The 2008 Arthur Ellis Awards are now closed to submissions...

...and the judges are busily reading and evaluating the submissions to determine which books and stories represent the best in Canadian crime writing.

This year marks the 24th year for the prestigious Arthur Ellis Awards, named after the nom de travail of Canada's official hangman. Awards are presented in six categories for works in the crime genre published for the first time in the previous year by authors living in Canada, regardless of their nationality, or by Canadian writers living outside of Canada.

There is a seventh award: the Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished Crime Novel, which is designed to launch the writing careers of new Canadian crime writers.

The award itself, the Arthur, is hand-carved by Canadian artisan Barry Lambeck and based on a design and prototype by artist Peter Blais. Arthur is a wooden articulated jumping-jack figure with a noose around its neck that "dances" when a string is pulled.

The nominees in all categories will be announced on Wednesday, April 30, 2008. The awards will be presented on June 5, 2008, in Toronto at the 25th annual Arthur Ellis Awards dinner, which attracts a wide range of authors, publishers, and fans of mysteries and crime writing.

Past winners of the Arthur include most of the major names in Canadian crime writing, including Howard Engel, Eric Wright, Peter Robinson, the late L.R. Wright, Giles Blunt, Carol Shields, William Deverell, Gail Bowen, Ann Lamontagne, James Dubro, John Lawrence Reynolds, Norbert Spehner, Rosemary Aubert, Barbara Fradkin, and Andrew Pyper.

The CWC would like to thank Sleuth of Baker Street (Toronto) for giving the cash award for Best Novel, Book City (Toronto) for giving the cash award for Best First Novel, and McArthur and Company Publishing Ltd. for sponsoring the Unhanged Arthur award for Best Unpublished Crime Novel.