Three Spanish writers are now one step away from seeing their work published in one of Italy’s best-known crime fiction collections.
The finalists for the III International NeRoma-Tenerife Noir Award for Unpublished Stories have been announced, with 69 unpublished stories submitted this year. That’s a record for the competition.
The three finalists are Erminda Pérez Gil with El hijo, Javier Vázquez Losada with Vacaciones and José María Mayorga García with La buena hija.
Not a bad shortlist.
From Tenerife to Italy
The prize is rather more interesting than simply receiving a trophy and a nice photo.
The winning story will be translated into Italian and published as an appendix in Il Giallo Mondadori, the famous Italian crime fiction collection that dates back to 1929.
For an unpublished writer, that’s a pretty serious opportunity.
Il Giallo Mondadori played a major role in popularising mystery and crime fiction in Italy, helped along by its instantly recognisable yellow covers.
So a story written in Spanish could soon be sitting on Italian newsstands.
A record year for the competition
This year’s competition attracted 69 entries, making it the biggest edition so far.
Women accounted for 40% of the submissions, with men making up the remaining 60%.
The growing number of entries also shows how Tenerife Noir is developing beyond a local literary event and becoming a useful link between Spanish-language writers and the wider European publishing scene.
The winner will be announced on 18 October 2026 during the IX NeRoma Noir Festival in Rome.
What happens to the winner?
The winning author will follow previous winners Alberto Palacios Santos and Gonzalo Ramón Herrera Arteaga.
Their work is expected to go on sale in Italian newsstands by March 2027, with the official award then presented during the XII Tenerife Noir Festival.
It’s a fairly unusual journey for a short story.
Start in Spanish. Win a competition connected to Tenerife. Get translated into Italian. Then potentially end up on a newsstand in Rome.
Not bad for something that started life as an unpublished manuscript.
More than just crime fiction
Tenerife Noir isn’t simply about finding the next crime writer.
The festival also sees the noir genre as a way of looking at society and encouraging critical thought.
This year’s programme also marks the 40th anniversary of Watchmen, the influential graphic novel by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins, along with the miniseries Shadow: Blood & Judgment by Howard Chaykin.
The festival continues to bring together literature, culture and different forms of storytelling, while giving new writers a platform that reaches well beyond Tenerife.
The latest edition is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo de Tenerife, Tenerife Tourism and the municipalities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristóbal de La Laguna, alongside several cultural and commercial partners.
For the three finalists, though, all eyes will be on Rome in October.
One of them could soon have their story translated, published and sitting in an Italian newsagent. That’s quite a leap from an unpublished manuscript.