Honoring the Novella and Rex Stout

by Oline H. Cogdill

Stout Rex 1975 viking
I adore short stories. While novels have the luxury of space, short stories are intricate snapshots that must pack in character development, an intense plot, and a sense of place in such a small framework.

I feel the same way about the novella and am glad to see authors keeping this art form alive.

One of the ways the novella is honored is with the Black Orchid Novella Award (BONA), which is given out each year in December by the Wolfe Pack, which promotes the 73 Nero Wolfe books and novellas written by Rex Stout, left, in partnership with Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.  

This year’s award will be given out during the 38th Annual Black Orchid Weekend on December 4, 5, and 6, 2015, at two different venues in New York City.

In addition to the awards, the weekend will include Stout’s 1969 interview on The Dick Cavett Show and his 1956 appearance on the TV anthology series Omnibus, as well as an excerpt from the first episode of the most recent TV adaptation of the Nero Wolfe corpus—the 2012 Italian version of Fer-de-Lance (in Italian, with English subtitles).  

For more information, visit http://www.nerowolfe.org/index.htm.

The Black Orchid Novella Award celebrates the literary tradition of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries. The Black Orchid Novella Award is awarded to the best previously unpublished novella each year. The winner gets $1,000 and publication in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

Entries should not contain overt sex or violence, nor include characters from the original series, but should emphasize the deductive skills of the sleuth.
And 2016 will be the 10th anniversary of the Black Orchid Novella Award.

I am starting to see a rise in the number of novellas published, and Stout, who popularized the form, remains on the list of must-reads.

“Many of Stout’s novellas have been issued as “three-fers,” three novellas in one book,” said Jane Cleland, long-term Wolfe Pack member and chair of the award. Cleland is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries.

And don’t think of a novella as just a long short story. A novella has a nuance all its own, honed with skill and care by its author.

As Linda Landrigan, editor-in-chief Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine says on the award’s website, "We need to stress that a novella is not a padded short story. A novella needs to be as tight and fast-paced as a short story or a novel. Authors need to ensure that the story they want to tell is properly sized for whatever format they choose."
So true.

To enter next year’s contest, entries must be 15,000 to 20,000 words in length, and must be postmarked by May 31, 2016. The winner will be announced at The Wolfe Pack’s Annual Black Orchid Banquet in New York City on December 3, 2016. Please visit www.nerowolfe.org for information on how to enter. Or, if you have questions, contact Jane K. Cleland at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

And get busy, if no “acceptable” candidates are received, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and The Wolfe Pack reserve the right to declare no winner in any given year.
Here’s the list of past winners: http://www.nerowolfe.org/htm/literary_awards/black_orchid_award/Black_Orchid_awardees.htm.

Oline Cogdill
2015-11-10 18:15:00