The Emerging Author Dagger (formerly the Debut Dagger), sponsored by Fiction Feedback, is an international competition, open to anyone in the world writing in English, for a crime novel opening (max. 3,000 words) and synopsis (max. 1,500 words). The crime novel – of any subgenre; including but not limited to thriller, noir, cosy mystery, suspense, police procedural; spy story and crossover of any kind – should be suitable for adults or young adults.
Entries are eligible from writers who have never had a publishing contract for a full-length novel of any kind and who don’t have a literary agent when the competition closes at the end of February. Entrants must not have made this novel or any other piece of their fiction over 20,000 words available on sale to the public within three years of the closing date.
Entry costs £42
The winner receives a generous cash prize of £500.
Deadline for entries 28 February 2025.
The Makoto Murders is a noir thriller set in Tokyo. A mixed-race photographer from the gutter press embarks on a series of murders in a tale that is somewhere between Nightcrawler and The ABC Murders.
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Leigh Russell (Chair)
Leigh Russell has sold over a million books in her Geraldine Steel crime series which has been translated into several languages, including Chinese. Leigh has been shortlisted for two CWA Dagger awards, and has twice been a finalist for the People’s Book Prize. She has formerly served on the board of the Crime Writers’ Association, currently co-ordinates their Criminal Critiques service, and chairs the Debut Dagger judges. She is a Royal Literary Fellow.
Emma Grundy Haigh
Emma Grundy Haigh has spent her career working on everything from Booker Prize shortlisters and award-winning crime fiction, to popular travel guides and bestselling romance for publishers big and little. After nearly five years at Joffe Books, where she ran the Joffe Books Prize for crime writers of colour, she is now Editorial Director at Avon Books. She is proud to have worked with crime fiction powerhouses such as Joy Ellis, Patricia MacDonald and J M Hall, and those starting out in the genre alike. Emma is a Bookseller Rising Star and was shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2024.
When she’s not reading, Emma can be found learning how to shape pasta, trail-running through woodlands and stepping on Lego pieces left over from her twins’ latest creations.
Rachel Neely
Rachel Neely began her publishing career in 2016 at HarperCollins, before moving to Hachette where she worked as an editor for the next six years, most recently as a Commissioning Editor. Rachel then made the move from editorial to agenting in early 2022, joining Mushens Entertainment where she is a Literary Agent. Rachel is actively looking to find new crime and thriller writers for her list.
James Wills
James Wills is Managing Director at literary agency Watson, Little. He is always searching for strong storytelling and new, exciting material. “I’d particularly love to see upmarket crime, thrillers and mysteries and addictive, high-concept stories with incredible hooks that refuse to let go.”
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