The contest, now in its sixth year, received approximately 200 entries from professional and amateur writers throughout the U.S and Canada. All entries are judged anonymously. The winner received $1500 and publication in the magazine's March, 2009 issue. Margaret Brown, executive editor of Cowboys & Indians said, "We are pleased to offer a forum for short mystery fiction that reflects the wonderful setting of the American West and delighted to be associated with writers like the late Tony Hillerman, Michael McGarrity, J.A. Jance, Margaret Coel and David Morrell at the annual mystery conference."
June Marie Avery wrote: "I'm a proud member of that rare breed-Native New Mexican! I was born in Albuquerque, never mind when! I attended school in Alamogordo through the 6th grade and completed high school in Artesia. I was at NMSU briefly, majoring in having a good time. After my GPA bottomed out, I moved to Silver City to work. I returned to Artesia a few years later, where I live to this day, raising my nine-year old nephew. I completed my ASN from ENMU-R and worked as an RN for several years before returning to school at what was then CSW in Hobbs. I taught and substituted in Lake Arthur, Hagerman and Artesia schools. When health problems forced me to take early retirement, I pulled out my dusty dream of writing. Im working on a mystery novel set in Artesia, Pride of the Pecos Valley. I hope to show my love of my little town with a touch of laughter. I entered a short story, Flagged, that ties in with Pride in the Southwest Writers contest and got a wonderful critique suggesting I enter the story in the Hillerman contest. It was almost 4500 words and when I tried to abridge it down to 2500 words, it lay whimpering and lifeless. A writing buddy suggested I not cut it down, but start fresh. I work with identical twins at my part-time job and that perked around in my brain for several days until I woke up in the middle of the night with the basic plot for My Brothers Keeper. When Anne Hillermans name showed up on my caller ID one Saturday morning, I thought, as I answered the phone, Wonderful, I earned an honorable mention! I was thrilled beyond words to learn that My Brothers Keeper had won! I also think it is really cool to be the first woman to win the contest. I looked forward to meeting Mr. Hillerman, a role model for me, and was saddened as a reader by his death before the conference. Almost better than the cash prize and the nice certificates was the bag filled with all of Mr. Hillerman's books! I will have to be very disciplined to work on my writing and not just sink down in a chair to read and reread all the Hillerman books, the Sandi Ault books, the Craig Johnson books, the Louis Bayard books..."