Jessica Ellis Laine has won the 2017 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, sponsored by Sisters in Crime and honoring the memory of pioneering African-American crime fiction author Eleanor Taylor Bland. The award carried a $1,500 grant to an emerging writer of color, male or female, who has not yet published a full-length work.
Naomi Hirahara, a member of the judging panel, said that after deliberations made difficult by "numerous exceptional submissions... it was Jessica Ellis Laine's humor and authentic characterization of her Latina protagonist that won us over. We are excited to see mysteries written by Laine and other applicants fulfill our genre's potential to reflect the wide range of human experiences."