The Night I Won the Silver Falchion Award
By Benny Sims
There we were: my wife and I, seated at an empty banquet table at the Killer Nashville awards dinner, wondering if anyone would be sociable enough to sit with us. We had arrived nearly a half hour early and decided to sit at the back of the banquet hall.
My debut novel, Code Gray, was a finalist for Best Mystery. If not for that, I probably would have skipped the banquet, but I decided to attend just to meet other authors and to congratulate the winners. I say that because there was no way I was going to win. I had read the opening pages of some of the other submissions in my category, and my writing seemed so inferior to theirs. It had to be a mistake that I even managed to be a finalist. Code Gray stood zero chance.
I was up against authors such as Nicholas Holloway, whose novel Three Houses On A Hill had won the Claymore Award the previous year, and Lisa Black, the guest of honor for Killer Nashville 2021.
Needless to say, I felt like a tiny candle in a room full of bright lights.
You see, Code Gray had racked up 146 rejections before getting accepted by a small publisher five years after I finished writing it. Agents wanted nothing to do with my work. I had tried for over thirty years to get something published, only to be ignored or turned away at every turn. I think it was because of all these rejections I decided to submit my novel to the competition. I figured, what the heck? One more rejection won’t matter.
My wife asked if anyone would sit with us, and I assured her they would. I told her I expected the banquet hall to be full. Sure enough, a few minutes after we sat down, a woman named Chana Johnson walked up and asked if one of the empty chairs was taken, and I told her the seat had been reserved specifically for her. Not long after that, authors Angela Watts, Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes, and Stacy Lucas arrived and sat with us. The last to sit with us were the two ladies from the Murder On The Beach bookstore, Joanne Sinchuk and Cheryl Kravetz.
Six very friendly people along with my wife and me. Six people who treated me as if they’d known me for years. The conversation ranged among a variety of topics, but mostly centered on writing and the awards competition. Someone asked me if I was a finalist, and I said I had managed to sneak into the Best Mystery category, but I didn’t stand a chance of winning.
Well, I probably shouldn’t have said that.
The ladies responded with, “Oh, you’re gonna win,” and “You just wait,” and “You have to win because we’re sitting with you.” But the thing that caught my attention the most was when one of them said, “You know how families cheer and scream at high school graduations when their kids get their diploma? Well, we’re going to do that to you.”
I laughed and again insisted I wasn’t going to win because the other finalists were so good, but the ladies didn’t care. They kept telling me I was going to win.
The awards ceremony began and Clay Stafford announced the finalists in each category before revealing the winner. After each finalist was named, the crowd politely clapped, then clapped a bit louder when the winner’s name was read. Each winner came to the podium for a short thank-you speech, escorted by various thriller/mystery/suspense-themed music from a four-piece band.
It was all fun and entertaining, mostly due to Clay’s random funny quips and the joy expressed by the winners as they gave their acceptance speeches.
Then came the Best Mystery category.
Clay read the finalists, and after each name came the normal courteous applause, but when he announced my name, everybody at my table yelled and whooped and cheered. They warned me they would do that, and sure enough, I felt kind of like a high school graduate right then.
Clay paused and said, “He brought his whole family,” and everybody had a good laugh. “And the winner is…” he said as his daughter handed him the award.
What he said next literally changed my life.
“Well, the family should be proud. Code Gray, Benny Sims.”
At least, I think that’s what he said, because when he said “the family,” I realized I had won, and I went into a state of shock. My entire table erupted with screams, cheers, and a standing ovation, just like they promised. I’ve been told I meandered and stumbled to the podium, but I don’t really remember that. I basically blacked out between Clay saying my name and the moment I shook his hand and posed for a quick picture.
I didn’t know what to say for my acceptance speech, so I mumbled something about not expecting to have my own cheering section, acknowledging my wife for supporting me, giving thanks to my new “family,” and the Killer Nashville staff for a great event, and said what an honor it was to be a part of the writing community. Then I meandered and stumbled my way back to my table as the band played the theme from Mission Impossible.
The Silver Falchion Award is a beautiful round silver medallion attached to a long black ribbon. Mine has “Best Mystery” followed by my name, my book’s title, then “2021.”
I really don’t know how I managed to win. I swear to you I didn’t bribe the judges because I don’t have any money. For now, I just chalk it up to getting my work in front of the right set of eyes at the right time. That, and sheer luck.
After the banquet, I was congratulated by a bunch of people I had never met. The first was Bruce Coffin, who had also won a Silver Falchion that night for his novel, Within Plain Sight. He spoke with me for at least ten minutes, taking time from his evening to share a special moment with a fellow writer when he was under no obligation to do so. That’s one reason why I think the writing community is comprised of the greatest people on earth.
Along with Bruce, authors Linda Sands, Carmen Amato, Mike Faricy, James L’Etoile, Michelle Cox, and others, all took time to speak with me. For someone like me who had been largely ignored most of his literary career, that meant more than words can say.
It’s been over two years since that night, and I’m still riding the high of winning. I thought getting published was the dream come true that I’d always wanted, but now I know that winning a major award from my peers tops that. And if somebody like me can achieve this, so can you.
It was without a doubt one of the highlights of my life.
Benny Sims grew up in Tennessee but moved to southern Illinois when he was 14. After attending college in Murray, Kentucky, he relocated back to Tennessee to work as a journalist. Sims later accepted a job in the aerospace industry in Huntsville, Alabama, where he worked for more than three decades. Benny is now retired and lives in Foley, Alabama with his wife Tammy, a dog, a cat, and a yard full of mosquitos and fire ants.
