Thriller and Strand Critics Award winners announced

Winners of both the Thriller Awards and the Strand Critics Awards were revealed during this past week. The International Thriller Writers (ITW) announced winners of its Thriller Award at a ThrillerFest ceremony on July 10, 2010. This event was preceded by a July 7th announcement  by Strand Magazine of the winners of its 2009 Strand Critics Awards.

The International Thriller Writers concluded its fifth annual ThrillerFest conference on July 10, 2010 by naming this year's winners of the Thriller Awards. ITW selected the following works in the categories of Best Hard Cover Novel, Best Paperback Original, Best First Novel and Best Short Story Award from its list of finalists.

• Best Hard Cover Novel Thriller Award: Lisa Gardner for The Neighbor (Detective D. D. Warren series, book 3)
• Best Paperback Original Thriller Award: Tom Piccirilli for The Coldest Mile 
• Best First Novel Thriller Award: Jamie Freveletti for Running from the Devil (Emma Caldridge series, book 1)
• Best Short Story Thriller Award: Twist Phelan for "A Stab in the Heart" (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 2009)

The International Thriller Writers gave special recognition to three other writers whose awards were announced earlier. Ken Follett received the ITW's ThrillerMaster Award; Mark Bowden accepted the True Thriller Award; and Linda Fairstein received the Silver Bullet Award.

Strand Magazine, which offers the Strand Critics Awards, is an American quarterly publication that describes itself as the "reincarnation" of the British periodical of the same name that contained the first Sherlock Holmes short stories. From the list of finalists announced in February 2010, the magazine chose winners in the Best Novel and Best First Novel categories. Elmore Leonard, whose Lifetime Achievement Award had been previously announced, was also recognized at the July 7th presentation.

Michael Connelly won the Strand Critics Award for Best Novel for 9 Dragons, the 14th book in his Harry Bosch series. "Considering that it comes from Strand Magazine and the pedigrees of those on the judging panel, I am blown away by receiving this award, it is truly very special to me,” a Strand Magazine press release quoted Connelly as saying.

The Strand judges came up with a tie in their award for Best First Novel. Josh Bazell and Bryan Gruley both won – Bazell for Beat the Reaper and Gruley for Starvation Lake (Gus Carpenter Mysteries).