At the 2020 Davitt Awards ceremony the other day, presenter Sue Turnbull read out the judges’ great comments on Jenny Blackford’s prize-winning book, The Girl in the Mirror, after Val McDermid announced her win. That was followed by a short speech by Jenny herself. We thought readers might be interested to see the transcript, which follows, courtesy of Sisters in Crime Australia. And remember, you can watch the whole thing here.

DAVITT  AWARDS CEREMONY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2020.

SUE TURNBULL: This year 12 crime books competed for the Davitt for Best Children’s Crime Novel. 4 were shortlisted.

 VAL MCDERMID: And the Davitt for the Best Children’s Crime Novel goes to JENNY BLACKFORD for The Girl in the Mirror (Eagle Books, an imprint of Christmas Press)

 JENNY BLACKFORD is an award-winning Australian writer and poet. Her poems and stories for adults and children have appeared in Asimov’s, Westerly, The School Magazine and many more Australian and international journals and anthologies. She won two prizes in the Sisters in Crime Australia Scarlet Stiletto awards 2016 for a murder mystery set in classical Delphi, with water nymphs. Eagle Books published her spidery, ghostly middle-grade novel The Girl in the Mirror in October 2019. It’s based on a story that originally appeared in The School Magazine. Pitt Street Poetry published her third poetry collection, The Alpaca Cantos, in April 2020.

 SUE TURNBULL: This is what the judges had to say:

“Separated by more than a hundred years, and brought together through a mysterious mirror, Maddie and Clarissa provide comfort and wisdom at a time when they feel desperately alone. The girls band together to defeat a creeping evil that threatens the lives of their families. The Girl in the Mirror is a refreshingly contemporary time-slip mystery. Maddie and Clarissa are intensely relatable with their shared frustrations at the way in which they are dismissed by the adults in their lives. Jenny Blackford has captured the pains of early adolescence – loneliness, fear, uncertainty – in a gripping mystery that is perfectly pitched to the middle readers who will love it.”

Over to you JENNY.

JENNY BLACKFORD:

“I’m so delighted! The Sisters in Crime do an amazing job of encouraging and supporting Australian crime readers and writers. In 2016 I won two prizes in the Scarlet Stiletto awards, run by the Sisters in Crime, for a murder mystery set in classical Delphi, and that has certainly encouraged me to write more crime fiction and poetry. And now this, the Children’s Crime Novel Davitt for The Girl in the Mirror. Thank you, Sisters!

“I must thank Christmas Press Commissioning Editor Beattie Alvarez, who pulled my submission out of the slush and turned it into a real book. Eagle Books is the adventure story imprint of Christmas Press, based in Armidale and run by Sophie Masson, Fiona McDonald and David Allan. Huge thanks to them all. They were the perfect publishers for my mix of crime, ghost story and mystery, with added spiders. The design of the book is amazing, thanks to Beattie and Fiona – there are tiny redback spiders on every page, and gloriously creepy black and white illustrations sprinkled through it. And thanks to illustrator Liz Anelli, who launched it at MacLean’s Booksellers and at Maitland Library.

“My friends and family have been admirably patient whenever I’ve stopped doing whatever I was halfway through and looked blankly into space. Many of them have also helped with proofreading and editing for many drafts of the manuscript – especially my husband Russell.”