The Black Spring Crime Series is delighted to announce that the inaugural judge for its new crime-mystery prize will be Lee Child, world-famous, best-selling author of the Jack Reacher series, whose books have sold over 100 million copies.

The competition –

The Big Bang: Black Spring's Best Opening to a Crime/Thriller Prize -

is open to anyone over the age of 18 who wants to write in the English-language and has an interest in crime, thriller or mystery novels.

We are looking for the best 50-200 words of an ‘opening’ for a crime-mystery-thriller novel/story. The work must be never-before-published (including online), original to the author, and ideally written for this prize. It need not be connected to a completed book. Indeed, we very much hope the prize encourages people to start a novel, with this first page – and maybe go on to complete it. Writers can enter as many times as they want.

The contest will open on September 7th and close on December 7th. All submission info can be found at the blackspringcrimeseries.com website